The story "The American Indian Wilderness" By Louis Owens takes a look at the meaning of the word wilderness from the point of view of the white European settlers and from the point of view of the Native Americans.
The story begins with a description of a place the white people called Glacier Peak Wilderness, To the Native Americans it was called Dakobed or the great mother. The Author has a unique perspective of the park because he is half Native American and half European. This allows him to relate to both types of people. This is shown when the Park Ranger comes upon two hikers who happen to be two Native American women who had come to see a house their grandfather had built. .
Before the Western Europeans came to the United States there was no such thing as Wilderness. The Indians lived here in peace and all the land was their home. The Europeans came here and built their towns and their cities without any concern for the preservation of the wilderness. The industrial revolution just rolled along like a fire. It consumed everything, but most of all the European settlers and their industrial revolution consumed the land. Because of this more and more of the "wilderness" was taken in order to make room for the growing industries, house, and roads. This caused us to make parks and "reservations" because the wilderness is becoming more and more scarce.
The author is telling this story in order to warn others of the dangers of using up all of our resources. We need to preserve the wild and leave it the way it was meant to be. Which is without the imprints of humans who will do nothing but harm it.
The points of view of the Native Americans are very different. The Europeans see the wilderness as a dollar sign but the Native Americans saw it as a thing to be respected and kept pristine.