A rose to the goldfinch and thistle

By Todd Dorman, 24 Hour Dorman

One thing that grows without hesitation in our suburban compacted clay dreamscape are thistles.

My wife is no fan of these lofty, spiky, uninvited occupiers. Canadian? Spear? No matter. She favors eradication. And, in some cases, her point is well taken.

The particularly persistent thistle that grows between the steps down from our deck is one example, living proof that God has a sense of humor, or something against open-toed shoes.

But I always leave a few. They'll just spread, she warns. But I can't help but admire their survivability, so I have some mercy.

And whatever herbicidal caldron was sprayed on them when our subdivision was a stand of corn might have transformed them into massive mutants a generation or two away from pulling up roots and stalking north to Marion bent on revenge. I want to be on their good side.

I leave a few on the end of the deck, where nothing else grows. I leave some in our large prairie garden, where they seem at home among the coneflowers, cup plants, compass plants and Joe Pye weed. We plant stuff that can dig into the clay and live without fear of neglect by a non-master gardener.

I used to be a more aggressive thistle hunter until my dad told me goldfinch use thistledown to build nests, as well as eating the seeds. How could I deny shelter to the state bird of Iowa? My wife's eyes roll.

But sure enough, we now have a pair of goldfinches nesting on our lot. I see them often, perched on those craggy thistles, eating seeds. The state bird. Now all I need are some geodes and a wild rose.

I've been hearing about the 'Eastern Goldfinch” as Iowa's top bird since grade school. But nobody ever explained how that happened. Information, it turns out, is less plentiful than thistles, but it's out there.

We can all thank state Rep. J. Wilbur Dole, a Democrat from Fairfield in Jefferson County. He authored House Concurrent Resolution 22, adopted by the House on March 21, 1933, and by the Senate the very next day. It passed on a voice vote. The House and Senate journals note no debate. No lawmaker rose in favor of the chickadee or red-tailed hawk, as far as I can tell.

Dole was born in 1867. He was a farmer who also attended Parsons College in Fairfield, taught in rural schools, worked as a principal and served as school board secretary in Fairfield for 14 years. He was postmaster for a time and served as a trustee at the local library.

I even found an account on a website of the Fairfield Golf and Country Club claiming Dole was among the first locals to play golf when a local doctor brought some curious clubs back from Chicago in 1892. They used tomato cans for holes.

Dole, the farmer-educator, was interested in science - plants and birds in particular. He was a member of the Iowa Ornithologists Union that, in 1922, passed a resolution designating the Eastern Goldfinch as its choice for state bird. When Dole, an active local Democrat, won a seat in the Legislature in the Roosevelt landslide of 1932, he had his chance to make that a reality.

Lawmakers had a very full plate in 1933. The Great Depression and low commodity prices were smacking the state's farmers as their elected representatives and senators struggled to respond. On the same day the goldfinch became the state bird, the House passed a resolution pleading for Congress to act.

'Unless immediate relief is given, hundreds of thousands of farmers will lose their farms and their homes and millions more will be forced into our cities and villages and the army of unemployed will necessarily increase to alarming proportions,” read House Concurrent Resolution 16.

Prohibition was on its way out, and Iowa lawmakers couldn't agree on how to handle the renewed flow of legal booze. According to the journals, they were receiving stacks of petitions from both sides daily. There also were bills authorizing a railroad bridge at Toolesboro and requiring pedestrians to step off primary highways when approached by a vehicle, alongside all the hefty stuff.

Lawmakers worked into the spring and were called back for a special session in November that lasted into February. But on a couple of mornings, as winter turned to spring, legislators gave the sunny goldfinch a quick endorsement. New Jersey and Washington also count the goldfinch as state bird, a testament to its wide adaptability.

But Iowa was first, beating New Jersey by two years.

Thinking about goldfinches and the Depression and Iowa's survivability makes me wonder whether we don't need a state weed. I hereby nominate the thistle.

l Comments: (319) 398-8452; todd.dorman@thegazette.com