John Muir

John Muir (1838-1914) was an American environmentalist, writter and explorer. With his passion for nature he was one of the most influential American conservationists, and his efforts helped to establish Yosemite and Sequoia national parks in California. Many natural wonders have been named in his honor, including Muir Woods National Monument, a virgin stand of redwoods, near San Francisco, Califofnia. Muir preached that nature was sacred and humans are intruders who should look but not develop. He was opposed by the efficiency-oriented conservationists led by Gifford Pinchot and Theodore Roosevelt. He founded the Sierra Club and remains an icon of liberalism.

Career

Muir was born in Dunbar, Scotland. His family emigrated to the United States when he was 11 years old and settled on a farm near Portage, Wisconsin. Muir attended the University of Wisconsin from 1859 to 1863 but did not graduate. A botanist, he took extensive walking trips to study plants. In 1867 he made a walking trip from Wisconsin to the Gulf of Mexico to observe the plants, animals, and physical features of the country. During this trip Muir kept extensive journals, which were published after his death under the title A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf (1916).

Muir explored the Yosemite Valley in 1868-74. He was the first to show that Yosemite was formed by glacial erosion. During this time he also studied glaciers in the Sierra Nevada. Muir was the first to explore Glacier Bay, Alaska, where, in 1879, he discovered the glacier that now bears his name.

In 1880, Muir married and settled on a fruit ranch in the Alhambra Valley, California, where he became a noted and financially successful horticulturist. In 1891 he resumed his travels. He had become interested in the study of trees, especially pines and sequoias, and went to Australia, Africa, and South America to visit the forests. Through his studies, Muir was to become the leading U.S. forest conservationist of his time.

In 1889 he initiated a movement to preserve the sequoias in the Yosemite Valley and the surrounding area. His efforts influenced Congress to pass the Yosemite National Park bill (1890), which established the Yosemite and Sequoia national parks. He also influenced President Theodore Roosevelt to set aside national monuments, national forest reserves, and national parks.

Muir was a bitter enemy of the Hetch Hetchy dam, but was overrurled by Roosevelt. Although it supplies most of San Francisco's water supply, the Sierra Club proposed to dynamite it.

Bibliography

• Strong, Douglas H. Dreamers & Defenders: American Conservationists 1988 online edition
• Worster, Donald. A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir (2008) excerpt and text search

Primary sources

• Muir, John. John Muir: Nature Writings: The Story of My Boyhood and Youth; My First Summer in the Sierra; The Mountains of California; Stickeen; Essays (Library of America) edited by William Cronon (1997) excerpt and text search
• Muir, John. The Mountains of California‎ (1894) complete text online
• Muir, John. Travels in Alaska (1979 ed.) full text online
• Muir, John. The Yosemite‎ (1920) full text online
• Muir, John. John Muir: His Life and Letters and Other Writings‎, edited by Terry Gifford (1996) 912pp excerpt and text search