John Muir
John Muir - A World Famous Scottish Ecologist
John Muir (1838-1914) Famous for being one of the world's first preservationists, John Muir, was a noted US naturalist, explorer, writer, and geologist: and he was an environmentalist.
John Muir's activism directly saved the Yosemite Valley and various other wilderness areas of the United States. This led to the creation of the National Parks of Sequoia and Yosemite. Known as the "Father of United States Conservation" John Muir has more places in California , America, named after him than any other person. A prolific writer, his books include My First Summer in the Sierra and Our National Parks as well as A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf and The Yosemite, John Muir's works remain popular.
John Muir was born in Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland in 1838. Today his birthplace is a museum of his life and work run by The John Muir Birthplace Trust (JMBT) which was formed in September 1998. You can visit their web site at http://www.jmbt.org.uk/
In his autobiography, he described how he and his friends played relay running games that lasted for hours, covering tremendous distances, yielding physical endurance. He also sadly recalled the wanton slaughter of immense amounts of local birds by himself and his friends for nothing more than the thrill.
In 1849, at the age of 11, John Muir moved with his family to a farm in Marquette County, Wisconsin. He studied at The University of Wisconsin but he never graduated. Instead he worked as an engineer in Indianapolis for most of 1866 & 67. Muir went walkabout and walked 1,000 miles from Indiana to Florida and planned to continue through South America but chose California after a bout of Malaria made the planned walk almost impossible.
When, in 1868, he arrived in San Francisco he immediately set off for the Yosemite Valley of which he had read. Confronted with the beauty of Yosemite Muir was driven to write, "No temple made with hands can compare with Yosemite" & "Yosemite is the grandest of all special temples of Nature." Muir stayed for 8 days.
Obviously Muir had fallen in love with the area and he returned to the Sierra foothills and took a number of various jobs, becoming a ferryman, shepherd and bronco buster. In the spring of 1869 he was offered a position caring for sheep Yosemite area. Muir accepted gladly and spent the summer traveling around Yosemite and studying the area in sufficient detail as to start developing theories on how the area had developed and how the local ecosystem functioned. He took further jobs around Yosemite so that he could continue with his studies. Over time Muir concluded that the area had been created by the effects of glaciers, a theory which was in direct conflict with the, already widely accepted theory that it had been created by an earthquake.
Muir's theories proved too controversial for many scientists of the day and he found himself ridiculed as an amateur by the head of the California Geological Society, Josiah Whitney (who had developed the earthquake theory!). However Muir found support for his ideas amongst several geologists including the eminent Louis Agassiz who proclaimed him as "the first man who has an adequate conception of glacial action". Muir's ideas gained weight when, in 1871, he discovered an active alpine glacier below Merced Peak. John Muir, encouraged by many, was a prolific writer and had many of his publications published as far as New York.
In 1880 Muir married Louisa Wanda Strentzel, stopped writing to work on the family's ranch with great success. However, in 1888 he had had enough and left on a journey to the Pacific Northwest and Alaska . Accompanied by botanist Charles Parry, Muir was invigorated and started to write again. The following year Muir began to become concerned at the effects of livestock on his beloved Yosemite. He invited the influential associate editor of Century magazine, Robert Underwood Johnson, to Yosemite. They camped at Tuolumne Meadows where they witnessed the damage caused by domestic sheep. The sight had a profound effect upon Johnson who promised to lobby Congress to make Yosemite a National park.
Johnson had also promised Muir that he would publish any article he cared to write on the subject of excluding livestock from the Sierra high country area. Muir took full advantage of the offer and wrote "The Treasure of the Yosemite" and "Features of the Proposed National Park", with both being published in 1890. This led directly to the presentation of a bill based upon the recommendations Muir which was passed by Congress on September 30th, 1890. Unfortunately the area remained in state control.
In May 1892 he founded the environmental organization, the Sierra Club, and was elected as it's first president (which he held until his death). The Sierra Club is still an environmental lobby group - http://www.sierraclub.org/
In 1903 President Theodore Roosevelt accompanied Muir on a visit to Yosemite. On the journey to the park he explained to the president how the park was in a desperate state of mismanagement with exploitation of resources and continuing damage and that the only solution would be to have the park protected by the Federal Government rather than by State Government. By the time they arrived it was clear that Muir had a friend in Roosevelt and the two set off to discover the "real Yosemite" upon the president's request. In 1905 Congress transferred the Mariposa Grove and Yosemite Valley into the park.
Having won the battle for Yosemite, Muir's last battle was not to be so successful. San Francisco was in desperate need of a water reservoir and the chosen area was Hetch Hetchy Valley where a dam was to be built. Muir referred to the valley as a "second Yosemite" and fought passionately to save it. Utilizing the Sierra Club Muir and his supporters put up a brave fight but after years of debate the dam bill became law in December 1913.
Muir was devastated and on Christmas Eve 1914 he died, some say, of a broken heart.
having won his battles over Yosemite, Muir was unable to prevent the government approving a dam project in another nearby valley. He felt he had lost his last great battle, and died a year later, on Christmas Eve 1914.
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