John Muir

Have you heard of our National Parks? Perhaps even been to one of these places where great natural beauty is preserved? You have John Muir to thank.

John Muir was born April 21, 1838 in Dunbar, Scotland - an area hit by north Atlantic storms in which the rain lasted for days. His parents were Ann Gilrye and Daniel Muir. Ann was light hearted, but subdued herself when around her husband. Daniel zealously followed a type of Evangelical Presbyterianism that he had converted to when in his teens. This would cause conflict between John and his father. Where Daniel found solace in the Bible, John found it under the open skies in the majesty of nature.

John was beat daily. His father continued the use of corporal punishment that he had been raised with. John was also lashed regularly at school. The children at school turned the yard into a war zone in which they wrestled, kicked and bit each other when the school master Mungo Siddons was absent. If John came home with a black eye or ripped clothing, his father would beat him further. Despite the punishment, John did not always heed his father. He once said “Like devout martyrs of wildness we stole away to the seashore or the green, sunny fields with almost religious regularity...”

In the family garden each of the children were given their own plot. John spent hours observing the plants grow and occasionally pulling some up to see how the roots formed.

Out of the blue one night Daniel told his children not to bother with their homework. They would be leaving for America the next day. They would settle in Kingston, Wisconsin where they built a farm. John’s daily chores were feeding the pets and livestock and bringing the cattle in at sunset. Despite his love of nature, farm work would never appeal to him, saying “Too often the mean, blinding, loveless doctrine is taught that animals have neither mind or soul, have no rights that we are bound to respect, and were made only for man, to be petted, spoiled, slaughtered or enslaved.”

John spent his free time exploring the wilderness and inventing things. In addition to a vast number of clocks he also invented a “loafer’s chair” which collapsed to the ground or triggered a pistol to fire blanks if the person in it slouched.

By his father’s command John had to rise at six and go to bed at nine. He wanted more time to read, so his father conceded that he could get up earlier. John began rising at one every day (or should I say night?).

John would later attend the University of Wisconsin for two and a half years studying Latin, Greek, botany, chemistry, physics, geology and mathematics.

When the Civil War began, John avoided the draft by traveling to Canada, where he would ramble for some time. One day in his travels he came upon the wild bog orchid Calypso borealis. In his journal he wrote “I never saw a plant so full of life, so perfectly spiritual, it seemed pure enough for the throne of its Creator. I felt as if I were in the presence of superior beings who loved me and beckoned me to come. I sat down beside them and wept for joy.”

In 1867 John suffered a temporarily blinding eye injury. When he regained his sight after a month, he decided he would dedicate it to the natural world. He walked a thousand miles from Indianapolis to the Gulf of Mexico. From there, he would travel to Cuba and Panama by ship. From Panama he crossed the Isthmus and went up the western coast, landing in San Francisco in March of 1868. It was then that California became his home, although he would travel the world.

He fell in love with the Sierra Nevadas and the Yosemite. John would later write “Then it seemed to me the Sierra should be called not the Nevada, or Snowy Range, but the Range of Light...the most divinely beautiful of all the mountain chains I have ever seen.”

In 1874 he began series of articles, “Studies in the Sierra”, that would pave the way for his career as a writer.

John married Louie Wanda Strentzel on April 14, 1880. She would soon come to understand that he grew physically sick when away from his beloved Sierra mountains for too long, so she let him wander, a prime example of setting free those you love. He traveled to Alaska, Australia, South America, Africa, Europe, China, and Japan in addition to the Sierra Nevadas. In the time he was home, John was a devoted family man.

Wanting to understand his love for nature, Louie once convinced him to take her with him to the mountains. It was unsuccessful due to her fear of heights, bears, and her dislike for sleeping on the ground. John sent a letter to his two daughters which contained a sketch of him prodding Louie up a hill with a stick.

In the spring of 1889 John had a meeting with Robert Underwood Johnson which would set the course for the nation’s park system. Robert asked him to write two articles for the magazine Century extolling the beauty of the Yosemite. The articles ran in August and September of 1890. They had a great effect and on October 1, 1890 the bill that made Yosemite a national park was passed.

On May 28, 1892 two Berkeley professors, a German philologist and an English teacher assembled a small group to form “a Sierra Club” which would grow to become the nation’s most famous civilian conservation organization. John Muir was elected president.

Almost immediately after the formation of the club the Caminetti Bill was introduced to reduce the size of the Yosemite. It was passed in the Senate, but Muir and the others besieged the House and the press with protests and the bill was eventually defeated.

A federal commission was appointed to recommend a national forestry policy for the preservation and governance of the forested lands. John declined membership, but agreed to serve as an advisor.

In 1901 Muir published Our National Parks, which brought him the attention of the president. Teddy Roosevelt requested a camping trip with John, and he eventually agreed. Perhaps due to John’s influence, Roosevelt would add to Yosemite National Park, create five other national parks, and set aside 55 wildlife preserves and 150 national forests during his term in office.

John Muir’s writings and enthusiasm inspired the national parks movement and more. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger summed up John Muir’s contributions when he said "John Muir has been a role model to generations of Californians and to conservationists around the world. He taught us to be active and to enjoy -- but at the same time protect -- our parks, our beaches, and our mountains."

John would later develop pneumonia which caused him to be taken to the California Hospital in Los Angeles. The “Father of the National Parks System” would die there, alone, on Christmas Eve of 1914.