For nearly 100 years, Americans have relied on the United States National Park Service to care for, protect, and beautify this country’s many national parks. Who is responsible for the initial preservation of these havens for today’s use?
John Muir, inventor, naturalist, conservationist, author, and advocate, led the way for “protecting our natural heritage,” (“John Muir: A brief biography,” n.d.). Muir has become known as the “Father of Our National Park System” (“John Muir: A brief biography,” n.d.) by forming associations to protect various national parks, including Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks, and the formation of the Sierra Club, one of the United States’ most prominent conservation organizations.
John Muir was born in Dunbar, Scotland on April 21, 1838. When he was eleven, Muir and his family immigrated to the United States and settled at Hickory Hill Farm in Portage, Wisconsin. Muir and his seven siblings were raised under their father’s strict hand and were required to work in the fields all day long. His father felt that daylight time should not be wasted on reading (“John Muir biography,” n.d.).
To work around his father’s orders, Muir invented a contraption called the “early rising machine” to toss him out of bed each day at one in the morning so that he could read and study (“John Muir biography,” n.d.).
During other brief recesses from fieldwork, Muir and his brother would explore the Wisconsin landscape, which helped to develop and expand his love and curiosity for nature. This love of nature would influence Muir to study botany and geology at the University of Wisconsin in 1860. That same year, he also displayed his inventions, including the early rising machine, at the Wisconsin State Fair (“John Muir (1838-1914),” n.d.).
However, Muir’s time in college would not last. After three years in college, Muir dropped out to begin a journey across the United States and Canada relying on small jobs to survive. In 1867, he suffered an eye injury while working in a factory in Indianapolis, which left him blind for months. When he regained his sight, he decided to leave his career at the factory and focus on “turning his eyes to the fields and woods,” (“John Muir: A brief biography,” n.d.). He began a journey, on foot, from Indiana to the Gulf of Mexico creating sketches of nature along the way (“John Muir (1838-1914),” n.d.).
After arriving in the Gulf, he sailed to Cuba, Panama, and eventually landed on the West Coast in California, where he made his home. After settling in, he walked from San Francisco to the Sierra Nevada Mountains. He fell in love with the Sierra Nevada, or “Range of Light,” as he called it, stating that it was, “the most divinely beautiful of all the mountain chains I have ever seen,” (as cited in “John Muir: A brief biography,” n.d.).
He took several small jobs in his first years in California. He herded sheep and worked in a sawmill. In his free time, he explored Yosemite Valley to become closer to God as he felt, “God is revealed through nature,” (as cited in “John Muir (1838-1914),” n.d.). He took notes, made drawings, and wrote observations of the area. These notes would become articles about his theory of glaciations, or the carving of the Yosemite Valley by glaciers (“John Muir (1838-1914),” n.d.).
In 1880, Muir married Louie Wanda Strentzel and settled in Martinez, California, where they raised two daughters, Wanda and Helen. He began his career of farming a fruit ranch with his father-in-law. (“John Muir: A brief biography,” n.d.).
After ten years had passed, Muir began to grow restless in the confines of the orchard business. Muir, who had made enough money to support his family with his work in the orchards, decided to get back in touch with nature by traveling to Glacier Bay in Alaska and Mount Rainer in Washington to continue his study of glaciers and the freezing process. With the blessing of his wife, he would also travel extensively through Europe, Asia, Australia, and South America (“John Muir (1839-1914),” n.d.).
Muir’s expeditions correlated into 300 articles and 10 books. His most famous series of articles would be published in Century magazine in 1889. In these articles, Muir described and brought attention to the “devastation of mountain meadows and forests by sheep and cattle,” (“John Muir: A brief biography,” n.d.).
With the help of Century’s associate editor, Robert Johnson, Muir influenced Congress to pass an act to create and protect Yosemite National Park. This act (and Muir’s efforts) led the way for Muir to help create Sequoia, Mount Rainer, Petrified Forest, and the Grand Canyon National Parks earning him the title, “Father of Our National Park System,” (“John Muir: A brief biography,” n.d.).
With all of this newfound recognition, Muir gathered his supporters to help in the creation of the Sierra Club. The Sierra Club is an organization committed to preserving natural lands such as Yosemite. Muir stated the club’s mission was to, “do something for wildness and make the mountains glad," (as cited in “John Muir: A brief biography,” n.d.). Muir was appointed president of the club and served that position until his death.
In 1903, Muir caught the attention of then President Theodore Roosevelt with his book, Our National Parks. Roosevelt came out to Yosemite to camp with Muir. Muir used this trip to persuade Roosevelt to protect Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove. He convinced the president to return these areas to federal protection and make them apart of Yosemite National Park. This camping trip began Roosevelt’s “innovative” conservation plan for America (“John Muir (1838-1914),” n.d.).
After the death of his wife in 1905, Muir would only write four more books and embark on one last and unsuccessful crusade for the prevention of the building of a dam near Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy Valley, which would create a giant reservoir. After battling with a brief illness, John Muir passed away on December 24, 1914 (“John Muir (1838-1914),” n.d.).
John Muir was a pioneer in creating America’s National Parks and preserving land in its most natural state. He paved the way for future lobbyists, environmentalists, and conservationists. Muir's efforts provide this generation with the ability to see natural landmarks, such as Yosemite, as they were in his time. Today, Muir’s name lives on not only through his writings, but also through colleges, landmarks, and hospitals named in his honor.
References
Notable Biographies.com. (n.d.). John Muir biography. Retrieved June 13, 2011, from
http://www.notablebiographies.com/Mo-Ni/Muir-John.html
PBS: Public Broadcasting System Online. (n.d.). John Muir (1838-1914). Retrieved June
13, 2011, from http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/people/historical/muir/
Sierra Club Online. (n.d.). John Muir: A brief biography. Retrieved June 13, 2011, from
http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/life/muir_biography.aspx
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