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- John Muir was a naturalist, or someone who is interested in nature. He helped protect millions of acres of land in the United States.
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Introduction. John Muir was a naturalist, or someone who is interested in nature. He helped protect millions of acres of land in the United States. Early Life. John Muir was born on April 21, 1838, in Dunbar, Scotland. He moved with his family to the U.S. state of Wisconsin in 1849.
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- John Muir
(1838–1914). Because of American naturalist, explorer, and...
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- Early Life
- Explorer of Nature
- Activism
- Nature Writer
- Philosophical Beliefs
- Personal Life
- Death
- Legacy
- Tributes and Honors
Boyhood in Scotland
John Muir's Birthplace is a four-story stone house in Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland. His parents were Daniel Muir and Ann Gilrye. He was the third of eight children: Margaret, Sarah, David, Daniel, Ann and Mary (twins), and the American-born Joanna. His earliest recollections were of taking short walks with his grandfather when he was three. In his autobiography, he described his boyhood pursuits, which included fighting, either by re-enacting romantic battles from the Wars of Scottish Indep...
Immigration to America
In 1849, Muir's family immigrated to the United States, starting a farm near Portage, Wisconsin, called Fountain Lake Farm. It has been designated a National Historic Landmark. Stephen Fox recounts that Muir's father found the Church of Scotland insufficiently strict in faith and practice, leading to their immigration and joining a congregation of the Campbellite Restoration Movement, called the Disciples of Christ. By the age of 11, the young Muir had learned to recite "by heart and by sore...
Pacific Northwest
Muir made four trips to Alaska, as far as Unalaska and Barrow. Muir, Mr. Young (Fort Wrangell missionary) and a group of Native American Guides first traveled to Alaska in 1879 and were the first Euro-Americans to explore Glacier Bay. Muir Glacier was later named after him. He traveled into British Columbia a third of the way up the Stikine River, likening its Grand Canyonto "a Yosemite that was a hundred miles long". Muir recorded over 300 glaciers along the river's course. He returned for f...
Co-founding the Sierra Club
In early 1892, Professor Henry Senger, a philologist at the University of California, Berkeley, contacted Muir with the idea of forming a local 'alpine club' for mountain lovers. Senger and San Francisco attorney Warren Olney sent out invitations "for the purpose of forming a 'Sierra Club'. Mr. John Muir will preside". On May 28, 1892, the first meeting of the Sierra Club was held to write articles of incorporation. One week later Muir was elected president, Warren Olney was elected vice-pres...
Preservation vs conservation
In July 1896, Muir became associated with Gifford Pinchot, a national leader in the conservation movement. Pinchot was the first head of the United States Forest Serviceand a leading spokesman for the sustainable use of natural resources for the benefit of the people. His views eventually clashed with Muir's and highlighted two diverging views of the use of the country's natural resources. Pinchot saw conservation as a means of managing the nation's natural resources for long-term sustainable...
In his life, Muir published six volumes of writings, all describing explorations of natural settings. Four additional books were published posthumously. Several books were subsequently published that collected essays and articles from various sources. Miller writes that what was most important about his writings was not their quantity, but their "q...
Of nature and theology
Muir believed that to discover truth, he must turn to what he believed were the most accurate sources. Muir had a strict, Scottish Presbyterian upbringing. In his book, The Story of My Boyhood and Youth (1913), he writes that during his childhood, his father made him read the Bible every day. Muir eventually memorized three-quarters of the Old Testament and all of the New Testament. Muir's father read Josephus's War of the Jews to understand the culture of first-century Judea, as it was writt...
Of sensory perceptions and light
During his first summer in the Sierra as a shepherd, Muir wrote field notes that emphasized the role that the senses play in human perceptions of the environment. According to Williams, he speculated that the world was an unchanging entity that was interpreted by the brain through the senses, and, writes Muir, "If the creator were to bestow a new set of senses upon us ... we would never doubt that we were in another world ..." While doing his studies of nature, he would try to remember everyt...
Seeing nature as home
Muir often used the term "home" as a metaphor for both nature and his general attitude toward the "natural world itself", notes Holmes. He often used domestic language to describe his scientific observations, as when he saw nature as providing a home for even the smallest plant life: "the little purple plant, tended by its Maker, closed its petals, crouched low in its crevice of a home, and enjoyed the storm in safety". Muir also saw nature as his own home, as when he wrote friends and descri...
In 1878, when he was nearing the age of 40, Muir's friends "pressured him to return to society". Soon after he returned to the Oakland area, he was introduced by Jeanne Carr to Louisa Strentzel, daughter of a prominent physician and horticulturist with a 2,600-acre (11 km2) fruit orchard in Martinez, California, northeast of Oakland. In 1880, after...
Muir died, aged 76, at California Hospital in Los Angeles on December 24, 1914, of pneumonia. He had been in Daggett, California, to see his daughter, Helen Muir Funk. His grandson, Ross Hanna, lived until 2014, when he died at age 91.
During his lifetime John Muir published over 300 articles and 12 books. He co-founded the Sierra Club, which helped establish a number of national parks after he died. Today the club has over 2.4 million members. Muir has been called the "patron saint of the American wilderness" and its "archetypal free spirit". "As a dreamer and activist, his eloq...
California celebrates John Muir Day on April 21 each year. Muir was the first person honored with a California commemorative day when legislation signed in 1988 created John Muir Day, effective from 1989 onward. Muir is one of three people so honored in California, along with Harvey Milk Day and Ronald Reagan Day. Mountain Days, a 2000 musical by C...
May 7, 2020 · John Muir is a Scottish-American naturalist who is known as “John of the Mountains” and “Father of the National Parks”. Aside from being a naturalist, he was also an environmental philosopher, glaciologist, and one of the proponents for advocating the preservation of wilderness in the United States of America.
Fun Facts. John Muir was born in Scotland in 1838. He and his brother loved exploring the wilds there. His family sailed to the United States in 1849. His family lived in a small cabin in a forest in Wisconsin until his father could build a larger home. Once again, John and his siblings found plenty in the natural world to entertain them.
Who is John Muir? John Muir was at the forefront of conservation, and his whole life’s work shows appreciation towards nature. His story is a valuable one for children to encounter, as it shows how one person can have such a lasting positive effect on the world.
John Muir was an environmental scholar best known as the ~'Father of the National Parks.~' Explore facts about Muir's early years in Scotland, how a bout with temporary blindness inspired his...
