the john muir exhibit - about john muir
Who Was John Muir?
John Muir (1838-1914) was America's most famous and influential naturalist
and conservationist. He is one of California's most important historical personalities.
He has been called "The Father of our National Parks," "Wilderness Prophet," and "Citizen
of the Universe." He once described himself more humorously, and perhaps most
accurately, as, a "poetico-trampo-geologist-botanist and ornithologist-naturalist
etc. etc. !!!!" Legendary librarian and author Lawrence Clark Powell (1906-2001),
(anticipating an event that was not to occur until 2006), said of him: "If
I were to choose a single Californian to occupy the Hall
of Fame, it would be this tenacious Scot who became a Californian during
the final forty-six years of his life." More recently, famed documentary film
maker Ken Burns said, "As we got to know him... he [John Muir] ascended
to the pantheon of the highest individuals in our country; I'm talking about
the level of Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, and Thomas Jefferson, and
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Jackie Robinson -- people who have had a transformational
effect on who we are."
As a wilderness explorer, he is renowned for his exciting adventures in California's
Sierra Nevada, among Alaska's glaciers, and world wide travels in search of
nature's beauty. As a writer, he taught the people of his time and ours the
importance of experiencing and protecting our natural heritage. His writings
contributed greatly to the creation of Yosemite, Sequoia, Mount Rainier, Petrified
Forest, and Grand Canyon National Parks. Dozens of places are
named after John Muir, including the Muir Woods National Monument, the John
Muir Trail, Muir College (UCSD), and many schools.
His words and deeds helped inspire President Theodore Roosevelt's innovative
conservation programs, including establishing the first National Monuments
by Presidential Proclamation, and Yosemite National Park by congressional action.
In 1892, John Muir and other supporters formed the Sierra Club "to make the
mountains glad." John Muir was the Club's first president, an office he held
until his death in 1914. Muir's Sierra Club has gone on to help establish a
series of new National Parks and a National Wilderness Preservation System.
Muir's last battle to save the second Yosemite, Hetch
Hetchy Valley, failed. But that lost battle ultimately resulted in a
widespread conviction that our national parks should be held inviolate. Many
proposals to dam our national parks since that time have been stopped because
of the efforts of citizens inspired by John Muir, and today there are legitimate
proposals to restore Hetch Hetchy. John Muir remains today an inspiration
for environmental activists everywhere.
John Muir's life reminds us of the important things that just one person can do:
"If you think about all the gains our society has made, from independence to now, it wasn't government. It was activism. People think, 'Oh, Teddy Roosevelt established Yosemite National Park, what a great president.' BS. It was John Muir who invited Roosevelt out and then convinced him to ditch his security and go camping. It was Muir, an activist, a single person."
-- Patagonia founder and outdoor enthusiast Yvon Chouinard in a ( recent Sierra Magazine interview).
John Muir is as relevant today as he was over 100 years ago when he met with
President Theodore Roosevelt in Yosemite. Many of today's headlines have Muir
to thank for their inspiration. See our Chronology
of of the Life and Legacy of John Muir, 1838 - 2010.