The first published account about John Muir
from the Wisconsin State Journal , 1860 September 25
An Ingenious Whittler
While at the Fair Grounds this morning we saw some very ingenious specimens of mechanism, in the form of clocks, made by Mr. JOHN MUIR, of Buffalo, Marquette County. They were without cases, and were whittled out of pine wood. The wheels moved with beautiful evenness. One registered not only hours but minutes, seconds, and days of the month. The other was in the shape of a scythe, the wheels being arranged along the part representing the blade. It was hung in a dwarf burr oak very tastefully ornamented with moss about its roots. We will venture to predict that few articles will attract as much attention as these products of Mr. Muir's ingenuity.