Muir Vs. Commercial Interests
As you can imagine this philosophy ran counter to the commercial interests during Muir's lifetime. His life spanned the era of rapid western growth. One excellent example was the timber industry. Logging in the late 1800's and at the turn of the century was on a tear. Trees were felled by the millions to supply housing for the rapidly expanding population that was heading west.
As I've noted in a few other posts on this site, there were no real logging methods employed during the early years. At least none that made sense. Forests were cut through with no regard to planting for the future. Fire hazards were great since there was no effort to clear debris after the cutting was completed. Many towns went up in smoke and people killed after hot, dry weather set limbs, stumps and sawdust ablaze.
The Beauty and Value of Nature
Most of his wilderness adventures took place in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains. It was back in 1868 that he walked across California's San Joaquin Valley all the way to the high Sierra's that ignited his life long journey as America;s foremost preservationist. Muir communicated his beliefs to the masses by giving speeches, writing books and essays and battling the lumber and mining interests.
He also battled water interests and tried to prevent them from damming rivers. Muirs writing career bagan in 1874 when he authored a series of articles entitled Studies In The Sierra. The picture to the right is of Muir in 1907.
John Muir wasn't the only voice battling commercial expansion into the wilderness, but he might have been the most extreme one. President Theodore Roosevelt was credited with taking over wide swaths of western land for the purpose of preserving it for future generations. It was in his administration that forest rangers were trained and hired to watch over these public lands. Roosevelt's close friend Gifford Pinchot was a leading advocate for keeping public lands public.
Roosevelt and Muir
It should be noted that the actions Roosevelt ultimately took at the urging of Muir were not exactly easy. Anyone who has studied Roosevelt knows that he was not on very close terms with the business community. On the other hand, the majority of Congress was. He was met with many roadblocks along the way and it took a degree of compromising to get Roosevelt's environmental bills passed. Even after measures were passed there was still some resistance.
The friendship Muir had with both Roosevelt and Pinchot however was later strained when Muir felt that not enough was being done. Perhaps he felt that Pinchot was giving in too much to the businessmen. It was strained to the degree that Muir simply stopped speaking to them. As I already noted, there is a difference between true preservationists like Muir and general conservationists like Roosevelt and Pinchot. The conservationist will work with commercial interests and set up certain regulations. The preservationist wants commercial interests to just stay off the land.
The Sierra Club
A major achievement during Muir's life was his founding of the Sierra Club which is still going strong. The Sierra Club is probably what most people today connect with John Muir.
Founded in San Francisco in 1892, the Sierra Club is recognized as the most influential environmental organization in the United States. Their mission can be summed as...to explore, protect and enjoy the wild places on earth. There are chapters located across the U.S. with hundreds of thousands of members. John Muir served as the Sierra Club's president until his death in 1914. When you look back at everything John Muir did and everything he fought for, you can realize how the founding of the Sierra Club was his most significant achievement. We're now in the 21st century and the Sierra Club has been around since the 19th century. He certainly left his mark.
Make sure to also add the Muir House to your California trip planner. Below is a link to our Western Trips visit to the Muir National Historic Site...John Muir National Historic Site
Located in Martinez, CA which is across the Bay to the northeast of San Francisco. It is now the John Muir National Historic Site and includes the house where he lived and did almost all of his writing. The home was built by his wife's parents and he and his wife also resided there. In fact, he spent the last 24 years of his life there. Following are good websites to help plan your John Muir exploration while you're in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Also see our Western Trips visit to Muir Woods on the link below...
Muir Woods Hiking Trails
www.nps.gov/jomu
www.nps.gov/muwo
Sierra Club website www.sierraclub.org
More historic travel ideas at www.tripsintohistory.com
(Article copyright Western Trips. Photos and images in the public domain)
