He called Yosemite, “by far the grandest of all the special temples of Nature I was ever permitted to enter.” Not only did John Muir become a leader of the Conservation Movement, but also earned the title of Father of the National Parks. In 1916, the National Park Service was established. TR followed up the camping trip by providing federal protection for Yosemite - and also signing into existence five more national parks, 18 national monuments, 55 national bird sanctuaries and wildlife refuges and 150 national forests. Later, Muir said, “I stuffed him pretty well regarding the timber thieves, and the destructive work of lumbermen and other spoilers of the forest.” In planning the camping trip, Roosevelt told Muir, “I do not want anyone with me but you, and I want to drop politics absolutely for four days and just be out in the open with you.” Only two tunnel trees remain - only wide enough to walk through. The last of those “tunnel trees” - some maybe 3,000 years old - called the Wawona Tunnel Tree came tumbling down in 1969 due to a heavy snow load at the top. People were creating ecological damage ever since they starting coming in after the 1849 California Gold Rush.ĭamage included logging and later, carving tunnels through the base of ancient Sequoia redwood trees, big enough for cars to drive through. Those qualities would serve him well in his life work.ĭuring the camping trip at Yosemite with President Roosevelt, Muir convinced him that that the Valley needed more protection.
He made friends easily, relating to people equally with loyalty, generosity and good humor - though sometimes showing a touch of eccentricity.
#IMAGES OF YOSEMITE PARK REDWOODS FULL#
There was more adventure ahead - Alaska, overseas world travel, marriage, two daughters, running a California fruit farm, founding the Sierra Club and tirelessly promoting his passion of preserving the wilderness and fighting to make Yosemite a national park.įor 40 years, he kept a daily log - one story telling about climbing a tall Douglas spruce in a strong windstorm, just to feel the full force of the wind and experience how the tree would feel. It was 1868, and the years that followed were filed with adventure:įirst, John Muir took a ranch hand job in California “to support his nature habit.” Then he switched to being a shepherd in Tuolumne Meadows for $30 a month so that he could study the animal and plant life there and sketch the mountain scenery.
In due course, wanderlust took the young man on a long walk to Florida, then boat-rides to Cuba, New York and San Francisco.įrom there, he walked to Yosemite - and into the history books.
In 1849, the family moved to Wisconsin, where his father burdened his children with hard labor on the family farm. Loving nature as a boy in Dunbar, Scotland, Muir explored the seacoast and wilderness with friends - an activity not approved by his father, who punished him severely. Muir was a Scottish naturalist, writer and conservationist whose glowing articles told the world about the grandeur of the iconic park in California. President Teddy Roosevelt said that in “Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter,” published in 1905, two years after camping for four days at Yosemite with the great naturalist John Muir. “There can be nothing in the world more beautiful than the Yosemite, the groves of the giant sequoias and redwoods, the Canyon of the Colorado, the Canyon of the Yellowstone, the Three Tetons and our people should see to it that they are preserved for their children and their children's children forever …”
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