As a young teenager, I adored Sierra Club calendars. I soaked up the beauty in those detailed photographs which were comparable to the color photos in a National Geographic magazine. Recently I read a biography of John Muir, the founder of the Sierra Club and found his story to be fascinating.
The Muir family farmed in Wisconsin in the late 1800’s. They lived in a time before public school was the norm in the United States. Though John and his siblings had gone to school back in Scotland, when they emigrated, his father, Daniel Muir, preferred everyone to not attend school, but rather work the farm.
John, though, began to have a great longing to study and learn more. Daniel was willing to allow John to study higher mathematics as long as he kept up with the farm work and John studied algebra, geometry and trigonometry. But John wanted still more.
Daniel required everyone to go to bed right after evening prayers, but John would stay by the stove to read a bit. Daniel objected to that, but after some discussion, did give permission for John to rise earlier and read in the mornings before breakfast. John decided this meant he could get up at 1:00am each morning, giving him five extra hours to read! What a creative solution to John’s desire to learn more of the world, when all his father wanted was a worker. A kind neighbor lent him books and so he began a greater education in literature, poetry, history and travel.
Another interesting fact I discovered was that John thrived in the wilderness. After he left home and began his travels, he often lived for months in wild places. He languished if he was unable to stay in wild areas for some part of every year.
His grandfather had encouraged him to love the natural world and learn the lessons nature taught. When John moved to California, he would travel for months in Yosemite where he built a small cabin right over a stream so that he could continuously hear the water rush past. He often traveled to Alaska and stayed there for long periods as well. He always would return feeling renewed from his time in the wilderness. He valued the wilderness as a place to go to for spiritual renewal and prayer, and to see its grandeur and beauty.
I don’t think I had such an appreciation before of John Muir, who overcame family hardships to become one of the most influential figures in California in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. He wrote articles and books in support of cherishing our wilderness. He championed the cause for preservation of several beautiful wild areas including Yosemite, Mount Rainier, the Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forest and Sequoia, and the creation of the National Park system.
Our country greatly benefited from John Muir leaving his father’s farm in search of the wilderness!
Here in the Northwest, many people go hiking, camping or backpacking to have that same experience of enjoying the beauty of the natural world. We owe a great debt to a simple man who saw the value in the wild places in the United States and helped preserve them for us.
If you are interested in reading more about his life, consider looking for the book John Muir Nature’s Visionary by Gretel Ehrlich published by National Geographic, 2000.