Biography Of Famous American Naturalist John Muir

There is a man in history that has never been easily categorizable, a jack of all trades, that has influenced many in the environmental field. Born into a strict religious farm life, who came to be an explorer who wandered across thousands of miles of American wilderness. A naturalist who recorded dutifully the varying scenes he viewed while experiencing the natural world. He saved California's redwoods and Yosemite Valley, and inspired the first national parks in the world. This visionary, writer, and adventurer was John Muir.

John Muir didn’t have the carefree childhood one would expect. Muir was born in 1838 in Scotland, and emigrated with his family in 1849. He spent his later childhood years helping run his family farm in pastoral Wisconsin. His upbringing was strict, and what some would call repressive, Calvinistic, Presbyterianism. Being forbidden by his father to read anything but the Bible, did not hinder his passion for learning. Eventually, in 1860, he escaped his father’s discipline to study for several years, at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and pursued an interest in natural history, specifically geology and botany. Even though he was clearly of high intellect and interested in academia, he never fully completed a degree.

Muir was highly inventive, could have easily followed a career as an engineer or inventor. He set out to make himself a living working in a carriage wheel factory. However, what changed him from devoting himself to becoming a wealthy industrialist was a factory accident that happened one night when he was tightening leather belts with a file and it flew into his right eye and pierced the cornea. Although his sight did come back after eight weeks, he did not know that he would see again, and he made a promise to God, “if my sight comes back I'll no longer work for the inventions in man I want to work for the creations of God”.

Possibly one of his most incredible explorations in his lifetime was his 1000 mile trek to the gulf. Starting from Louisville, Kentucky, we headed, on foot, south to the Florida coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The trip is described in detail in a book published from his diaries as A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf. Muir purposely wanted a route that would force him through the most heavily forested areas. He had been taught that the world around him was the product of the Creator bu by the time of his walk to the Gulf he was starting to have some religious doubts and he wrote in his journal, ‘The world, we are told, was made especially for man – a presumption not supported by all the facts’. Originally, after Muir reached the Gulf, he would to go to South America, a trip he was inspired to take after reading the writings of the German explorer Alexander von Humboldt. However, Muir contracted malaria, and almost died, forcing him to change his destination. He settled on California, and took a ship to San Fransisco. Once Muir reached California, he spent the summer of 1868 as a shepherd in the high Sierras, where he wrote the book My First Summer in the Sierra. Muir’s preconceived notions of wild wide open spaces and grand mountain ranges was permanently changed by his journey to the Yosemite Valley. Through Muir’s particular and detailed observations and descriptions, the American people would never again view the western part of the country through the same eyes, notably the wild terrain of California. Muir believed that nature was created by God, for this reason nature is superior to the works of mankind. He concluded that plants, animals, and even the smallest of rock formations must be protected against the destruction of man, and preserving nature is a life-sustaining equivalent.

Muir feared that governments, both local and state, could be enticed by influential special interest groups to sell off the nation’s wild lands for profit. Because of his prominent fears, he campaigned for a strong national park system, and his direct efforts led to the foundation of Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks in 1890. The model he inspired resulted in the extension of several other national parks in California.Prior to learning about this subject, I had no prior knowledge about this influential and dynamic person. What influenced me the most about this person was his perseverance in his quest for knowledge. My family and I used to be Seven Day Adventist, and if you were to know anything about this religion you would know that it is a strict religion that holds a lot of power towards its followers, like it did with mine. We left the church when I was really young, a difficult decision that lead to loss of a lot of relationships between close friends and family. But we didn’t believe in a higher power anymore, and wanted to learn more of what life had to offer both scientifically and philosophically. I incredibly respect Muir for leaving the strict confines of his childhood home, to see the world, a decision that is never easy to do. I also admire Muir for his ability to truly submerse himself in harsh Mother Nature. One of the things I really enjoyed was his climbing a 200 foot Sequoia during a hurricane, just so he could tie himself onto it and feel the power of the winds blowing the tree through that forest. I am an art student, which makes me a visual and tactile person, and I like to see and feel things for what they truly are. Whether they be pretty or ugly, they are real, and nothing is more real then beautiful and relentless nature.

Even after over a century, Muir’s influence can be felt by every Californian in the vast soils that have been set aside for wilderness, parks, and conservation areas. Muir’s reasoning and ideology is still intrinsic to our understandings of what nature is, why it should be appreciated, and how it must be respected and protected.