John Muir is one of the giants of the environmental movement. His powerful, writing about the wilderness helped to change the way people think about Nature. His visionary efforts to protect the landscape of the American West earned him recognition as the “Father of National Parks.” He was a smart, bold, adventurous man, with a genuine passion for the natural world.

There is no doubt that his commitment and activism helped to lay the groundwork for the burgeoning environmental movement of today.

A Strict Upbringing

John Muir was born in1838 in the small seaside city of Dunbar, Scotland. His parents were devout Christians, and he had a strict religious upbringing.

From an early age, John enjoyed playing outdoors, immersing himself in the natural world. But his father found these activities to be frivolous, and the two frequently clashed over religion. As a result, John was often beaten as a child.

Off to America

Although the family’s merchant business was very successful in Scotland, John’s father felt the local community was not faithful in their practice of Christianity – so he moved his family to the United States in 1849, when John was just 11. They settled in a rural community in the state of Wisconsin, where they set up a small but lucrative farm (now a National Historic Landmark).

To keep the farm profitable, John’s family needed him to help out with daily chores, so he never attended school. However, John learned to read and write from his parents, who wanted to make sure he could read the Bible –the only book allowed in the house.

Fortunately, John was unusually bright and eager to pursue his own education. He would smuggle books about science into the house, hiding them from his father and reading them in private. Muir read quietly at night by candlelight, hoping to learn as much as he could about geology.

Eager to Learn

Despite his lack of formal education, John was accepted into the University of Wisconsin at the age of 22 (1860). He studied botany, chemistry, and other sciences with “wild enthusiasm.” Although he never earned a degree, he learned a great deal at college that helped him in his later years.

While Muir was studying at UW, the Civil War broke out in America. To avoid the draft, John fled to Canada, where he spent nearly a year exploring the wilderness around Lake Huron, studying the terrain and collecting plants. When he ran out of money, he took a job at a sawmill to earn some extra cash.

In 1866, Muir finally returned to the U.S., settling briefly in Indianapolis, where he worked in a factory that made wagon wheels. He impressed his employers with his ingenuity, devising new machines to help make the factory more efficient.

Life-Changing Accident

Then in 1867, at the age of 29, John had an accident that changed his life. While working in the wagon wheel factory, his hand slipped, and a tool went straight into his eye, causing major damage. As a result of the trauma, he temporarily lost sight in both eyes.

After receiving medical attention, Muir was forced to sit in a dark room with both eyes bandaged for several weeks. For most of that time, he sat in fear, terrified that he might never see again. He regretted not seeing more of the natural world while he still had the chance.

Fortunately, however, John fully regained his eyesight, and after this incident, he was a new man. Once he emerged from the darkness, he was determined to see as much of the American countryside as he could.

Journey of 1,000 Miles

Almost immediately, he quit his job and set out on his first big journey. Muir decided to walk all the way from the state of Indiana to Florida – a journey of about 1,000 miles. He traveled lightly, bringing only a comb, a towel, some soap, and 3 books. As he walked, he took the most wild and undeveloped paths he could, traveling through forests, across fields, and over mountains.

Within a few months, Muir made it safely to his destination – Cedar Key, Florida, where he took a job to replenish his funds. He stayed there for a short while, but quickly grew restless again.

One night, while watching the sunset, he saw a ship sailing into harbor and decided he wanted to travel to South America. Soon after, he boarded a boat to Cuba, where he spent his time wandering the countryside, examining local plant life.

Overwhelmed by Yosemite

After a short while, he left the Caribbean and traveled to New York. Then he boarded a ship and made his way to California – the state that was to be his home for the next 40 years. Shortly after arriving, he left the city of San Francisco and went for a weeklong visit to Yosemite Valley, a place that would forever change his life.

Muir was overwhelmed by the stunning beauty and grandeur of the landscape at Yosemite. The mountains, the waterfalls, the forests, and the flowers left him nearly speechless with excitement. He was determined to spend as much time there as he possibly could.

At Home in the Valley

For a short time, Muir worked in the Valley as a shepherd, grazing his sheep throughout the Yosemite area. Then he took a job at a sawmill nearby. In his down time, he explored forests, streams, and trails. With no mountaineering gear of any kind, he managed to scale some of the most difficult mountains in the Valley. At night, he would sit alone by a campfire and read the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, his favorite author.

Eventually, Muir built a small cabin along Yosemite Creek, using wood he gathered from wind-felled trees. He lived in the cabin for 2 years, exploring as much of the area as he could. Muir felt a spiritual connection with nature that would ultimately change his view of religion. He would later say that Nature saved his soul.

While the landscape filled Muir with joy, he struggled financially and was occasionally overcome with anguish. He was often unemployed, with limited prospects for any serious career, and he worried about what he was doing with his life.

Nevertheless, Muir couldn’t bring himself to leave the beauty of Yosemite. Eventually, he started working as a guide, offering his services to anyone who wanted to see and learn more about the region.

Meeting His Hero

Over time, Muir earned the respect of people throughout the area with his impressive knowledge of the terrain and his talent as a guide and storyteller. Muir also received help from his former professor Ezra Carr and his wife Jeanne, who introduced him to many notable, well-connected people.

With help from the Carrs, Muir was eventually able to meet with his literary hero – Emerson – who stopped in at Yosemite during a tour of the West. The two men got along extremely well and were equally impressed with each other.

Emerson offered Muir a job as a teacher at Harvard University, where Emerson taught. Muir was flattered, but declined the offer, unable to leave the beauty of the Yosemite Valley behind. Later he wrote: “I never for a moment thought of giving up God’s big show for a mere profship!”

Power of the Pen

For most of his 30s, Muir continued to explore the area and write about what he saw. He conducted ambitious botanical studies and published his findings in major scientific journals of the time. His writings were beginning to get published in major national magazines, including Harper’s Magazine and Scribner’s. Slowly, he was making a name for himself at the national level.

Muir’s personal writings about nature were often lyrical, intense, and deeply emotional. To this day, readers maintain it is some of the most powerful and moving writing about nature the world has ever seen. Even in his time, he won much acclaim for his talent.

Interestingly, despite his great success as a writer, Muir claimed that writing did not come naturally to him. For Muir, writing was a slow, laborious, and painful process. He struggled with every word. And yet, when it was finished, it read like poetry.

Settling Down

In the late 1870s, as Muir began to approach the age of 40, his friends started pressuring him to return to society and start a family. His friend Jeanne Carr introduced him to Louisa Strentzel, the daughter of a prominent local physician. After a 2-year courtship, the couple married in 1880 and settled in the San Francisco area.

John and Louisa Muir had 2 children: Wanda, born 1881, and Helen, born 1886. By all accounts, John was a loving husband and a devoted father.

While he continued writing, the bulk of his time was spent managing his father-in-law’s 2600-acre fruit orchard. With his inventiveness and talent, John turned the Strentzel family farm into a lucrative agricultural business.

Still, his heart remained in the wild, and he would periodically go off into the wilds of Yosemite to hike, explore, and replenish his spirit. On occasion, he would bring his daughters with him to the Valley.

At his wife’s urging, Muir also traveled on longer excursions, going as far away as Mount Rainier in Washington state and Glacier Bay in Alaska. And in the end, his extraordinary writings about these places would later help them get established as National Parks.

Muir Gets Political

Finally, in 1889, Muir met with Robert Underwood Johnson, the editor of an influential national magazine – The Century. Johnson urged Muir to become more politically active in fighting for environmental causes and to use his writing to raise public awareness.

Muir was reluctant at first, but soon immersed himself in his writing once more. He wrote with his typical passion and insight, and soon he began to win political victories. As a result of Muir’s writings, Congress passed a bill in 1890 that provided extra state protection for the land in Yosemite Valley.

Later that same year, Muir’s efforts helped to establish Sequoia National Park, which provided federal protection for California’s stunning Sequoia trees. Thanks to Muir’s diligence, more than 65% of the original Sequoia trees in that area are still standing today. All together, the park set aside more than 13 million acres for protection.

Birth of the Sierra Club

One of Muir’s greatest contributions to environmentalism came in 1892, when he met with a small group of nature enthusiasts and co-founded the Sierra Club – one of the first grassroots environmental organizations in the world.

At the group’s first formal meeting, they immediately elected Muir to be president – a position he held for 22 years, until his death. Under Muir’s leadership, the Club expanded its membership, took on numerous political battles, and engaged in public relations efforts to change popular attitudes.

One of the group’s first actions was to fight against efforts to reduce the size of Yosemite National Park by 50%. The group was successful in protecting the park’s original size, giving them an important early victory.

A History of Success

In 1903, the group gained a powerful political ally, when Muir met with President Theodore Roosevelt, a strong proponent of conservation. The 2 men went camping at Yosemite for 3 days, and talked in great depth about the need for stronger environmental protections.

By the end of the outing, Muir had Roosevelt’s strong assurances that he would help protect the unspoiled areas of the West – and Roosevelt was true to his word.

Over the years, the Sierra Club has become one of John Muir’s greatest environmental legacies. Today, the Sierra Club is the largest grassroots environmental group in the world – with more than 1.3 million members.

Since its founding, it has helped to establish numerous national parks and secure passage of more than a dozen ground-breaking environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Wilderness Act – the first wilderness protection legislation in the history of the world.

An Environmental Game Changer

Without question, Muir is one of the great environmental heroes of the modern age. Through his passionate, heartfelt writing, Muir helped to change how people think about Nature. He also played a critical role in bringing about the creation of the National Park System in the United States, a system that has served as a role model for countless nations around the world. (Today, there are more than 7,000 National Parks in nearly 100 countries.)

Sadly, John Muir passed away on Christmas Eve 1914, at the age of 76. He died of pneumonia in a California hospital, after a brief visit to see his daughter Helen.

In his lifetime, he wrote 300 essays and 12 books – all about his favorite topic: nature. Today, there are numerous wild places named after him, including Muir Trail, Muir Woods National Monument, Muir Beach, and Muir Glacier.

John Muir is an excellent example of an environmentalist who used inspiration as a form of activism. He literally used the power of the pen to persuade others and mobilize a movement to preserve what he loved – the wilderness.

Summary Name John Muir Nickname ( Father of National Parks ) Website http://www.sierraclub.org/ Job Title Environmentalist Company Sierra Club