The Life of John Muir
Early Life
John Muir was born in Dunbar, Scotland in the year of 1838. John Muir was the third out of eight children. He and his family, which included his mother, Ann Gilrye, his father, Daniel Muir,his sisters Margaret, Sarah, Mary and Ann (twins), Joanna and his brothers David and Daniel, moved to Wisconsin in 1849. By the age of eleven his strict father had made him memorize by heart the New Testament and most of the Old Testament. Muir's father liked to talk about the afterlife. He also thought that anything that god didn't create or was not mentioned in the bible was a sin, including the woods and nature. John Muir went to school for a short time, and then went to work on the farm with his father. He loved to read, but unfortunately he was only allowed to read in the morning, when it was much too cold. So instead of reading, John Muir started inventing things. At the age of twenty-two, Muir entered some of his inventions in the Wisconsin State Fair. Two of these objects included a table that had a wheel which would spin a book around the table to each individual, and a whittled alarm clock that would tilt you out of bed and onto your feet. He won many prizes and ribbons for his inventions. John Muir later decided he wanted to learn more and enrolled in the University of Wisconsin and became good friends with Jeanne Carr.
Travels
In 1867, after University, John Muir decided to walk one thousand miles from Indiana to the Gulf of Mexico. He intended to go to the Amazon like his boy-hood hero, Alexander Von Humbolt. During the adventure, John Muir started to fear what kind of people he would meet, but it was quickly overcome when he found that he liked to talk to people about his travels and nature. During the end of the trip, John Muir contracted Malaria. This was the only time that John muir had actually doubted nature. After his encounter with the deadly disease, he decided to cancel his trip to the Amazon and head south. One night, when Muir was watching the sunset, he saw a boat sail into the docks. Later, he found out that the boat was to sail to Cuba. Muir boarded the ship and headed towards Havana, where he spent hours studying shells and flowers. Eventually, Muir left and sailed towards California.
Arriving in Yosemite
After arriving in San Francisco, John quickly left the city for Yosemite. John Muir had never been to Yosemite, only heard of it. Muir loved what he saw, there were mountains, waterfalls, flowers of all different colors. Muir decided to stay. Every day he explored, and everyday he found something new. John Muir became attached to Yosemite. He found a job as a shepherd. When John herded the 2,000 sheep to Tuolumne, he studied, drew, and journaled everything he saw. After his stint as a shepherd, John decided to construct a saw mill, employed by James Hutchings. During his free time, John started to study the valley, developing his theory that it was formed by glaciers. A couple weeks after leaving his saw mill job, John Muir moved to Oakland and started to write about Yosemite for news articles. Before returning to Yosemite, John Muir married, Louie Wanda Strentzel, and went to study in Alaska. Upon returning, John Muir found that people had been destroying the nature in Yosemite. John Muir invited Theodore Roosevelt to camp with him, in hopes that he would help save the park. His hopes were not in vain, Roosevelt loved the park and decided to help with the federal protection of the park. In 1982, John Muir formed the Sierra Club, a club that helps the preservations of National Park. John Muir's last protest was against the building of the Hetch Hetchy Dam. The Dam was to be created for the city of San Francisco. Unfortunately, John Muir lost his fight and the valley of Hetch Hetchy was made into a reservoir. Muir died a year later, on December 25. John Muir was a huge part in the creation of Yosemite National Park.
References: Wikipedia, John Muir: In the New World, Nps.gov, PBS,