John Muir ( ) A "poetico-trampo-geologist-botanist and ornithologist-naturalist etc. etc. !!!!"

1838 John Muir born April 21, Dunbar, Scotland 1849 Family emigrates to Wisconsin farm 1860 Leaves home; inventions win state fair prize; meets mentor Jeanne Carr 1860 Enters University of Wisconsin; Civil War begins 1862 Postpones studies to teach school; Thoreau, author of Walden, dies 1864 Moves to Canada; botanizes; works in sawmill. Man and Nature by George Perkins Marsh published 1866 Civil War ends; moves to Indiana; works in carriage factory 1867 Factory accident damages eye; takes 1,000-mile walk, Kentucky to Gulf of Mexico; writes first journal en route. His journal of the trip was published after his death 1868 Moves to California; first sight of Yosemite 1871 Finds glacier in Yosemite; meets Ralph Waldo Emerson there Timeline

1872 Begins writing for Overland Monthly magazine; Yellowstone National Park established Begins study of trees; advocates federal control of forests 1879 Travels to Alaska 1880 Second Alaska trip 1881 Alaska travels on the ship Corwin 1888 Health poor; climbs Mount Rainier; wife urges taking up conservation writing again 1889 Campaigns for a Yosemite National Park 1890 Writes Century magazine articles; Yosemite National Park established (without Yosemite Valley); explores what is now Muir Glacier in Glacier Bay, Alaska; U.S. census notes end of frontier 1892 Helps found Sierra Club; elected as its first president; forest reserves established in three western states Visits Europe; first book published, The Mountains of California 1896 Serves on Forestry Commission; honorary degree from Harvard 1898 Honorary degree from University of Wisconsin 1899 With scientific Harriman Expedition in Alaska

1901 Our National Parks published Camps in Yosemite with President Theodore Roosevelt; makes world tour; the first federal wildlife reserve established 1905 California cedes Yosemite Valley back to the federal government 1906 Explores Arizona and Petrified Forest 1908 Muir Woods National Monument established; begins fight against damming Yosemite National Park’s Hetch Hetchy Valley 1909 Stickeen published 1911 My First Summer in the Sierra published; travels to South American and Africa; honorary degree from Yale 1912 The Yosemite published 1913 The Story of My Boyhood and Youth published; Hetch Hetchy battle lost; honorary degree from University of California 1914 Dies December 24, age Creation of Sequoia National Monument continues Muir’s conservation agenda

The Wilderness Explorer As a wilderness explorer, he is renowned for his exciting adventures in California's Sierra Nevada, among Alaska's glaciers, and world wide travels in search of nature's beauty.

The Writer As a writer, he taught the people of his time and ours the importance of experiencing and protecting our natural heritage. His writings contributed greatly to the creation of Yosemite, Sequoia, Mount Rainier, Petrified Forest, and Grand Canyon National Parks.

Muir helped inspire President Theodore Roosevelt's innovative conservation programs, including establishing the first National Monuments by Presidential Proclamation, and Yosemite National Park by congressional action.

"do something for wildness and make the mountains glad." In 1892, John Muir and other supporters formed the Sierra Club "to make the mountains glad." John Muir was the Club's first president, an office he held until his death in Muir's Sierra Club has gone on to help establish a series of new National Parks and a National Wilderness Preservation System.

John Muir was perhaps this country's most famous and influential naturalist and conservationist. He taught the people of his time and ours the importance of experiencing and protecting our natural heritage. His words have heightened our perception of nature. His personal and determined involvement in the great conservation questions of the day was and remains an inspiration for environmental activists everywhere.

Muir's last battle to save the second Yosemite, Hetch Hetchy Valley, failed. But that lost battle ultimately resulted in a widespread conviction that our national parks should be held inviolate. Many proposals to dam our national parks since that time have been stopped because of the efforts of citizens inspired by John Muir, and today there are legitimate proposals to restore Hetch Hetchy. John Muir remains today an inspiration for environmental activists everywhere.Hetch Hetchy Valley

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