John Muir Biography

John Muir was born April 211838 in Dunbar, Scotland. He attended school until the age of eleven when his family emigrated to the United States Of America. They first moved to Hickory farm but later moved to Portage, Wisconsin. Muir's father was a disaplinist who forced them to work the fields dawn till dusk. John and his younger brother explored the fine woods of Wisconsin. As he was exploring he became more attached to the wild and its nature. He became an inventor, carver and practical wood mechanic. He made wooden clocks and a bed tipper. In 1860 he took his inventions to the state fair where he won many prizes. Later that year he entered Madison University but left three years later to wander around Northern America and Canada which was still untarnished wilderness. In 1860 he took work at a carriage parts workshop making and reaping carriages. John suffered a blinding eye injury but recovered 1 month later and decided to change his life fully. He began studying nature. He walked 1000 miles from Indianapolis to the Gulf Of Mexico. He sailed to Cuba then on to Panama, he crossed the Isthmus sailing up the west coast of America landing in San Francisco in 1868. He made his home in California's Sierra Nevada where he walked San Joaquin valley in waist-high wildflowers. He herded sheep for the rest of the summer earning little money. Many notable people came to him including Joseph LeConte, Asa Gray and Ralph Waldo Emerson. In 1874 he moved to Oakland California where he then traveled to Alaska where he married Louie Wanda Strentzel. Shortly after they both moved to Martinez, California going in to work with his father-in-law working a ranch. Later travelling to Australia, South America, Africa, Europe, China, Japan and then back to the Sierra Nevada. He then turned to writing publishing 300 articles and ten major books. He showed people the devastation done by farm animals and men alike. He helped pass a national law stating that Yosemite was a national park. He then founded the Sierra Club to help protect the park. Then he also helped found Sequoia, Mount Rainier, Petrified Forest and Grand Canyon national park. Muir help protect many national parks. He tried to stop the damming of a valley in Yosemite but he died before it was stopped and it is now a reservoir. After a short illness Muir died in a hospital in Los Angeles while he was visiting his daughter on December 24, 1914. He was 76 when he died but his legacy still lives on.