3,548 research outputs found
Bill Harney on a spear fishing expedition with Eric Jolliffe and Robert Fitzpatrick, off Long Reef, New South Wales, ca. 1940s [picture] /
No full textTitle based on information from acquisition documentation and from caption on verso.; Part of collection: Collection of photographs of author and bushman, Bill Harney, ca. 1940-1962.; Photograph taken by Jim Fitzpatrick, a photographer with the Department of Information in the 1940s in Sydney. Robert Fitzpatrick is the son of the photographer.; Also available in an electronic version via the Internet at: http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn3706122; Purchased from Michael Treloar Antiquarian Booksellers, List 90, Lot 64, 2006
No.550 Jim Catlin
No full textTranscript (24 pages) of interview by Robert DeBirk with Jim Catlin, on June 3, 2008Jim Catlin is a native Utahn who has been active in public land issues for more than 25 years. His PhD from the University of California at Berkeley focused on GIS and land use planning. His MS in regional land use planning at the University of Utah analyzed Wasatch Front air quality. Jim began his work in conservation as a volunteer for the Sierra Club. His skills and love of adventure propelled him toward pivotal conservation victories for public lands in Utah. He is articulate and engaging. In addition to his long-time work with the Sierra Club, Jim was essential to the Utah Wilderness Coalition\u27s effort to protect wilderness-quality lands in Utah. In this interview, he offers an in-depth, behind-the-scene look at the machinations of government with striking examples and good humor. In 1996, Jim founded the Wild Utah Project to support the work of other Utah conservation activists. His awards include the John Muir Award, the Sierra Club\u27s highest conservation award, and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance Conservation Award. Utah Environmental Oral History Project. Interviewer: Robert DeBir
Letter from Margaret Muir to Mrs. Muir [Louie Strentzel Muir], Jan 5
No full text466 Laurel Ave. St. Paul My dear Wanda— I want to thank you so much for the beautiful pen tray you sent me. It was so dear of you to remember me and the thought of your friendship was a great comfort to me in these days of my terrible trouble. I am not going to try to talk you all that we’ve been through. Our blessed mother seemed in the best of health when in about the home she left us [were] to come back. I want you to know how much she loved you all and how fond she always was of your dear Father. I am keeping house now for my Father. My brother John is home for two months vacation and Helen is in High School. Jim is in California [ ] and [Neal] is at the Michigan College of Mines. Will you write me soon all your family news. If your father should be anywhere near St. Paul, will your tell him to pleaser to come to see me. Ever lovingly yours, Margaret Muir January fift
Doug Muir, left, of the "Texas Battalion" and Jim Tazoi, right, of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a unit composed of second-generation Japanese Americans (a.k.a. Nisei)
No full textLabel reads "Utahns Doug Muir and Jim Tazoi. Tazoi helped rescue Muir\u27s "lost battalion" in France. He was later honored with the Distinguished Service Cross.
Recommended from our members
[Portrait of Jim Marrs]
No full textPortrait of Jim Marrs smiling at the camera while sitting on a wooden bench. He wears a plaid button-up shirt, black hat, and sunglasses. Marrs was an American journalist and author of publications such as his book, "Crossfire." Marrs is known for his conspiracy theories, specifically in relation to the assassination of John F. Kennedy
Political economy of contemporary Lebanon : a study of the reconstruction.
No full textSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN014105 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo
The John Muir Newsletter, Winter 2000
No full textvolume 10, Number 1 ^%4Km§-Winter 2000 NEWSLETTER Some Writings and Words of John Muir Compared with Writings of Henry David Thoreau by Stan Hutchinson, Sierra Madre, California ohn Muir\u27s earliest exposure to the writings of Henry D. Thoreau probably occurred in the home of Dr. and Mrs. Ezra S. Carr while he was a student it the Wisconsin State University, Madison, from ■ [lebruary, 1861, to June, 1863. The Carrs were keenly interested in the works of Emerson and Thoreau, and had (granted Muir access to their library. It is reasonable to presume his reading matter included Thoreau\u27s Walden published some eight years earlier. Had Muir not read Walden during his college days, it seems probable that he jjtould have mentioned his later reading of this unique book somewhere in his extensive correspondence with Mrs. Carr which began in 1865; such a letter has not come to light. It is also likely that he had opportunities to read §ne or more of Thoreau\u27s essays, particularly those published posthumously in the Atlantic Monthly beginning in June, 1862. H A copy of Walden was sent to Muir in Yosemite in 1872, and his receipt of the book is documented in a surviving letter.1 There is no confirmation that he first read it lit that time, but this gift would have allowed him to per- Wse and study Walden from a new perspective after a decade of personal wilderness experiences far removed §§om Madison. The earliest reference to Muir\u27s reading of ffhoreau is found in his letter to Jeanne Carr written from Yosemite, May 29, 1870, advising her that he had been reading Thoreau\u27s \u27Maine Woods\u27 a short time ago. 2 fjjhe first mention of Thoreau by Muir in his published writings was apparently in his article, Hetch-Hetchy Valley, published in the March 25, 1873 issue of the Boston Weekly Transcript; therein he praised the pure ibul of Thoreau. 3 Houghton Mifflin published The Writings of Henry I J. Thoreau in 1906 in a twenty volume edition, fourteen volumes of which were Thoreau\u27s Journal. Muir acquired his set in December of the following year.4 Assuming Muir delved into the various books, Thoreau\u27s personality, philosophy and creative genius were more fully revealed to Muir, greatly increasing his admiration for the individual and his work.5 There can be little doubt that Thoreau\u27s nature- oriented writings invigorated and inspired Muir in his own efforts. Similarities in Muir\u27s writings and philosophy to those of Thoreau are not rare and are occasionally encountered when reading one or the other, suggesting Thoreau\u27s subtle influence on Muir. Thoreau would have been pleased. The following examples of Muir\u27s affinity to Thoreau range from those which are perhaps more imagined than real to deliberate paraphrasing. The majority of Thoreau\u27s quotations are from Walden.6 Of the Muir quotations cited, only the first was ever intended by him for publication. Without reservation, Henry David Thoreau proclaimed the purpose of his second book on the title page of Walden, first published in 1854 by Ticknor and Fields, Boston. I do not propose to write an ode to dejection, but to brag as lustily as chanticleer in the morning, standing on his roost, if only to wake my neighbors up. A sentence of John Muir\u27s journal entry for July 12, 1869, written while en route to the Tuolumne Meadows with Pat Delaney\u27s sheep, appears to be a paraphrase of Thoreau\u27s statement quoted above. One must keep in mind that Muir\u27s 1869 Sierra journal was rewritten several times before it was published in 1911 as My First Summer in the Sierra. His paraphrase of Thoreau may have appeared in the original 1869 journal proving he had read (continued on page 3) T V OR page 1 F» A. C I F I C
News & Notes A great deal of John Muir-related activity is happening these days, proof once again of the worldwide impact of Muir\u27s life on our time. A new CD has been issued called the John Muir Tribute; proceeds from sales will go to support a planned new education and visitors center at the John Muir National Site in Martinez. To order, send your check, payable to John Muir Memorial Association for 25.00 donation plus 29.95 plus shipping and handling. Please contact Pearl Piper to order your copy. NEWSLETTER Volume 10, Number 1 Winter 2000 Published quarterly by The John Muir Center for Regional Studies University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA 95211 ♦ Staff ♦ Editor Sally M. Miller Production Assistants ... Marilyn Norton, Pearl Piper All photographic reproductions are courtesy of the John Muir Papers, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific Libraries. Copyright 1984 Muir-Hanna Trust. This Newsletter is printed on recycled paper. page 2
Some Writings and Words of John Muir Compared with Writings of Thoreau, by Stan Hutchinson Walden prior to that date. Alas, that journal no longer exists. Eating, walking, resting, seem alike delightful, and one feels inclined to shout lustily on rising in the morning like a crowing cock.\u27 In the opening pages of Economy, the first chapter Valden, Thoreau presents his readers with a basic tenet he book, noting the I, or first person.. .will be retained. . . throughout the text. And it was. I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else in I knew as well. Unfortunately, I am confined to this theme by the iirowness of my experience.8 On July 31, 1875, Muir wrote Jeanne Carr from ick\u27s Hotel in Yosemite Valley. In this mostly light- ■ .rted letter, the similarity of his comment about himself SmXh that of Thoreau may be purely coincidental. Then ftlgain, he may have been very deliberately paraphrasing Walden. All this letter is about myself, and why not when I\u27m the only . on in all the wide world that I know anything about - Keith . . . not excepted.5 Both Thoreau and Muir listened to owls during solitary excursions through dark or dimly lit woods and commented on their call. From the Sounds chapter of \u27 Iden comes Thoreau\u27s unusual and somewhat puzzling reflection on owls. I rejoice that there arc owls. Let them do the idiotic and maniacal hooting for men.10 Muir very briefly mentioned owls three times in his Sequoia journals of 1875, describing their call as beery, the bird as broad voiced and, in a manner U miniscent of Thoreau, their sanity as questionable. An owl, prince of lunatics. Health in his soft, anglelcss too- whoo-hoo-hoo. Thoreau\u27s essay Walking was first published in the • - \u27antic Monthly for June, 1862, a month after his death. He created the final form of this essay from two of his . \u3est popular lectures of the 1850s, Walking and The Wild. 12 The final version of Walking contains one of \u3ereau\u27s most famous and well-known passages. The West of which I speak is but another name for the Wild; and it I have been preparing to say is, that in Wildness is the preserva- H of the World.13 Various journal fragments from Muir\u27s 1890 Alaska trip were later utilized in chapters XVII and XVIII of Travels in Alaska, 1915. The journal entry for July 11, ■■ 90, which contained one of his now most oft-quoted itements was not included. Muir apparently confined the phrase to his private journal, never intending it for publication perhaps because of the similarity to Thoreau. I vas first published, posthumously, in 1938. In God\u27s wildness lies the hope of the world - the great fresh unblighted, unredeemed wilderness. The galling harness of civilization drops off, and the wounds heal ere we are aware.14 Thoreau related his views on hunting and fishing in the Higher Laws chapter of Walden. He was hopeful that youths inclined to hunt would soon outgrow it. This was rather unrealistic on Thoreau\u27s part, for in mid-nineteenth century America the bison and passenger pigeon still awaited their respective decimation or extinction by maturing hunters. No humane being, past the thoughtless age of boyhood will wantonly murder any creature, which holds its life by the same tenure that he does.\u275 In mid-May, 1903, John Muir and President Theodore Roosevelt spent three days together in Yosemite. During the evening of May 16, they were in camp near Glacier Point apparently enjoying every aspect of roughing it. Muir\u27s opinions on hunting mirrored those of Thoreau, and when Roosevelt turned the conversation to his own hunting exploits the unpolitic Muir proceeded to chastise him. A portion of that conversation was related by Muir to William Colby and Robert Underwood Johnson. Mr. Roosevelt, when are you going to get beyond the boyishness of killing things. . .are you not far enough along to leave that off? [To which the President supposedly responded, perhaps biting his tongue with those formidable teeth.] Muir, I guess you are right. [Of course, six years later TR blasted his way across Africa, ignoring Muir\u27s admonition.]16 Thoreau\u27s dissertation of the history of sauntering, also from Walking, 1862, reflects his typically thorough research on a subject. The excerpt quoted here also illustrates his remarkable and possible unequaled virtuosity with the comma. I have met with but one or two persons in the course of my life who understands the art of Walking, that is, of taking walks, - who had a genius, so to speak, for sauntering, which word is beautifully derived from idle people who roved about the country, in the Middle Ages, and asked charity, under pretense of going a la Sainte Terre, to the Holy Land, till the children exclaimed, There goes a Sainte-Terrer, a Saunterer, a Holy Lander. They who never go to the Holy Land in their walks. . . are indeed mere idlers and vagabonds; but they who go there are saunterers in the good sense, such as I mean. Some, however, would derive the word from sans terre, without land or a home, which, therefore, in the good sense, will mean, having no particular home, but equally at home everywhere. He who sits still in a house all the time may be the greatest vagrant of all; but the saunterer, in the good sense, is no more vagrant than the meandering river, which is all the while sedulously seeking the shortest course to the sea. But I prefer the first, which, indeed, is the most probable derivation. For every walk is a sort of crusade, preached by some Peter the Hermit in us, to go forth and reconquer this Holy Land from the hands of the Infidels. An interesting small book, The Mountain Trail and Its Message, was prepared by Albert W. Palmer from his mountaineering journals and diaries and was published in 1911 by The Pilgrim Press. Palmer was an early member of the Sierra Club and participated in several club outings. The most memorable for him may have been that of July, page 3
Some Writings and Words of John Muir Compared with Writings of Thoreau, by Stan Hutchinson 1908, to the Kern River Canyon when on July 1 he shared a campsite near John Muir. Palmer noted in his diary that the famous naturalist has spread his blankets just below mine under this great old yellow pine. All in all it is a jolly crowd.. . \u278 Several days later while resting along the trail, Palmer was overtaken by Muir. He stopped, they began to talk, and a portion of their ensuing conversation was recorded by Palmer in his diary. He later questioned whether the derivation of saunter Muir gave me is scientific or fanciful, suggesting he was not familiar with Thoreau\u27s commentary on the word. Muir apparently was.19 Mr. Muir, someone told me you did not approve of the word hike. Is that so? His blue eyes flashed, and with his Scotch accent he replied: I don\u27t like either the word or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains - not \u27hike!\u27 Do you know the origin of that word \u27saunter?\u27 It\u27s a beautiful word. Away back in the Middle Ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply, \u27A la saint terre,\u27 \u27To the Holy Land.\u27 And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not \u27hike\u27 through them.20 In another well-known quotation from the Economy chapter of Walden, Thoreau described some of the more important duties he had performed in the service of his fellow man. For many years I was self-appointed inspector of snow storms and rain storms, and did my duty faithfully; surveyor, if not of highways, then of forest paths and all across-lot routes, keeping them open, and ravines bridged and passable at all seasons, where the public heel had testified to their utility.2\u27 Late in life Muir deliberately paraphrased Thoreau\u27s inspector statement. Perhaps while rereading Walden, Thoreau\u27s Journal, or just reflecting on his own years of solitude and discovery, he scribbled out these brief and meaningful words (conjectural within brackets). [For many years I was a] self appointed inspector of gorges, gulches, and glaciers.22 Edward Abbey, a student of both Thoreau and Muir, brought these latter thoughts of the two writer-naturalists into the fourth quarter of the twentieth century and continued something of a tradition with them when he wrote, Saving the world was merely a hobby. My vocation has been that of inspector of desert waterholes. 23 ENDNOTES 1. Abba G. Woolson letter to John Muir, March 21, 1872, Boston, Muir Papers, Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific, Stockton, California. Cited in J. Parker Huber, John Muir and Thoreau\u27s Maine, The Concord Saunterer, New Series, 3 (Fall 1995): 111. 2. William Frederick Bade, The Life and Letters of John Muir (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, The Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1924), Vol I, p. 223. 3. Stephen Fox, John Muir and His Legacy: The American Conservation Movement (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1981), p. 83 and note, p. 395. Fox\u27s date for this issue of the Boston Weekly Transcript, March 21, 1873, is at variance with Kimes, which dates the issue as March 25, 1873. See William F. Kimes and Maymie B. Kimes, John Muir: A Reading Bibliography (Palo Alto, California, William P. Wreden 1977), p. 7. 4. J. Parker Huber, The Concord Saunterer ( Fall, 1995): p. 113, and note 37, p. 118. 5. For a discussion of Muir\u27s annotation in his set of Thoreau\u27s Journals and Thoreau\u27s influence on Muir\u27s later writings, see Richard F. Fleck, John Muir\u27s Homage to Henry David Thoreau. The Pacific Historian, 29, (Summer/Fall 1985), special double issue, John Muir: Life and Legacy, pp. 55-64. 6. For this and all subsequent quotations from Walden, I have utilized Walden, An Annotated Edition, with foreword and notes by Walter Harding (Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston), 1995. 7. John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra, (Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, The Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1911), p. 106. 8. Walden, p. 1. 9. Bade, The Life and Letters of John Muir, 1925, Vol. II, p. 55. Keith is William Keith, artist and friend of Muir. 10. Walden, p. 122. 11. John Muir, John of the Mountains, the Unpublished Journals of John Muir, edited by Linnie Marsh Wolfe (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1938), p. 215. 12 Great Short Works of Henry Thoreau, edited by Wendell Glick (New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1982), p. 294. 13. Henry David Thoreau, The Natural History Essays, introduction and notes by Robert Sattelmeyer (Salt Lake City: Gibbs-Smith Publisher, Peregrine Smith Books, 1980), p. 112. 14. Muir, John of the Mountains, p. 317. 15. Walden, p. 207. 16. Linnie Marsh Wolfe, Son of the Wilderness: The Life of John Muir (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1945), p. 292. 17. Thoreau, The Natural History Essays, p. [93J-94. For the first occurrence of the sauntering passages see The Journal of Henry David Thoreau, edited by Bradford Torrey and Francis H. Allen (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, [Reprint edition, introduction by Walter Harding. Gibbs M. Smith, Inc., Peregrine Smith Books, Salt Lake City, 1984], Vol. 2, Jan. 10, 1851), pp. 140-141. 18. Albert W. Palmer, The Mountain Trail and Its Message (The Pilgrim Press, [no place], 1911. Second edition with introduction and commentary by Charles Palmer Fisk. Sixth Street Press, Fresno, California, 1997), p. 14. 19. Ibid., p. 42. 20. Ibid., pp. 41-42. 21. Walden, p. 16. For the first occurrence of the inspector passages, see Thoreau\u27s Journal, Peregrine Smith reprint edition, 1984, Vol. I [1845-1847], p. 434. 22. Muir Papers, Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific, Stockton, California. Cited in Michael P. Cohen, The Pathless Way: John Muir and American Wilderness (Madison, Wl, The University of Wisconsin Press, 1984), p. 350. 23. Edward Abbey, Vox Clamantis in Deserto (Rydal Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Clark Kimball, Publisher, 1989 [Second edition, A Voice Crying in the Wilderness: Vox Clamantis in Deserto, Notes from a Secret Journal. St. Martin\u27s Press, New York, no date, p. 46]). page 4
Book Reviews Environmental Ethics: Duties To And Values In The Natural World By Holmes Rolston III Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1988 Reviewed by Steven C. Anderson Stockton, CA To state the obvious, environmental concerns have been growing for the past several decades. This has dted from, in large part, the perception that human- luced changes in the environment have had direct • pacts on everyone. This concern has been bolstered by ncreased scientific understanding of nature in an ilutionary and ecological context. The impact has been to a combination of rapid population growth, increased irations, expectations, and demands on resources tered by contemporary economic systems and doctrines that result in ever more growth and consumption, all of fueled by the growth of an enabling technology. Perhaps the most influential plea to extend traditional lies to the environment itself was the call for a land !;.etliic in the widely read Sand County Almanac of Aldo ipold, first published in 1949: A thing is right when it Is to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the Abiotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise. thing, Leopold meant human action, and subsequent owledge of the nature of communities has persuaded ecologists that integrity and stability have to be considered n the context of the dynamic of change that is part of the ^history of every ecosystem. Leopold\u27s simple, elegant iement has since generated an academic cottage indus- Ihe subdiscipline of environmental ethics, seeking to . • onalize and explain what many have intuited since their . i recognition of environmental degradation. Rolston has n an important contributor to this burgeoning literature. Although Rolston does not lay out his assumptions in llteipreface or an introductory chapter, the reader soon infers that they are the standard humanistic assumptions rights and ethics are secular constructs and that we are ffo proceed rationally from this precept. There are no . rills present in the wild before human assignment. But les (interests, desires, needs satisfied; welfare at stake) / be there apart from human presence (p. 52). But
Episode 5: Jim Bowyer
No full textRuntime 57:43In Episode 5, Eli interviews Jim Bowyer, professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota, senior contributor at Dovetail Partners, and author of The Irresponsible Pursuit of Paradise. Jim is well known for life cycle assessment research, designed to assess the environmental impact of a product or action by analyzing all of the component parts and processes. Jim offers insights about wood as a natural resource, the results of an environmental quiz that he has run for decades, and a critique of one of the most prominent environmental analyses ever conducted
The John Muir Newsletter, Spring/Summer 2004
No full textNews feSITY OF\u27 THE PACIFIC, STOCKTON, CA Volume 14, Number 2/3 SPRING/SUMMER-2004 The Dim Dark Sea of the Norther John Muir\u27s Exploits into the Pacific Northwest by Shane M. Hetzler (Editor\u27s note: A native ofBeaverton, Oregon, Shane Hetzler graduated from Pacific in May, 2004, with a double major in Histoiy and French as well as a minor in Environmental Studies. This paper was researched as an Independent Study research project utilizing the unique resources of the John Muir Papers on campus.) 7ti the Pacific Northwest of today, many people do not wonder why they are able to enjoy wild and scenic places to the extent that they are able. They do not question the fact that some of the most spectacular vistas, most stately mountains, and wisest forests survive today because of the dedication and commitment of the people before them. It is widely recognized that John Muir\u27s contributions to the American conservation movement place Muir in a category by himself. His fight to preserve natural wonders like Yosemite National Park and the Grand Canyon ensured that those special places would become public lands under federal guardianship. However, because Muir\u27s name is often synonymous with unique locations like Yosemite or the Grand Canyon, many fail to realize the mark that he left on other areas of the West.1 In his lifetime, Muir voyaged across deserts, mountains, glaciers, oceans, and jungles. His zeal for the outdoors and his lifelong desire for knowledge proved to be a conduit for his travels. But little is known about his relationship to the Pacific Northwest, namely Oregon, Washington, and to a lesser extent Idaho. Many Muir admirers know of his adventure with Stickeen,2 the dog in Alaska, and especially his many excursions in Yosemite Valley, but what mark did he leave on the Northwest? Equally important, what mark did the Northwest leave on him? The purpose of this article is to examine Muir in the context of the people and places of the Pacific Northwest that became important to him. The study also explores Muir\u27s impact on the three states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho as his conservation agenda widened to include special places throughout the western states and Alaska. The record of Muir makes clear that Muir was as much at home in the bosom of the Northwest as he was in a place like his beloved High Sierra.3 Northwest conservation writer Ronald Eber notes that it was probably from the summit of Mount Shasta in 1874 that Muir was first exposed to the lands north of California. From the snowy citadel of Shasta, he had a clear view of several of Oregon\u27s peaks. When it came time to contribute some of his works to Picturesque California roughly four years later, he included a brief description of his view in the chapter on Mount Shasta, writing that the snowy volcanic cones of Mounts Pitt, Jefferson, and the Three Sisters rise in clear relief, like majestic monuments, above the dim dark sea of the northern woods. 4 It is not known how much awareness Muir had of the Northwest at this time, but it is quite possible that the dim dark sea of the northern woods would forever be a little more familiar (Continued on page 4) page 1
m & E ES John Muir in Indianapolis State Historical Marker #49.2004.2 was installed (at the former site of Osgood, Smith and Co., Illinois & Merrill Streets, Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana) in July 2004 by the Indiana Historical Bureau, with funding from Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter and various donors. Photos courtesy of Indiana Historical Bureau John Muir in Indianapolis Following a severe eye injury, Muir i left Indianapolis September 1867 to H begin extensive travels; which ended i In California March 1868. His deep I friendship with Catharine Merrill and j others^ however, resulted in a lifelong connection with Indianapolis, a Muir co-founded the Sierra Club 1892. §§ and was president until he died John Mum in Indianapolis Born 1838 in Dunbar, Scotland, Muir moved to the U.S, with his family, settling in Wisconsin 1849. Asa youth, he became Interested in *i nature and mechanical inventions. He if attended the University of Wisconsin __ and was consumed with an Interest In t botany. In 1866, he came to Indiana\u27 polis and worRed at a carriage materials factory located here. Holt-Atherton\u27s Janene Ford Retires Janene Ford, Department Coordinator for the Holt-Atherton Special Collections Department at the University of the Pacific Library, retired on October 1 after 19 years of outstanding service. Janene spent 17 years in Special Collections, where she became an expert on the John Muir Papers. Over the years Janene has assisted countless students and scholars on a variety of Muir research projects. Her enthusiasm for Muir and intricate knowledge of his papers have been an invaluable asset to Special Collections. We wish Janene all the best in her retirement as she follows Muir\u27s footsteps into the Sierra and other wild places. Photo taken at Janene Ford\u27s retirement luncheon. From left to right: Jim Gaines, Ross Hanna, Gladys Hanna, Janene Ford, Sue Barry. Photo courtesy of Jill Harcke A California Sojourner Returns Early in September Michael Wurtz started as archivist for the University of the Pacific Holt-Atherton Special Collections. His route here could be considered as circuitous as Muir\u27s wanderings in the Sierra. Although born and raised in San Mateo, California, he has had close ties to the Highway 4 region of the Sierra since the late 1960s. Wurtz pulled up his roots in 1984 and moved to Arizona where he earned a Bachelor\u27s degree in Geography and a Master\u27s degree in History from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. Currently he is working toward a Master of Information Resources and Library Science from the University of Arizona in Tucson. He comes to Pacific from Prescott, Arizona where he was archivist at the Sharlot Hall Museum for the last 12 years. He is most thankful to be back in California. The John Muir Newsletter Volume 14, Number 2/3 Spring/Summer 2004 Published Quarterly by The John Muir Center for Environmental Studies University op the Pacific, Stockton, CA 95211 ♦ STAFF ♦ Director W.R. Swagerty Editor W.R. Swagerty Production Assistant Marilyn Norton Unless otherwise noted, all photographic reproductions are courtesy of the John Muir Papers, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections University of the Pacific Libraries. Copyright 1984 Muir-Hanna Trust This Newsletter is printed on recycled paper i^^^^^^^^«^^^^^^ page 2
Sacramento Bee Publishes Major Series on Hetch Hetchy L am excited by the fact that some people who have genuine environmental credentials like Restore Hetch Hetchy have taken this on. I admire them for what they\u27re doing. Ithink in the end they have a strong possibility of getting a study — hopefully, an honest study. -- Donald Hodel, President Reagan\u27s Secretary of the Interior, quoted in the Sacramento Bee, August 30, 2004 Beginning on Sunday, August 22, the Sacramento Bee began a major series of editorials and articles running over several weeks to engage its readers in a lively discussion about the possibility of restoring Yosemite\u27s Hetch Hetchy Valley. Earlier this summer, Ron Good, Executive Director of Restore Hetch Hetchy, met with the Sacramento Bee\u27s Associate Editor, Tom Philp, at Hetch Hetchy. They spent the afternoon strolling along the trail above the O\u27Shaughnessy Reservoir and enjoying Hetch Hetchy\u27s great granite walls and booming waterfalls, Tueeulala and Wapama, that were putting on a glorious show. Here are some exceipts from the Sacramento Bee\u27s editorials regarding the possibility of restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley, the place John Muir called a grand landscape garden, one of Nature\u27s rarest and most precious mountain temples: Hetch Hetchy today is truly an unusual case and Califomians can dare to regard the [O\u27Shaughnessy] dam in a new way. If they look carefully at water and electricity options, they may just find the dam more expendable than the lost valley below. It is possible to imagine a different future, one that restores the glories of Hetch Hetchy to the public while satisfying the legitimate municipal demands on this river. As coming editorials will explain, San Francisco doesn\u27t have to lose water for Hetch Hetchy to be reclaimed. But Hetch Hetchy\u27s restoration will involve more than San Francisco\u27s interests. It cannot occur as an isolated political act. There would have to be a water package to address the needs of every interest. The many public purposes of the Tuolumne River - its spectacular Yosemite watershed, the downstream water demands of San Francisco, electricity, Modesto flood control, Turlock agriculture - all are pieces of an intricate puzzle. The upcoming challenge is to fit them together - for the benefit of Califomians and, where Yosemite National Park is concerned, for the benefit of all Americans. In short, Califomians don\u27t have to be prisoners ETCH HETCHV I 1 RESER\C3IG £ I VlrJrtS M.\u27U t i \u3c , • \u27fr\u27 \u27 /vGSQWfTE V&LLEr J J\u27GBcV tl l)i% ^ r i \u27NATIONAL WAWIwfl--.- ■ ^ ^rrrC?\u27 PARK of a 90-year-old debate. Change is coming to the river. As part of that evolution, it is no longer unthinkable to imagine reuniting Yosemite\u27s twin valleys. Something magnificent and unexpected could actually happen. A river could be allowed to run free through a glacial valley, just as it did before Congress locked it away nine decades ago. To read the entire text of the series of Sacramento Bee editorials and articles, please visit their website: www.sacbee.com page 3
(Continued from page 1) by the time that he actually set foot there in the June of 1879. However, any curiosity that Muir would have had to explore further north would have been stifled by the fact that during this period in his life he was busy bounding among the granite boulders of the High Sierra, or being carted off to the San Francisco Bay Area to write about his experiences.3 Muir had shown interest in exploring Oregon as early as 1877, with a letter of introduction to one of Oregon\u27s earliest geologists, Thomas Condon. However, due to a trip to Shasta with botanist Sir Joseph Hooker and Harvard Professor Asa Gray, Muir and Condon were not able to meet in Oregon. However, Muir did received information from P.C. Renfrew, a fellow mountaineer who lived near Eugene. Renfrew also provided Muir with information about tree species and glacial action around the Three Sisters region of Central Oregon prior to his first expedition to Alaska in 1879.6 In a letter to his friend Jeanne Carr of June 19, 1879, Muir stated his goodbyes from San Francisco, writing, Dear Mrs. Carr: Goodbye. I am going home- going to my summer in the snow and ice and forests of the north coast. Will sail tomorrow at noon on the Dakota for Victoria and Olympia. Will then push inland and along land. May visit Alaska...7 This trip, Muir\u27s first expedition to Alaska, included stops along the way on the coasts of Oregon and Washington. The letter to Jeanne Carr is of interest for what it contains and what it does not, forcing evaluation of Muir\u27s motives for the Alaska adventure. Muir specifically cites the stops in Victoria and Olympia, without mentioning some of the other burgeoning towns of the Northwest like Portland, Seattle, or Tacoma. A second item of interest is the fact that Muir did not appear to be completely committed to an expedition in Alaska. This is particularly puzzling, given the assumption that one would need to prepare fairly well in advance for an expedition to an extremely rugged place such as Alaska. Lastly, his lack of description for scenic destinations like the Columbia Gorge or Mount Rainier, for example, would reinforce the idea that Muir was to be going on a fact-finding mission, a reconnaissance rather than a specific scientific expedition. Years later, in preparing the first chapter of his book, Travels in Alaska, Muir would write, as with the exception of a few of the Oregon peaks and their forests, all the wild north was new to me. 8 As a special correspondent for the San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin, it was his job to report on current events and potential of the Northwest. During his first trip beyond California, Muir searched far to bolster examples of his glacial theories. A secondary purpose, common to all of his journeys, involved description of unique landscapes and the identification and collecting of botanical samples. By July 9, 1879, Muir was on deck of the steamship California, several miles below Astoria, Oregon on the Columbia River. He was headed to Alaska. In a letter addressed to his friends three (Dr. and Mrs. Strentzel and their daughter Louie, his fiancee), Muir detailed his travels of the past three weeks. In his correspondence, he described his trip to Olympia from San Francisco. After exploring parts of Canada, he returned to Port Townsend, Seattle and Tacoma. Muir then rode to Kalama, Washington on the Columbia River by train. From Kalama, he steamed up the Columbia to Portland, from whence he departed for Alaska. In his letter to the Strentzels, Muir simply wrote: Thus it will appear that I will have visited this British city [Victoria] four times, besides sailing the whole length of Puget Sound three times, and up and down a hundred miles of the Fraser and Columbia rivers. So much I have seen of water and shore, forests and mountains, it seems incredible to me that the Almanac Time since leaving San Francisco should be less than three weeks.9 Besides recounting his travels thus far, he also hinted that he would like to go on several excursions into the woods and explore some of the mountains of the state of Oregon and Washington Territory. He also revealed that a few mining operations in Seattle and Carbon had expressed interest in his visiting their endeavors. Lastly, he took a moment to describe one of his favorite subjects, the mountains. He wrote: From one point on the Columbia a few miles below the mouth of the Willamette I saw fine snowy cones from ten to fourteen thousand feet high. Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood, and the North Sister? Rainier and St. Helens are the noblest mountains I ever saw surpassing even Shasta in the beauty of their lines and in iciness and in whiteness. Hood is much less imposing, sharp and rugged and wanting in solid massiness. 10 Despite the less than flattering analysis of Mount Hood, Muir had found another playground in the dim dark sea of the northern woods. It was hard for Mother Nature to impress Muir, and it is obvious that the large tracts of forestland, snowy peaks, and flowing rivers all stirred him. The August 29 issue of the San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin included a description of Washington Territory\u27s scenery from Muir\u27s pen. In Notes of a Naturalist, Muir described the geography and geology of the Puget Sound, Mount Rainier, and the coal fields of the Seattle region. His accounts of the area are in typical Murian fashion — exciting, vivid, and vibrant. Muir was writing for a particular audience. He advised the Bulletin subscribers that, Tourists and fugitives from the cities in general will find here a rich variety of the past of what is usually sought for at the least cost. This highlights Muir\u27s personal philosophy that people should not confine themselves to their houses, but rather enjoy an excursion outdoors. It was followed by a description of routes from California to the Puget Sound area, thus making it accessible in the minds of his readers. Through page 4
articles such as these, Muir was able to promote destinations in the Northwest, ultimately helping to protect them. m «|OfA\u27;MITyM|$f \u27 \u27ttijJr\u27/ait Wmkm Strew**\u27 ind\u27 kbr £ ll -1 1 r ji \u27•■ It?-. !l « I ;fc it cpHu^^|ivj^!rad.un-^igf; »p|j^jM r * f Headline for Muir\u27s Bulletin article on Puget Sound. Courtesy of the John Muir Papers, Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Libraries. Copyright 1984 Muir-Hanna Trust. Making his way home from Oregon proved to be a challenge for Muir. Returning to Portland from his Alaska expedition in early January of 1880, he found himself in a bit of a difficult situation. As his fiancee was anxiously awaiting his return to Martinez, Muir found himself to be entangled in a snarl of lectures in Portland. In his letter to Louie, he explained further, saying, I had promised to call on Dr. Lindley, and wanted to gain one small look at the canon of the Columbia for a hundred miles above here, and then away to Martinez. But as he disembarked in Portland, he was besieged with requests from the National Science Association, the Young Men\u27s Christian Association, and some college or other at Forest Grove [Pacific University]. Announcing that he had slightly less than a week before the first lecture, Muir took off for The Dalles, Oregon to explore the Columbia Gorge. n The first of four lectures was given on January 12 to a standing-room-only audience at Turn Halle in Portland. This lecture, sponsored by the National Science Association was titled The Glaciers of Alaska and California. The Morning Oregonian described Muir\u27s lecture as being delivered in an easy off-hand manner. The editor elaborated, Perhaps his strongest personal point is his naturalness and truthfulness; he has been for years a patient, conscientious student of nature and solemn, silent grandeur, and the scenes he thus gazed upon seem to have left their stamp upon him. \u273 Besides the ardor for his glacial theories, the audience was also treated to a series of chalk sketches that Muir made to help illustrate his point. After describing the glaciers he had witnessed in Alaska, he turned to the Yosemite Valley and explained how it was a product of the same processes. Muir\u27s second lecture on January 17 at Turn Halle was billed as Earth Sculpture: The Formation of Glaciers in the Development of Mines. The Sunday lecture was not reported by 77je Oregonian and little is known as to what transpired there. 14 Muir\u27s third lecture in the Portland area took place at Handel and Hayden Hall on January 23 under the title of Alaska, It\u27s Mines and Resources. As was consistent with his two previous lectures, Muir drew a large audience, among those present several being ladies. He spent a good portion of the time applying his glacial theories to the topic at hand. What was interesting about this particular lecture was that for the first time in the series, Muir spoke of the gold and silver regions of Mexico, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, and Montana. Outside of his excursions to Utah and Nevada as part of the Coast and Geodetic Survey and as a. Bulletin correspondent in 1876 and 1877 respectively, his knowledge of the aforementioned regions was fairly limited. Regardless, Muir\u27s final lecture in Portland was very well received, and he thanked the people of Portland for their kind treatment of him before he took his leave.15 His last lecture in the region was at The Oak Grove Theater in Vancouver, Washington. An account of the event was published on the twenty-fourth of January but the actual date of the lecture was not stated. The popular subject of Glaciers in Alaska was discussed for upwards of two hours. The lecture was relayed to the editor of The Oregonian by General Oliver Howard, who was soon to be engaged in the Nez Perce War. In his description of the event, Howard detailed Muir\u27s ten main points. Topics discussed included a definition of a glacier, icebergs, the formation of Yosemite Valley, avalanches, and how glaciers change the landscape, to name a few. General Howard was so excited by Muir\u27s lecture that he wrote in his review, Today I am enthused by the subject which I have not been able to sleep off. While it is unclear as to what effect Muir had on each individual in his audience, one can imagine that when he would forget his surroundings and launch into an impassioned description of the massive glacial sculpting of the earth, or a harrowing account of being swept away by an avalanche, people listened.16 Three days after Muir\u27s last lecture in Portland, The Morning Oregonian reprinted an article that Muir sent to the San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin. This article, Alaska Rivers, serves to illustrate the recognition that Muir had received in Portland from his lectures. As was his style, Muir brought awareness of faraway wild places to the homes of people who otherwise never would have experienced them. By bringing information on Alaska to the readers of The Bulletin and The Oregonian, Muir was able to demonstrate the benefits of conservation, ultimately serving to set an example for the aforementioned readers and what they did with their policymaking in the Northwest. His series of lectures certainly left their mark on his audiences. In the end, they allowed Muir to gain even more friends and contacts in Portland, which would serve to aid him in his future endeavors inside and outside of the Pacific Northwest. 17 It was under the premonition of his father\u27s death that Muir took his next trip through part of the Northwest, heading east to Kansas City, Missouri via Portland. Although he was traveling on family business, he was observing his surroundings during the entire trip for both his own personal knowledge and for use in his work. He arrived in Portland on August 14, 1885, having taken a stagecoach and train past Shasta from the San page 5
Francisco Bay area. After he disembarked, he checked into the Esmond Hotel, at Morrison and Front streets in downtown Portland. From his letter, it seemed as though he did not have too much
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