View source for John Muir

{{Short description|Scottish-American naturalist (1838–1914)}}
{{About other people|the Scottish-American naturalist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox person
 |name        = John Muir
 |image       = John Muir Watkins Portrait circa 1875 Edit.png
 |caption     = Portrait by [[Carleton E. Watkins]] {{circa|1875}}
 |birth_date  = {{birth date|mf=y|1838|4|21}}
 |birth_place = [[Dunbar]], Scotland
 |death_date  = {{death date and age|mf=y|1914|12|24|1838|4|21}}
 |death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.
 |occupation  = {{flatlist|
* Farmer
* inventor
* naturalist
* philosopher
* writer
* botanist
* zoologist
* geologist
* environmentalist
}}
 |alma_mater  = [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]]
 |spouse      = {{marriage|Louisa Strentzel|1880|1905|end=died}}
 |children    = 2
 |signature   = John muir signature.svg
}}

'''John Muir''' ({{IPAc-en|m|jʊər}} {{respell|MURE}}; April 21, 1838{{snd}}December 24, 1914),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.notablebiographies.com/Mo-Ni/Muir-John.html |title=John Muir |publisher=Encyclopedia of World Biography |access-date=September 25, 2010}}</ref> also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the [[national park|National Parks]]",<ref>{{cite book|last=Miller|first=Barbara Kiely|title=John Muir|publisher=Gareth Stevens|year=2008|page=10|isbn=978-0836883183}}</ref> was a Scottish-born American<ref>{{cite book|editor-first=Kim|editor-last=Kennedy White|title=America Goes Green: An Encyclopedia of Eco-Friendly Culture in the United States|location=Santa Barbara, California|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2013|page=xxiii|quote=John Muir (1838–1914) was a Scottish-born American citizen}}</ref><ref name=Fox/>{{rp|42}} [[naturalist]], author, [[environmental philosopher]], [[botanist]], [[zoologist]], [[glaciologist]], and early advocate for the preservation of [[wilderness]] in the United States.

His books, letters and essays describing his adventures in nature, especially in the [[Sierra Nevada]], have been read by millions. His activism helped to preserve the [[Yosemite Valley]] and [[Sequoia National Park]], and his example has served as an inspiration for the preservation of many other [[wilderness]] areas. The [[Sierra Club]], which he co-founded, is a prominent American [[conservation organization]]. In his later life, Muir devoted most of his time to his wife and the preservation of the Western forests. As part of the campaign to make Yosemite a national park, Muir published two landmark articles on wilderness preservation in ''[[The Century Magazine]]'', "The Treasures of the Yosemite" and "Features of the Proposed Yosemite National Park"; this helped support the push for [[US Congress]] to pass a bill in 1890 establishing [[Yosemite National Park]].<ref>Library of Congress. [http://www.memory.loc.gov/ammem/amrvhtml/cnchron3.html Documentary Chronology of Selected Events in the Development of the American Conservation Movement, 1847-1920] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201105231949/http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amrvhtml/cnchron3.html |date=November 5, 2020 }}.</ref> The spiritual quality and enthusiasm toward nature expressed in his writings has inspired readers, including presidents and congressmen, to take action to help preserve large nature areas.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/life/|title=The Life and Contributions of John Muir|publisher=Sierra Club|access-date=October 23, 2009|archive-date=March 31, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140331043927/http://sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/life/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

John Muir has been considered "an inspiration to both Scots and Americans".<ref name=MuirScotland>{{cite web|url=https://www.scotland.org/features/john-muir-the-life-and-times|title=John Muir: The Life and Times|publisher=Scotland.org|date=April 27, 2015|access-date=March 13, 2018|archive-date=October 19, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221019124058/https://www.scotland.org/features/john-muir-the-life-and-times|url-status=dead}}</ref> Muir's biographer, Steven J. Holmes, believes that Muir has become "one of the patron saints of twentieth-century American environmental activity", both political and recreational. As a result, his writings are commonly discussed in books and journals, and he has often been quoted by nature photographers such as [[Ansel Adams]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Adams|first=Ansel|title=America's Wilderness: the Photographs of Ansel Adams, with the Writings of John Muir|location=Philadelphia|publisher=Courage Books|year=2002|isbn=978-0762413904}}</ref> "Muir has profoundly shaped the very categories through which Americans understand and envision their relationships with the natural world", writes Holmes.<ref name=Holmes/>

Muir was noted for being an ecological thinker, political spokesman, and environmental advocate, whose writings became a personal guide into nature for many people, making his name "almost ubiquitous" in the modern environmental consciousness. According to author William Anderson, Muir exemplified "the archetype of our oneness with the earth",<ref>{{cite book|first=William|last=Anderson|title=Green Man: The Archetype of Our Oneness with the Earth|year=1998|publisher=Compass Equestrian Limited |isbn=978-0951703816}}</ref> while biographer [[Donald Worster]] says he believed his mission was "saving the American soul from total surrender to materialism".<ref name=Worster>{{cite book|first=Donald|last=Worster|author-link=Donald Worster|title=Passion for Nature|year=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |isbn=978-0195166828|url=https://archive.org/details/passionfornature00wors_0}}</ref>{{rp|403}} On April 21, 2013, the first John Muir Day was celebrated in Scotland, which marked the 175th anniversary of his birth, paying homage to the conservationist.

==Early life==

===Boyhood in Scotland===

[[File:John Muir birthplace.jpg|thumb|left|alt=photo of John Muir's birthplace in Dunbar, Scotland|Muir was born in the small house at left. His father bought the adjacent building in 1842, and made it the family home.]]
John Muir was born in [[Dunbar]], Scotland, in a three-story stone building now preserved as [[John Muir's Birthplace|a museum]]. He was the third of eight children of Daniel Muir and Ann Gilrye; their other children were Margaret, Sarah, David, Daniel, Ann and Mary (twins), and the American-born Joanna. His earliest recollections were of taking short walks with his grandfather when he was three.<ref>[http://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/writings/the_story_of_my_boyhood_and_youth/chapter_1.aspx A Boyhood in Scotland, Chapter 1, 'The Story of My Boyhood and Youth by John Muir'] by John Muir (1913) – John Muir Exhibit (John Muir Education Project, Sierra Club California).</ref> In his autobiography, he described his boyhood pursuits, which included fighting, either by re-enacting romantic battles from the [[Wars of Scottish Independence]] or just wrestling on the playground, and hunting for birds' nests (ostensibly to one-up his fellows as they compared notes on who knew where the most were located).<ref name=Boyhood>{{cite book|last=Muir|first=John|title=The Story of My Boyhood and Youth|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Co.|year=1916|url=https://archive.org/details/storymyboyhooda03muirgoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/storymyboyhooda03muirgoog/page/n55 25]|isbn=978-1-883011-24-6}}</ref>{{rp|25,37}} Author Amy Marquis notes that he began his "love affair" with nature while young, and implies that it may have been in reaction to his strict religious upbringing. "His father believed that anything that distracted from Bible studies was frivolous and punishable." But the young Muir was a "restless spirit" and especially "prone to lashings".<ref name=Marquis>{{cite journal|last=Marquis|first=Amy Leinbach|date=Fall 2007|url=http://www.npca.org/magazine/2007/fall/a-mountain-calling.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727131453/http://www.npca.org/magazine/2007/fall/a-mountain-calling.html|archive-date=July 27, 2011|url-status=dead|title=A Mountain Calling|journal=National Parks Magazine|access-date=October 23, 2009}}</ref> As a young boy, Muir became fascinated with the East Lothian landscape, and spent a lot of time wandering the local coastline and countryside. It was during this time that he became interested in natural history and the works of Scottish naturalist [[Alexander Wilson (ornithologist)|Alexander Wilson]].

Although he spent the majority of his life in America, Muir never forgot his roots in [[Scotland]]. He held a strong connection with his birthplace and Scottish identity throughout his life and was frequently heard talking about his childhood spent amid the East Lothian countryside. He greatly admired the works of [[Thomas Carlyle]] and poetry of [[Robert Burns]]; he was known to carry a collection of poems by Burns during his travels through the American wilderness. He returned to Scotland on a trip in 1893, where he met one of his Dunbar schoolmates and visited the places of his youth that were etched in his memory.<ref name=MuirScotland/> He never lost his Scottish accent since he was already 11 years old when he and his family emigrated to America.<ref>Kevin Hutchings and John Miller (eds.). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=9RiHDQAAQBAJ&q=%22scottish+accent%22 Transatlantic Literary Ecologies: Nature and Culture in the Nineteenth-Century Anglophone Atlantic World]''. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2017.</ref>

===Immigration to America===

In 1849, Muir's family immigrated to the United States, starting a farm near [[Portage, Wisconsin]], called [[Fountain Lake Farm]]. It has been designated a [[National Historic Landmark]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/nhl/find/statelists/wi/WI.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170209192942/https://www.nps.gov/NHL/find/statelists/wi/WI.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 9, 2017 |title=Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State |publisher=National Historic Landmarks Program |access-date=April 13, 2018 }}</ref> Stephen Fox recounts that Muir's father found the [[Church of Scotland]] insufficiently strict in faith and practice, leading to their immigration and joining a congregation of the [[Alexander Campbell (clergyman)|Campbellite]] [[Restoration Movement]], called the [[Disciples of Christ (Campbell Movement)|Disciples of Christ]].<ref name=GW>{{cite book|last=White|first=Graham|chapter=Introduction|title=Journeys in the Wilderness, A John Muir Reader|publisher=Birlinn|year=2009|location=Edinburgh|isbn=978-1841586977}}</ref>{{rp|7}} By the age of 11, the young Muir had learned to recite "by heart and by sore flesh" all of the [[New Testament]] and most of the [[Old Testament]].<ref name=Fox>{{cite book|last=Fox|first=Stephen R.|publisher=Univ of Wisconsin Press|year=1985|isbn=978-0-299-10634-8|title=The American conservation movement : John Muir and his legacy|url=https://archive.org/details/americanconserva00foxs}}</ref>{{rp|30}} In maturity, while remaining a deeply spiritual man, Muir may have changed his orthodox beliefs. He wrote, "I never tried to abandon creeds or code of civilization; they went away of their own accord ... without leaving any consciousness of loss." Elsewhere in his writings, he described the conventional image of a [[Creator deity|Creator]] "as purely a manufactured article as any puppet of a half-penny theater".<ref name="Wolfe">{{cite book | title=Son of the Wilderness: The Life of John Muir | publisher=Alfred A. Knopf | last=Wolfe | first=Linnie Marsh | author-link=Linnie Marsh Wolfe | year=1945|isbn=978-0299186340}}</ref>{{rp|95, 115}}

[[File:JohnMuirFountianLakeFarm.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|Entrance to [[Fountain Lake Farm]] near [[Portage, Wisconsin]]]]

When he was 22 years old, Muir enrolled at the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]], paying his own way for several years. There, under a towering [[Robinia pseudoacacia|black locust tree]] beside [[North Hall, University of Wisconsin|North Hall]], Muir took his first botany lesson. A fellow student plucked a flower from the tree and used it to explain how the grand locust is a member of the pea family, related to the straggling pea plant. Fifty years later, the naturalist Muir described the day in his autobiography. "This fine lesson charmed me and sent me flying to the woods and meadows in wild enthusiasm".<ref name=Boyhood/>{{rp|225}} As a freshman, Muir studied chemistry with [[Ezra S. Carr|Professor Ezra Carr]] and his wife [[Jeanne C. Smith Carr|Jeanne]]; they became lifelong friends and Muir developed a lasting interest in chemistry and the sciences.<ref name=Worster/>{{rp|76}} Muir took an eclectic approach to his studies, attending classes for two years but never being listed higher than a first-year student due to his unusual selection of courses. Records showed his class status as "irregular gent" and, even though he never graduated, he learned enough geology and botany to inform his later wanderings.<ref name=Miller>{{cite book|last=Miller|first=Rod|title=John Muir: Magnificent Tramp|location=New York|publisher=Forge|year=2005|isbn=978-0-7653-1071-2|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/johnmuirmagnific0000mill_k0l5}}</ref>{{rp|36}}

[[File:John Muir Portrait circa 1863.jpg|thumb|left|Muir {{circa|1863}}]]

In 1863, his brother Daniel left Wisconsin and moved to [[Southern Ontario]] (then known as ''Canada West'' in the [[Province of Canada|United Canadas]]), to avoid the [[Conscription#American Civil War|draft]] during the [[US Civil War]]. Muir left school and travelled to the same region in 1864, and spent the spring, summer, and fall exploring the woods and swamps, and collecting plants around the southern reaches of [[Lake Huron]]'s [[Georgian Bay]].<ref name=Worster/>{{rp|85,92}} Muir hiked along the [[Niagara Escarpment]], including much of today's [[Bruce Trail]]. With his money running low and winter coming, he reunited with his brother Daniel near [[Meaford, Ontario]], who persuaded him to work with him at the sawmill and rake factory of William Trout and Charles Jay. Muir lived with the Trout family in an area called Trout Hollow, south of Meaford, on the [[Bighead River]].<ref name="Wilson">{{cite news|last1=Wilson|first1=Paul|title=John Muir's Wild Years|url=https://www.mountainlifemedia.ca/2015/07/john-muirs-wild-years|access-date=April 6, 2018|work=Mountain Life|date=July 21, 2015}}</ref> While there, he continued "botanizing", exploring the escarpment and bogs, collecting and cataloging plants. One source appears to indicate he worked at the mill/factory until the summer of 1865,<ref name=Miller/>{{rp|37}} while another says he stayed on at Trout Hollow until after a fire burned it down in February 1866.<ref>"Following John Muir's footsteps ...". Historical marker at the Epping Lookout, Meaford, Ontario. The Friends of John Muir.</ref>

In March 1866, Muir returned to the United States, settling in [[Indianapolis]] to work in a wagon wheel factory. He proved valuable to his employers because of his inventiveness in improving the machines and processes; he was promoted to supervisor, being paid $25 per week.<ref name=Fox/>{{rp|48}} In early-March 1867, an accident changed the course of his life: a tool he was using slipped and struck him in the eye. The file slipped and cut the cornea in his right eye and then his left eye sympathetically failed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-miseducation-of-john-muir|title=The Miseducation of John Muir|first=Justin|last=Nobel|publisher=Atlas Obscura|access-date=April 29, 2018|date=July 26, 2016}}</ref> He was confined to a darkened room for six weeks to regain his sight, worried about whether he would end up blind. When he regained his sight, "he saw the world—and his purpose—in a new light". Muir later wrote, "This affliction has driven me to the sweet fields. God has to nearly kill us sometimes, to teach us lessons".<ref name=Marquis/> From that point on, he determined to "be true to [himself]" and follow his dream of exploration and study of plants.<ref name=Wolfe/>{{rp|97}}

In September 1867, Muir undertook a walk of about {{convert|1000|mi|km}} from [[Kentucky]] to [[Florida]], which he recounted in his book ''A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf''. He had no specific route chosen, except to go by the "wildest, leafiest, and least trodden way I could find".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Muir|first1=John|editor1-last=Badè|editor1-first=William Frederic|title=A Thousand-mile Walk to the Gulf|date=1916|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|location=Boston and New York|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924028782633|access-date=February 17, 2017|page=xxxii}}</ref> When Muir arrived at [[Cedar Key, Florida|Cedar Key]], he began working for Richard Hodgson at Hodgson's sawmill. However, three days after accepting the job at Hodgson's, Muir almost died of a malarial sickness. After spending three months in an oft delirious state, Muir's condition improved such that he was able to move about the Hodgson's house and look outside. Due to their unending kindness in caring for his life, Muir stated that he "doubtless owe my life"<ref>{{Cite book|last=Muir|first=John|title=A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf|publisher=HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY|year=1916|location=Boston and New York|pages=Chapter 6}}</ref> to the Hodgsons.

One evening in early January 1868, Muir climbed onto the Hodgson house roof to watch the sunset. He saw a ship, the Island Belle, and learned it would soon be sailing for [[Cuba]].<ref name=Turner>{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Frederick W.|title=John Muir: Rediscovering America|location=Madison|publisher=Da Capo Press|year=2000|isbn=978-0738203751}}</ref>{{rp|150, 154}} Muir boarded the ship, and while in [[Havana]], he spent his hours studying shells and flowers and visiting the botanical garden in the city.<ref name=Wilkins/>{{rp|56}} Afterwards, he sailed to [[New York City]] and booked passage to [[California]].<ref name=Miller/>{{rp|40–41}} In 1878, Muir served as a guide and artist for the [[United States Coast and Geodetic Survey]] on the survey of the [[39th parallel north|39th parallel]] across the [[Great Basin]] of Nevada and Utah.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/about/history-of-coast-survey.html |title=History of Coast Survey|publisher=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)|work=Office of Coast Survey|language=en|access-date=July 21, 2020}}</ref><ref>Muir, John; [[William F. Badè|Badè, William Frederic]] (1924). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=QGYdAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA97 The Writings of John Muir]''. Vol. 10 (''The Life and Letters of John Muir'', Vol. 2). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. 97 (narrative by Badè).</ref>

==Explorer of nature==

=== California ===

==== Experiencing Yosemite ====
[[File:John Muir c1902.jpg|thumb|right|Muir {{circa|1902}}]]
Finally settling in [[San Francisco]], Muir immediately left for a week-long visit to [[Yosemite National Park|Yosemite]], a place he had only read about. Seeing it for the first time, Muir notes that "He was overwhelmed by the landscape, scrambling down steep cliff faces to get a closer look at the waterfalls, whooping and howling at the vistas, jumping tirelessly from flower to flower."<ref name=Marquis/> He later returned to Yosemite and worked as a shepherd for a season. He climbed a number of mountains, including [[Cathedral Peak (California)|Cathedral Peak]] and [[Mount Dana]], and hiked an old trail down [[Bloody Canyon]] to [[Mono Lake]].

Muir built a small cabin along [[Yosemite Creek]],<ref name=NationalParks/>{{rp|207}} designing it so that a section of the stream flowed through a corner of the room so he could enjoy the sound of running water. He lived in the cabin for two years<ref name=Teale>{{cite book|last1=Muir|first1=John|last2=Teale|first2=Edwin Way|title=The Wilderness World of John Muir|publisher=Mariner Books|year=1954|isbn=978-0618127511}}</ref>{{rp|143}} and wrote about this period in his book ''First Summer in the Sierra'' (1911). Muir's biographer, Frederick Turner, notes Muir's journal entry upon first visiting the valley and writes that his description "blazes from the page with the authentic force of a conversion experience".<ref name=Turner/>{{rp|172}}

==== Friendships ====
During these years in [[Yosemite National Park|Yosemite]], Muir was unmarried, often unemployed, with no prospects for a career, and had "periods of anguish", writes naturalist author [[John Tallmadge]]. In 1880, he married [[Louisa Strentzel]]. He went into business for 10 years with his father-in-law managing the orchards on the family [[John Muir National Historic Site|2,600 acre farm]] in [[Martinez, California]]. Muir and Strentzel had two daughters, [[Wanda Muir Hanna]] and [[Helen Muir Funk]]. He was sustained by the natural environment and by reading the essays of naturalist author [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]], who wrote about the very life that Muir was then living. On excursions into the back country of Yosemite, he traveled alone, carrying "only a tin cup, a handful of tea, a loaf of bread, and a copy of Emerson".<ref name=Tallmadge>{{cite book|last=Tallmadge|first=John|title=Meeting the Tree of Life: A Teacher's Path|url=https://archive.org/details/meetingtreeoflif0000tall|url-access=registration|publisher=Univ. of Utah Press|year=1997|isbn=978-0874805314}}</ref>{{rp|52–53}} He usually spent his evenings sitting by a campfire in his overcoat, reading Emerson under the stars. As the years passed, he became a "fixture in the valley", respected for his knowledge of natural history, his skill as a guide, and his vivid storytelling.<ref name=Tallmadge/>{{rp|53}} Visitors to the valley often included scientists, artists, and celebrities, many of whom made a point of meeting with Muir.

During his time at the University of Wisconsin, Muir took classes under [[Charles Herman Allen|Charles H. Allen]], with whom he became lifelong friends, sharing a love of natural sciences.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kohrs |first=Donald G. |url=https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/12063616 |title=Chautauqua, the nature study movement in Pacific Grove, California |date=2015 |publisher=Pacific Grove |edition=First |location= |chapter=Chapter 5: Five college institutions located in the San Francisco bay area}}</ref> Allen would move to California in 1872 and become the principal of the [[California State Normal School]] (now [[San Jose State University]]), Muir gave several lectures at the normal school, and Allen joined Muir in several mountain hikes.<ref name=":4" />

Muir maintained a close friendship for 38 years with [[William Keith (artist)|William Keith]], a California landscape painter. They were both born the same year in Scotland and shared a love for the mountains of California.{{Citation needed|date=September 2019}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/jomu/learn/historyculture/people.htm#CP_JUMP_5340518|title=William Keith, a Friend of John Muir|last=Pauly|first=Steve|website=National Park Service|access-date=October 11, 2019}}</ref>

In 1871, after Muir had lived in Yosemite for three years, Emerson, with several friends and family, arrived in Yosemite during a tour of the [[Western United States]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Wilson |first=Brian C. |title=The California Days of Ralph Waldo Emerson |year=2022 |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |location=Amherst, MA |isbn=978-1625346438}}</ref>{{rp|105–46}} The two men met, and according to Tallmadge, "Emerson was delighted to find at the end of his career the prophet-naturalist he had called for so long ago ... And for Muir, Emerson's visit came like a laying on of hands."<ref name=Tallmadge/>{{rp|53}} Emerson spent one day with Muir, and he offered him a teaching position at Harvard, which Muir declined. Muir later wrote, "I never for a moment thought of giving up God's big show for a mere profship!"<ref name=Tallmadge/>{{rp|53}}

Muir also spent time with photographer [[Carleton Watkins]] and studied his photographs of Yosemite.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/dec/30/carleton-watkins-photographs-saved-yosemite Carleton Watkins photographs saved Yosemite] December 20, 2011, Guardian</ref>

==== Geological studies and theories ====
[[File:John Muir Cane.JPG|thumb|left|Muir in 1907]]
Pursuit of his love of science, especially geology, often occupied his free time. Muir soon became convinced that [[glacier]]s had sculpted many of the features of the Yosemite Valley and surrounding area. This notion was in strong contradiction to the accepted contemporary theory, promulgated by [[Josiah Whitney]] (head of the [[California Geological Survey]]), which attributed the formation of the valley to a catastrophic [[earthquake]]. As Muir's ideas spread, Whitney tried to discredit Muir by branding him as an amateur. But [[Louis Agassiz]], the premier geologist of the day, saw merit in Muir's ideas and lauded him as "the first man I have ever found who has any adequate conception of glacial action".<ref name="glacial-action">{{cite book|author=Terry Gifford (re.)|title=The life and letters of John Muir|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v5gBcjZkQ5IC&pg=PA322|year=1996|publisher=The Mountaineers Books|page=[https://archive.org/details/johnmuirhislifel0000muir/page/322 322]|chapter=Trees and Travel|quote=Letter to Robert Underwood Johnson; Martinez, 3 March 1895|isbn=978-0898864632|url=https://archive.org/details/johnmuirhislifel0000muir/page/322}}</ref>
In 1871, Muir discovered an active alpine glacier below [[Merced Peak]], which helped his theories gain acceptance.

A large [[1872 Lone Pine earthquake|earthquake centered near Lone Pine]] in [[Owens Valley]] strongly shook occupants of Yosemite Valley in March 1872. The quake woke Muir in the early morning, and he ran out of his cabin "both glad and frightened", exclaiming, "A noble earthquake!" Other valley settlers, who believed Whitney's ideas, feared that the quake was a prelude to a cataclysmic deepening of the valley. Muir had no such fear and promptly made a moonlit survey of new [[scree|talus]] piles created by earthquake-triggered rockslides.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/writings/our_national_parks/ |chapter-url=http://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/writings/the_earthquake.aspx|title=Our National Parks |chapter=The Earthquake|publisher=[[Sierra Club]]|author=Muir, John|year=1901}}</ref> This event led more people to believe in Muir's ideas about the formation of the valley.{{clarify|date=November 2019}}

==== Botanical studies ====
In addition to his geologic studies, Muir also investigated the plant life of the Yosemite area. In 1873 and 1874, he made field studies along the western flank of the Sierra on the distribution and ecology of isolated groves of [[Giant Sequoia]]. In 1876, the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] published Muir's paper on the subject.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science|title=On the Post-glacial History of Sequoia Gigantea|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BbEZAAAAYAAJ|volume=25|date=August 1876|pages=242–252|last1=Muir|first1=John}}</ref>

===Pacific Northwest===
Between 1879 and 1899, Muir made seven trips to [[Alaska]], as far as [[Unalaska, Alaska|Unalaska]] and [[Barrow, Alaska|Barrow]].<ref>Muir, John, (1915) ''Travels in Alaska''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.</ref> Muir, Mr. Young (Fort Wrangell missionary) and a group of Native American Guides first traveled to Alaska in 1879 and were the first Euro-Americans<ref>{{Cite book |author=John Muir |title=Travels in Alaska |chapter=Chapter X: The Discovery of Glacier Bay |location=Boston |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |year=1915 |chapter-url=http://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/writings/travels_in_alaska/chapter_10.aspx }}</ref> to explore [[Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve|Glacier Bay]]. [[Muir Glacier]] was later named after him. He traveled into [[British Columbia]] a third of the way up the [[Stikine River]], likening its [[Grand Canyon of the Stikine|Grand Canyon]] to "a Yosemite that was a hundred miles long".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://infoaboutalaska.com/WordPress/natural-history/john-muir-comes-to-alaska/ |title=John Muir Comes to Alaska | publisher=Information About Alaska (IAA) |author=Sorum, Alan |date=September 30, 2007 |access-date=January 14, 2009}}</ref> Muir recorded over 300 glaciers along the river's course.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0403/feature5/fulltext.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080403154747/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0403/feature5/fulltext.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 3, 2008 |title=Deep North | work=National Geographic Magazine |publisher=National Geographic Society |author=Davis, Wade |date=March 2004 |access-date=January 14, 2009}}</ref>

He returned for further explorations in southeast Alaska in 1880 and in 1881 was with the party that landed on [[Wrangel Island]] on the [[USRC Thomas Corwin (1876)|USS ''Corwin'']] and claimed that island for the United States. He documented this experience in journal entries and newspaper articles—later compiled and edited into his book ''The Cruise of the Corwin''.<ref>{{cite book| url=http://www.yosemite.ca.us/john_muir_writings/the_cruise_of_the_corwin/introduction.html| title=The Cruise of the Corwin| author=John Muir|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company| location=Boston and New York| year=1917| access-date=September 5, 2008|isbn=978-1140210405}}</ref> In 1888 after seven years of managing the Strentzel fruit ranch in [[Alhambra Valley, California]], his health began to suffer. He returned to the hills to recover, climbing [[Mount Rainier]] in [[Washington (state)|Washington]] and writing ''Ascent of Mount Rainier''.

==Activism==

===Preservation efforts===
[[File:Valley View Yosemite August 2013 002.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|Yosemite Valley and the [[Merced River]]]]

====Establishing Yosemite National Park====
Muir threw himself into the preservationist role with great vigor. He envisioned the Yosemite area and the Sierra as pristine lands.<ref name="proposed">{{cite journal|first=John|last=Muir| title=Features of the Proposed Yosemite National Park| url=http://www.yosemite.ca.us/john_muir_writings/features_of_the_proposed_yosemite_national_park/| journal=The Century Magazine| issue= 5|date=September 1890| access-date=April 8, 2007| volume=XL}}</ref> He thought the greatest threat to the Yosemite area and the Sierra was domesticated livestock—especially domestic sheep, which he referred to as "hoofed locusts". In June 1889, the influential associate editor of ''The Century'' magazine, [[Robert Underwood Johnson]], camped with Muir in [[Tuolumne Meadows]] and saw firsthand the damage a large flock of sheep had done to the grassland. Johnson agreed to publish any article Muir wrote on the subject of excluding livestock from the Sierra high country. He also agreed to use his influence to introduce a bill to Congress to make the Yosemite area into a national park, modeled after [[Yellowstone National Park]].

On September 30, 1890, the US Congress passed a bill that essentially followed recommendations that Muir had suggested in two ''Century'' articles, "The Treasures of the Yosemite" and "Features of the Proposed National Park", both published in 1890.<ref>John Muir. "[http://www.yosemite.ca.us/john_muir_writings/the_treasures_of_the_yosemite/ The Treasures of the Yosemite]". ''The Century Magazine'', vol. 40, no. 4 (August 1890).</ref><ref name="proposed"/> But to Muir's dismay, the bill left Yosemite Valley under state control, as it had been since the 1860s.

===Co-founding the Sierra Club===
{{Main|Sierra Club}}
[[File:John Muir - from Library-of-Congress (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|Muir in the forest]]
In early 1892, Professor Henry Senger, a [[Philology|philologist]] at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], contacted Muir with the idea of forming a local 'alpine club' for mountain lovers. Senger and San Francisco attorney [[Warren Olney]] sent out invitations "for the purpose of forming a 'Sierra Club'. Mr. John Muir will preside". On May 28, 1892, the first meeting of the [[Sierra Club]] was held to write articles of incorporation. One week later Muir was elected president, Warren Olney was elected vice-president, and a board of directors was chosen that included [[David Starr Jordan]], president of the new [[Stanford University]]. Muir remained president until his death 22 years later.<ref name=Fox/>{{rp|107–108}}<ref name="Colby">{{cite web|url=http://www.owensvalleyhistory.com/stories1/story_of_sierra_club.pdf|title=The Story of the Sierra Club|last=Colby|first=William|date=December 1967|work=Sierra Club Bulletin|publisher=Sierra Club|access-date=February 26, 2009|archive-date=October 29, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081029145629/http://www.owensvalleyhistory.com/stories1/story_of_sierra_club.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The Sierra Club immediately opposed efforts to reduce [[Yosemite National Park]] by half, and began holding educational and scientific meetings. At one meeting in the fall of 1895 that included Muir, [[Joseph LeConte]], and William R. Dudley, the Sierra Club discussed the idea of establishing 'national forest reservations', which were later called [[United States National Forest|National Forests]]. The Sierra Club was active in the successful campaign to transfer Yosemite National Park from state to federal control in 1906. The fight to preserve Hetch Hetchy Valley was also taken up by the Sierra Club, with some prominent San Francisco members opposing the fight. Eventually a vote was held that overwhelmingly put the Sierra Club behind the opposition to Hetch Hetchy Dam.<ref name="Colby"/>

===Preservation vs conservation===
In July 1896, Muir became associated with [[Gifford Pinchot]], a national leader in the [[Conservation in the United States|conservation]] movement. Pinchot was the first head of the [[United States Forest Service]] and a leading spokesman for the sustainable use of natural resources for the benefit of the people. His views eventually clashed with Muir's and highlighted two diverging views of the use of the country's natural resources. Pinchot saw conservation as a means of managing the nation's natural resources for long-term sustainable commercial use. As a professional forester, his view was that "forestry is tree farming", without destroying the long-term viability of the forests.<ref name="Meyer">{{cite journal|last=Meyer|first=John M.|date=Winter 1997|title=Gifford Pinchot, John Muir, and the Boundaries of Politics in American Thought|journal=Polity|volume=30|issue=2|pages=267–284|doi=10.2307/3235219|jstor=3235219|s2cid=147180080}}</ref> Muir valued nature for its spiritual and transcendental qualities. In one essay about the National Parks, he referred to them as "places for rest, inspiration, and prayers". He often encouraged city dwellers to experience nature for its spiritual nourishment. Both men opposed reckless exploitation of natural resources, including clear-cutting of forests. Even Muir acknowledged the need for timber and the forests to provide it, but Pinchot's view of wilderness management was more resource-oriented.<ref name="Meyer"/>

Their friendship ended late in the summer of 1897 when Pinchot released a statement to a [[Seattle]] newspaper supporting sheep grazing in forest reserves. Muir confronted Pinchot and demanded an explanation. When Pinchot reiterated his position, Muir told him: "I don't want any thing more to do with you". This philosophical divide soon expanded and split the conservation movement into two camps: the "preservationists", led by Muir; and Pinchot's camp, who used the term "conservation". The two men debated their positions in popular magazines, such as ''Outlook'', ''Harper's Weekly'', ''Atlantic Monthly'', ''World's Work'', and ''Century''. Their contrasting views were highlighted again when the United States was deciding whether to dam [[Hetch Hetchy Valley]]. Pinchot favored damming the valley as "the highest possible use which could be made of it". In contrast, Muir proclaimed, "Dam Hetch Hetchy! As well dam for water-tanks the people's cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the hearts of man".<ref name="Meyer"/>

[[File:Muir and Roosevelt restored.jpg|thumb|right|[[Theodore Roosevelt]] and Muir, 1903]]
In 1899, Muir accompanied railroad executive [[E. H. Harriman]] and esteemed scientists on the famous [[Harriman Alaska Expedition|exploratory voyage]] along the Alaska coast aboard the luxuriously refitted {{convert|250|ft|m|0|adj=on}} steamer, the ''George W. Elder.'' He later relied on his friendship with Harriman to pressure Congress to pass conservation legislation.{{Citation needed|date=September 2009}}

In 1903, President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] accompanied Muir on a visit to Yosemite. Muir joined Roosevelt in [[Oakland, California]], for the train trip to [[Raymond, California|Raymond]]. The presidential entourage then traveled by [[stagecoach]] into the park. While traveling to the park, Muir told the president about state mismanagement of the valley and rampant exploitation of the valley's resources. Even before they entered the park, he was able to convince Roosevelt that the best way to protect the valley was through federal control and management.

After entering the park and seeing the magnificent splendor of the valley, the president asked Muir to show him the real Yosemite. Muir and Roosevelt set off largely by themselves and camped in the back country. The duo talked late into the night, slept in the brisk open air of Glacier Point, and were dusted by a fresh snowfall in the morning. It was a night Roosevelt never forgot.<ref name = "Nash">{{cite book|last=Nash|first=Roderick|title=Wilderness & The American Mind|year=2001|publisher=Yale University Press|location=Yale University|isbn=978-0-300-09122-9|url=https://archive.org/details/wildernessameric00nash_0}}</ref><ref name="Distillations">{{cite journal|last1=Rinde|first1=Meir|title=Richard Nixon and the Rise of American Environmentalism |journal=Distillations |date=2017|volume=3|issue=1|pages=16–29|url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/richard-nixon-and-the-rise-of-american-environmentalism|access-date=April 4, 2018}}</ref> He later told a crowd, "Lying out at night under those giant Sequoias was like lying in a temple built by no hand of man, a temple grander than any human architect could by any possibility build."<ref name=CampingBlog>{{cite web|title=Camping With John and Teddy|url= https://www.theattic.space/home-page-blogs/2018/8/23/camping-with-john-and-teddy |website=The Attic|date= August 23, 2018 |access-date=September 3, 2018}}</ref> Muir, too, cherished the camping trip. "Camping with the President was a remarkable experience", he wrote. "I fairly fell in love with him".<ref name=CampingBlog />

Muir then increased efforts by the [[Sierra Club]] to consolidate park management. In 1906 Congress transferred the [[Mariposa Grove]] and Yosemite Valley to the park.<ref>{{cite web
 | url = https://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/people/roosevelt.aspx
 | title = Theodore Roosevelt
 | last = The Sierra Club
 | date =n.d.
 |website=sierraclub.org/
 | publisher = The Sierra club
 | access-date = October 27, 2021 }}</ref>

==Nature writer==
[[File:Lake Tenaka.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|[[Lake Tenaya]], Yosemite]]
In his life, Muir published six volumes of writings, all describing explorations of natural settings. Four additional books were published posthumously. Several books were subsequently published that collected essays and articles from various sources. Miller writes that what was most important about his writings was not their quantity, but their "quality". He notes that they have had a "lasting effect on American culture in helping to create the desire and will to protect and preserve wild and natural environments".<ref name=Miller/>{{rp|173}}

His first appearance in print was by accident, writes Miller; a person he did not know submitted, without his permission or awareness, a personal letter to his friend Jeanne Carr, describing [[Calypso (plant)|''Calypso borealis'']], a rare flower he had encountered. The piece was published anonymously, identified as having been written by an "inspired pilgrim".<ref name=Miller/>{{rp|174}} Throughout his many years as a nature writer, Muir frequently rewrote and expanded on earlier writings from his journals, as well as articles published in magazines. He often compiled and organized such earlier writings as collections of essays or included them as part of narrative books.<ref name=Miller/>{{rp|173}}

===Jeanne Carr: friend and mentor===
Muir's friendship with Jeanne Carr had a lifelong influence on his career as a naturalist and writer. They first met in the fall of 1860, when, at age 22, he entered a number of his homemade inventions in the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society Fair. Carr, a fair assistant, was asked by fair officials to review Muir's exhibits to see if they had merit. She thought they did and "saw in his entries evidence of genius worthy of special recognition", notes Miller.<ref name=Miller/>{{rp|33}} As a result, Muir received a diploma and a monetary award for his handmade clocks and [[thermometer]].<ref name=Gisel/>{{rp|1}} During the next three years while a student at the University of Wisconsin, he was befriended by Carr and her husband, [[Ezra S. Carr|Ezra]], a professor at the same university. According to Muir biographer Bonnie Johanna Gisel, the Carrs recognized his "pure mind, unsophisticated nature, inherent curiosity, scholarly acumen, and independent thought". Jeanne Carr, 35 years of age, especially appreciated his youthful individuality, along with his acceptance of "religious truths" that were much like her own.<ref name=Gisel>{{cite book|last=Gisel|first=Bonnie Johanna|title=Kindred & Related Spirits: The Letters of John Muir and Jeanne C. Carr|publisher=Univ. of Utah Press|year=2001|isbn=978-0874806823}}</ref>{{rp|2}}

[[File:John Muir NHS.jpg|thumb|right|The [[John Muir National Historic Site|Muirs' home]] in [[Martinez, California]], is a US [[National Historic Site (United States)|National Historic Site]]]]
Muir was often invited to the Carrs' home; he shared Jeanne's love of plants. In 1864, he left Wisconsin to begin exploring the Canadian wilderness and, while there, began corresponding with her about his activities. Carr wrote Muir in return and encouraged him in his explorations and writings, eventually having an important influence over his personal goals. At one point she asked Muir to read a book she felt would influence his thinking, [[Lamartine]]'s ''The Stonemason of Saint Point''. It was the story of a man whose life she hoped would "metabolize in Muir", writes Gisel, and "was a projection of the life she envisioned for him". According to Gisel, the story was about a "poor man with a pure heart", who found in nature "divine lessons and saw all of God's creatures interconnected".<ref name=Gisel/>{{rp|3}}

After Muir returned to the United States, he spent the next four years exploring Yosemite, while at the same time writing articles for publication. During those years, Muir and Carr continued corresponding. She sent many of her friends to Yosemite to meet Muir and "to hear him preach the gospel of the mountains", writes Gisel. The most notable was naturalist and author [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]]. The importance of Carr, who continually gave Muir reassurance and inspiration, "cannot be overestimated", adds Gisel. It was "through his letters to her that he developed a voice and purpose". She also tried to promote Muir's writings by submitting his letters to a monthly magazine for publication. Muir came to trust Carr as his "spiritual mother", and they remained friends for 30 years.<ref name=Gisel/>{{rp|6}} In one letter she wrote to Muir while he was living in Yosemite, she tried to keep him from despairing as to his purpose in life.<ref name=Gisel/>{{rp|43}}

The value of their friendship was first disclosed by a friend of Carr's, clergyman and writer G. Wharton James. After obtaining copies of their private letters from Carr, and despite pleadings from Muir to return them, he instead published articles about their friendship, using those letters as a primary source. In one such article, his focus was Muir's debt to Carr, stating that she was his "guiding star" who "led him into the noble paths of life, and then kept him there".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Miller|first1=Sally M|last2=Morrison|first2=Daryl|title=John Muir: Family, Friends, and Adventures|publisher=Univ. of New Mexico Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0826335302}}</ref>{{rp|87–88}}

===John Charles Van Dyke and Dix Strong Van Dyke===

[[John Charles Van Dyke]] was an author and Professor of Art at Rutgers College (now Rutgers, State University of New Jersey). His nephew Dix Strong Van Dyke had gone to Daggett, California to seek his fortune. Like his uncle, Dix was an author, who wrote ''Daggett: Life in a Mojave Frontier Town (Creating the North American Landscape)''. John Muir found his way to Daggett and had many conversations with the uncle and nephew Van Dyke at the Dix ranch. This likely had an effect on his writings. His daughter Helen married Frank Buel and lived in Daggett.

===Writing becomes his work===
Muir's friend, zoologist [[Henry Fairfield Osborn]], writes that Muir's style of writing did not come to him easily, but only with intense effort. "Daily he rose at 4:30 o'clock, and after a simple cup of coffee labored incessantly. ... he groans over his labors, he writes and rewrites and interpolates".<!-- Is there more to that sentence, or should the terminating dot be inside the quote marks? --> Osborn notes that he preferred using the simplest English language, and therefore admired above all the writings of [[Thomas Carlyle|Carlyle]], [[Ralph Waldo Emerson|Emerson]] and [[Thoreau]]. "He is a very firm believer in Thoreau and starts by reading deeply of this author".<ref name=Bulletin>{{cite journal|url=http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/life/scb_jm_memorial_1916.aspx|title=John Muir Memorial|journal=Sierra Club Bulletin|volume=10|date=January 1916|issue=1|access-date=May 7, 2011|archive-date=February 27, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110227082306/http://sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/life/scb_jm_memorial_1916.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{rp|29}} His secretary, Marion Randall Parsons, also noted that "composition was always slow and laborious for him. ... Each sentence, each phrase, each word, underwent his critical scrutiny, not once but twenty times before he was satisfied to let it stand". Muir often told her, "This business of writing books is a long, tiresome, endless job".<ref name=Bulletin/>{{rp|33}}

Miller speculates that Muir recycled his earlier writings partly due to his "dislike of the writing process". He adds that Muir "did not enjoy the work, finding it difficult and tedious". He was generally unsatisfied with the finished result, finding prose "a weak instrument for the reality he wished to convey".<ref name=Miller/>{{rp|173}} However, he was prodded by friends and his wife to keep writing and as a result of their influence he kept at it, although never satisfied. Muir wrote in 1872, "No amount of word-making will ever make a single soul to 'know' these mountains. One day's exposure to mountains is better than a cartload of books".<ref name=Alaska>{{cite book|last=Muir|first=John|title=Travels in Alaska|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.86702|location=Boston|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|year=1915}}</ref>{{rp|xviii}} In one of his essays, he gave an example of the deficiencies of writing versus experiencing nature.<ref>{{cite book|last=Muir|first=John|title=The Writings of John Muir: Steep Trails|url=https://archive.org/details/writingsjohnmui01badgoog|editor-first=Marion|editor-last=Parsons|location=Boston|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|year=1918|isbn=978-1605977164|page=321}}</ref>

==Philosophical beliefs==

===Nature and theology===
[[File:John Muir at age 73 on March 29, 1912 - LCCN91784654 (cropped).tif|thumb|left|Muir at age 73 on March 29, 1912]]
Muir believed that to discover truth, he must turn to what he believed were the most accurate sources. In his book, ''The Story of My Boyhood and Youth'' (1913), he writes that during his childhood, his father made him read the Bible every day. Muir eventually memorized three-quarters of the [[Old Testament]] and all of the [[New Testament]].<ref name=Boyhood/>{{rp|20}} Muir's father read [[Josephus]]'s ''War of the Jews'' to understand the culture of first-century [[Judea]], as it was written by an eyewitness, and illuminated the culture during the period of the New Testament.<ref name=Williams>{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Denis C|title=God's Wilds: John Muir's Vision of Nature|location=College Station|publisher=Texas A&M Univ. Press|year=2002|isbn=978-1585441433}}</ref>{{rp|43}} But as Muir became attached to the American natural landscapes he explored, Williams notes that he began to see another "primary source for understanding God: the Book of Nature". According to Williams, in nature, especially in the wilderness, Muir was able to study the plants and animals in an environment that he believed "came straight from the hand of God, uncorrupted by civilization and domestication".<ref name=Williams/>{{rp|43}} As Tallmadge notes, Muir's belief in this "Book of Nature" compelled him to tell the story of "this creation in words any reader could understand". As a result, his writings were to become "prophecy, for [they] sought to change our angle of vision".<ref name=Tallmadge/>{{rp|53}}

Williams notes that Muir's philosophy and world view rotated around his perceived dichotomy between civilization and nature. From this developed his core belief that "wild is superior".<ref name=Williams/>{{rp|41}} His [[nature writing]]s became a "synthesis of natural theology" with scripture that helped him understand the origins of the natural world. According to Williams, philosophers and theologians such as [[Thomas Dick (scientist)|Thomas Dick]] suggested that the "best place to discover the true attributes of deity was in Nature". He came to believe that God was always active in the creation of life and thereby kept the natural order of the world.<ref name=Williams/>{{rp|41}} As a result, Muir "styled himself as a [[John the Baptist]]", adds Williams, "whose duty was to immerse in 'mountain baptism' everyone he could".<ref name=Williams/>{{rp|46}} Williams concludes that Muir saw nature as a great teacher, "revealing the mind of God", and this belief became the central theme of his later journeys and the "subtext" of his nature writing.<ref name=Williams/>{{rp|50}}

During his career as writer and while living in the mountains, Muir continued to experience the "presence of the divine in nature", writes Holmes.<ref name=Holmes/>{{rp|5}}<ref name=Mountains/>{{rp|317}} His personal letters also conveyed these feelings of ecstasy. Historian Catherine Albanese stated that in one of his letters, "Muir's [[eucharist]] made [[Henry David Thoreau|Thoreau's]] feast on wood-chuck and huckleberry seem almost anemic". Muir was extremely fond of Thoreau and was probably influenced more by him than even [[Ralph Waldo Emerson|Emerson]]. Muir often referred to himself as a "disciple" of Thoreau.<ref name=Albanese>{{cite book|last=Albanese|first=Catherine L|title=Nature Religion in America: From the Algonkian Indians to the New Age|url=https://archive.org/details/naturereligionin0000alba|url-access=registration|location=Chicago|publisher=University of Chicago Press|year=1990}}</ref>{{rp|100}}

===Sensory perceptions and light===
[[File:Yosemite rocks.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|{{center|Yosemite scene}}]]
During his first summer in the Sierra as a shepherd, Muir wrote field notes that emphasized the role that the senses play in human perceptions of the environment. According to Williams, he speculated that the world was an unchanging entity that was interpreted by the brain through the senses, and, writes Muir, "If the creator were to bestow a new set of senses upon us ... we would never doubt that we were in another world ..."<ref name=Williams/>{{rp|43}} While doing his studies of nature, he would try to remember everything he observed as if his senses were recording the impressions, until he could write them in his journal. As a result of his intense desire to remember facts, he filled his field journals with notes on precipitation, temperature, and even cloud formations.<ref name=Williams/>{{rp|45}}

However, Muir took his journal entries further than recording factual observations. Williams notes that the observations he recorded amounted to a description of "the sublimity of Nature", and what amounted to "an aesthetic and spiritual notebook". Muir felt that his task was more than just recording "phenomena", but also to "illuminate the spiritual implications of those phenomena", writes Williams. For Muir, mountain skies, for example, seemed painted with light, and came to "... symbolize divinity".<ref name=Williams/>{{rp|45}} He often described his observations in terms of light.<ref name=Summer/>

Muir biographer Steven Holmes notes that Muir used words like "glory" and "glorious" to suggest that light was taking on a religious dimension: "It is impossible to overestimate the importance of the notion of glory in Muir's published writings, where no other single image carries more emotional or religious weight",<ref name=Holmes>{{cite book|last=Holmes|first=Steven|title=The Young John Muir: An Environmental Biography|location=Madison|publisher=Univ. of Wisconsin Press|year=1999}}</ref>{{rp|178}} adding that his words "exactly parallels its [[Hebraic]] origins", in which biblical writings often indicate a divine presence with light, as in the [[burning bush]] or [[Pillar of Fire (theophany)|pillar of fire]], and described as "the glory of God".<ref name=Holmes/>{{rp|179}}<ref name=Summer>{{cite book|last=Muir|first=John|title=My First Summer in the Sierra|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924028882672|location=Boston|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|year=1911|isbn=978-0-618-98851-8|page=115}}</ref><ref name=Mountains>{{cite book|last=Muir|first=John|title=John of the Mountains: the Unpublished Journals of John Muir|url=https://archive.org/details/johnofmountainsu00muir|url-access=registration|editor1-last=Wolfe|location=Boston|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|year=1938|editor-first=Linnie Marsh|isbn=978-0299078843}}</ref>{{rp|24}}

===Seeing nature as home===
[[File:John Muir by Orlando Rouland, 1917.jpg|thumb|left|Posthumous portrait by Orlando Rouland (1917)]]

Muir often used the term "home" as a metaphor for both nature and his general attitude toward the "natural world itself", notes Holmes. He often used domestic language to describe his scientific observations, as when he saw nature as providing a home for even the smallest plant life: "the little purple plant, tended by its Maker, closed its petals, crouched low in its crevice of a home, and enjoyed the storm in safety".<ref name=Mountains/>{{rp|57}} Muir also saw nature as his own home, as when he wrote friends and described the Sierra as "God's mountain mansion". He considered not only the mountains as home, however, as he also felt a closeness even to the smallest objects: "The very stones seem talkative, sympathetic, brotherly. No wonder when we consider that we all have the same Father and Mother".<ref name=Summer/>{{rp|319}}

In his later years, he used the metaphor of nature as home in his writings to promote wilderness preservation.<ref name=NationalParks>{{cite book|last=Muir|first=John|title=Our National Parks|url=https://archive.org/details/nationalparksour00muirrich|location=Boston|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|year=1901|isbn=978-1177228756}}</ref>{{rp|1}}

Not surprisingly, Muir's deep-seated feeling about nature as being his true home led to tension with his family at his house in Martinez, California. He once told a visitor to his ranch there, "This is a good place to be housed in during stormy weather, ... to write in, and to raise children in, but it is not my home. Up there", pointing towards the Sierra Nevada, "is my home".<ref name=Fox/>{{rp|74}}

===Native Americans===
Muir expressed mixed attitudes towards [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]] over his life, from sympathy to distaste. He saw nature as ideal when it was free from man's influence, including Native Americans, but he did not recognize that the landscapes he loved had been shaped by Native Americans for millennia, through the use of deliberately-set fires to burn-off understory growth.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=DeLuca |first1=Kevin Michael |last2=Teresa Demo |first2=Anne |date=October 1, 2001 |title=Imagining Nature and Erasing Class and Race: Carleton Watkins, John Muir, and the Construction of Wilderness |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.2307/3985254 |journal=Environmental History |language=en |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=541–560 |doi=10.2307/3985254 |jstor=3985254 |bibcode=2001EnvH....6..541D |issn=1084-5453|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=SciAmDecline>{{Cite web |last=Johnson |first=Eric Michael |title=How John Muir's Brand of Conservation Led to the Decline of Yosemite |url=https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/primate-diaries/how-john-muir-s-brand-of-conservation-led-to-the-decline-of-yosemite/ |access-date=October 29, 2023 |website=Scientific American Blog Network |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bullinger |first=Jake |date=August 23, 2018 |title=Yosemite Finally Reckons with Its Discriminatory Past |url=https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/environment/yosemite-national-park-native-american-village-miwuk/ |access-date=October 29, 2023 |website=Outside Online |language=en-US}}</ref> His earliest encounters, during his childhood in Wisconsin, were with [[Winnebago Indians]], who begged for food and stole his favorite horse. In spite of that, he had expressed sympathy for their "being robbed of their lands and pushed ruthlessly back into narrower and narrower limits by alien races who were cutting off their means of livelihood". His early encounters with the [[Northern Paiute|Paiute]] in California left him feeling ambivalent after seeing their lifestyle, which he described as "lazy" and "superstitious".<ref name="Fleck">{{cite journal|last=Fleck|first=Richard F. |date=February 1978|title=John Muir's Evolving Attitudes toward Native American Cultures|journal=American Indian Quarterly|volume=4|issue=1|pages=19–31|doi=10.2307/1183963|jstor=1183963}}</ref>

Muir wrote of the [[Miwok]]s in Yosemite as "most ugly, and some of them altogether hideous" and said "they seemed to have no right place in the landscape, and I was glad to see them fading out of sight down the pass."<ref name=SciAmDecline /> Ecofeminist philosopher [[Carolyn Merchant]] has criticized Muir, believing that he wrote disparagingly of the Native Americans he encountered in his early explorations.<ref name="Merchant">{{cite web|url=https://historycooperative.org/journal/shades-of-darkness-race-and-environmental-history/|title=Shades of Darkness: Race and Environmental History|author=Carolyn Merchant|date=April 11, 2005|author-link=Carolyn Merchant|access-date=June 9, 2007}}</ref> Later, after living with Indians, he praised and grew more respectful of their low impact on the wilderness as compared to the heavy impact by European Americans.<ref name="Fleck" /> However, in his journals, he often describes those he encounters as "dirty", "irregular" and "unnatural".<ref name="Summer" />

Muir was given the [[Stikine people|Stickeen]] (Muir's spelling, coastal tribe) name "Ancoutahan", meaning "adopted chief".<ref>{{cite book|author1=John Muir|title=Travels in Alaska|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.86702|year=1915|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company|page=33}}</ref>

In response to claims about Muir's attitudes about Native Americans, Sierra Club national Board member Chad Hanson wrote, "Muir wrote repeatedly about the intelligence and dignity of Native Americans, and honored how traditional Indigenous peoples lived in peaceful coexistence with Nature and wild creatures, expressing his view that Native peoples ‘rank above’ white settlers, who he increasingly described as selfish, base, and lacking honor. This would become a constant theme in Muir's writings, as he attacked the dominant white culture's destructive and greedy ways, and its anthrosupremacist mindset that placed humans above all else and recognized no intrinsic value in ecosystems or wildlife species beyond whatever profit could be gained by exploiting them."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hanson |first1=Chad |title=Who Was John Muir, Really |url=https://johnmuirproject.org/2020/07/who-was-john-muir-really/ |website=johnmuirproject.org |date=July 22, 2020 |access-date=June 4, 2022}}</ref>

===African Americans===
Muir spoke and wrote about the equality of all people, "regardless of color, or race",<ref>{{cite book|last=Young|first=Samuel H|year=1916|title=Alaska Days with John Muir|location=New York|publisher=Fleming H. Revell Company}}</ref> and wrote about the immorality of slavery in his final book, ''Travels in Alaska''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Muir|first=John|year=1915|title=Travels in Alaska|location=Boston and New York|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company}}</ref> During his time in Alaska he also wrote,<blockquote>...how we were all children of one father; sketched the characteristics of the different races of mankind, showing that no matter how far apart their countries were, how they differed in color, size, language, etc. and no matter how different and how various the ways in which they got a living, that the white man and all the people of the world were essentially alike, that we all had ten fingers and toes and our bodies were the same, whether white, brown, black or different colors, and speak different languages.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fleck |first1=Richard |title=North by Northwest with John Muir |url=https://trumpeter.athabascau.ca/index.php/trumpet/article/view/274/409|journal=The Trumpeter |date=January 2, 1996 |volume=13 |issue=1 |access-date=June 4, 2022}}</ref></blockquote>

In his earlier years, Muir did make some disparaging remarks about African Americans. In ''A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf,'' Muir described African Americans as "well trained" but "making a great deal of noise and doing little work. One energetic white man, working with a will, would easily pick as much cotton as half a dozen [[Sambo (racial term)|Sambos]] and Sallies." Describing the sight of two African Americans at a campfire, he wrote, "I could see their ivory gleaming from the great lips, and their smooth cheeks flashing off light as if made of glass. Seen anywhere but in the South, the glossy pair would have been taken for twin devils, but here it was only a Negro and his wife at their supper."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Merchant |first1=Carolyn |title=Shades of Darkness: Race and Environmental History |journal=Environmental History |date=July 2003 |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=386–7 |doi=10.2307/3986200 |jstor=3986200 |bibcode=2003EnvH....8..380M |s2cid=144991785 |url=https://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/espm/env-hist/articles/78.pdf |access-date=July 22, 2020}}</ref> However, at no point in Muir's personal journey to the Gulf did he support or empathize with the [[Lost Cause of the Confederacy|Southern cause]], avoiding entreaties from Southern hosts when they prodded him.<ref name="Mair">{{cite web |last1=Mair |first1=Aaron |title=Who was John Muir, Really? |url=https://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/articles/entry/who-was-john-muir-really |website=earthisland.org |date=August 11, 2021 |access-date=June 4, 2022}}</ref>

In 2020, in light of the [[List of monuments and memorials removed during the George Floyd protests|movement to remove Confederate monuments]] across the country, [[Michael Brune]], the executive director of the Sierra Club, reflected on Muir's complex and controversial legacy and announced that the club would shift towards investing in racial justice work and determine which of its monuments need to be renamed or removed.<ref name="Brune">{{cite web |last1=Brune |first1=Michael |title=Pulling Down Our Monuments |url=https://www.sierraclub.org/michael-brune/2020/07/john-muir-early-history-sierra-club |website=sierraclub.org |date=July 22, 2020 |access-date=July 22, 2020}}</ref> On July 22, 2020, the Sierra Club wrote:<blockquote>Muir was not immune to the racism peddled by many in the early conservation movement. He made derogatory comments about Black people and Indigenous peoples that drew on deeply harmful racist stereotypes, though his views evolved later in his life. As the most iconic figure in Sierra Club history, Muir's words and actions carry an especially heavy weight. They continue to hurt and alienate Indigenous people and people of color who come into contact with the Sierra Club.<ref name="Brune"/></blockquote>

Some of Muir's associates cited by Brune and others, such as [[Joseph LeConte]], [[David Starr Jordan]], and [[Henry Fairfield Osborn]] were closely related to the early [[Eugenics in the United States|eugenics movement in the United States]].<ref name="Brune"/><ref name="WPmuir">{{cite news|title=Liberal, progressive — and racist? The Sierra Club faces its white-supremacist history|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/07/22/liberal-progressive-racist-sierra-club-faces-its-white-supremacist-history/|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=July 22, 2020 | author=Darryl Fears and Steven Mufson}}</ref> Some claim Muir did not espouse such beliefs.<ref name="Mair"/>

[[Aaron Mair]], who in 2015 became the first Black president of the Sierra Club board, stated that the contents and framing of Muir in Brune's post "are a misrepresentation". Mair went on to state that Brune, "did not consult him or the other two Black board members before pushing ahead on what he called a 'revisionist' and 'ahistorical' account of Muir's writings, thoughts and life."<ref>{{Cite web|date=August 17, 2021|title='It's just wrong': Internal fight over Sierra Club founder's racial legacy roils organization|url=https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/16/sierra-club-racist-internal-fight-505407|website=Politico|language=en}}</ref> Mair, along with two other Sierra Club board members, Chad Hanson and Mary Ann Nelson, wrote a response to Brune's attack on Muir, writing:<blockquote>...while some of Muir’s colleagues promoted [[White supremacist]] myths and exclusionary views regarding national parks and forests, Muir spoke out about the importance of making these areas accessible and encouraging all people to experience them, writing, "Few are altogether deaf to the preaching of pine trees. Their sermons on the mountains go to our hearts; and if people in general could be got into the woods, even for once, to hear the trees speak for themselves, all difficulties in the way of forest preservation would vanish." He came to believe deeply in the equality of all people, writing, "We all flow from one fountain Soul. All are expressions of one Love. God does not appear, and flow out, only from narrow chinks and round bored wells here and there in favored races and places."<ref name="Mair"/></blockquote>

===Hetch Hetchy Dam controversy===
[[File:Hetch Hetchy Valley.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|Hetch Hetchy Valley]]
With population growth continuing in San Francisco, political pressure increased to dam the [[Tuolumne River]] for use as a water [[reservoir (water)|reservoir]]. Muir passionately opposed the damming of [[Hetch Hetchy Valley]] because he found Hetch Hetchy as stunning as Yosemite Valley.<ref>{{cite book|last=Muir|first=John|url=https://archive.org/details/yosemite00muirgoog|title=The Yosemite|location=New York|publisher=The Century Company|year=1912}}</ref>{{rp|249–62}} Muir, the Sierra Club and Robert Underwood Johnson fought against inundating the valley. Muir wrote to President Roosevelt pleading for him to scuttle the project. Roosevelt's successor, [[William Howard Taft]], suspended the [[Interior Department]]'s approval for the Hetch Hetchy right-of-way. After years of national debate, Taft's successor [[Woodrow Wilson]] signed the bill authorizing the dam into law on December 19, 1913. Muir felt a great loss from the destruction of the valley, his last major battle. He wrote to his friend [[Vernon Kellogg]], "As to the loss of the Sierra Park Valley [Hetch Hetchy] it's hard to bear. The destruction of the charming groves and gardens, the finest in all California, goes to my heart."<ref>{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Holway R|year=1965|title=John Muir and the Sierra Club: the Battle for Yosemite|location=San Francisco|publisher=Sierra Club}}</ref>

==Personal life==
[[File:Muir & family c1888.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|John Muir with wife (Louisa Wanda Strentzel) and children Wanda and Helen circa 1888|alt=]]
In 1878, when he was nearing the age of 40, Muir's friends "pressured him to return to society".<ref name=Marquis/> Soon after he returned to the Oakland area, he was introduced by Jeanne Carr to Louisa Strentzel, daughter of a prominent physician and [[horticulture|horticulturist]] with a {{convert|2600|acre|km2|adj=on}} fruit orchard in [[Martinez, California]], northeast of Oakland. In 1880, after he returned from a trip to Alaska, Muir and Strentzel married. John Muir went into partnership with his father-in-law [[John Strentzel]], and for ten years directed most of his energy into managing this large fruit farm.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/john_muir_national_historic_site/most_often_asked_questions.aspx|title=Most Often Asked Questions at the John Muir National Historic Site|publisher=Sierra Club|access-date=October 2, 2013|archive-date=October 5, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005010143/http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/john_muir_national_historic_site/most_often_asked_questions.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> Although Muir was a loyal, dedicated husband, and father of two daughters, "his heart remained wild", writes Marquis. His wife understood his needs, and after seeing his restlessness at the ranch would sometimes "shoo him back up" to the mountains. He sometimes took his daughters with him.<ref name=Marquis/>

The house and part of the ranch are now the [[John Muir National Historic Site]].<ref>[https://www.nps.gov/jomu/index.htm John Muir National Historic Site]
"The park's museum collection includes historic documents and artifacts that relate to the writing, travels, political activities and daily life of John Muir and his family in Martinez ... The collections are displayed in the home, carriage house and through exhibitions in the Visitor Center."</ref> In addition, the [[W.H.C. Folsom House]], where Muir worked as a printer, is also listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].

Muir became a [[Naturalization|naturalized citizen]] of the United States in 1903.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/life/chronology.aspx | title = Chronology (Timeline) of the Life and Legacy of John Muir | last=Wood | first=Harold W. Jr. | date = January 12, 2018 | publisher = [[Sierra Club]] | access-date = February 19, 2020}}</ref>

==Death==
Muir died, aged 76, at [[California Hospital Medical Center|California Hospital]]<ref>{{cite web| title=Obituary: John Muir| url=http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/lsc&CISOPTR=3432&DMSCALE=50.00000&DMWIDTH=600&DMHEIGHT=600&DMX=0&DMY=840&DMMODE=viewer&DMTEXT=&REC=16&DMTHUMB=1&DMROTATE=0|publisher=Claremont Colleges Digital Library|access-date=October 23, 2009}}</ref> in Los Angeles on December 24, 1914, of [[pneumonia]].<ref>{{cite news| title=Obituary: John Muir| url=https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0421.html| author=this Day| access-date=April 23, 2007 | work=The New York Times}}</ref> He had been in [[Daggett, California]], to see his daughter, Helen Muir Funk. His grandson, Ross Hanna, lived until 2014, when he died at age 91.<ref>{{cite news|last=Miller|first=Robin|title=Dixon mourns the loss of beloved resident Ross Erwin Hanna|url=https://www.thereporter.com/2014/06/12/dixon-mourns-the-loss-of-beloved-resident-ross-erwin-hanna/|newspaper=The Reporter|access-date=June 22, 2014|date=June 22, 2014}}</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File:Muir LOC1.jpg|thumb|right|A portrait of Muir {{circa|1910}}]]
During his lifetime John Muir published over 300 articles and 12 books. He co-founded the [[Sierra Club]], which helped establish a number of national parks after he died. Today the club has over 2.4&nbsp;million members.

Muir has been called the "patron saint of the American wilderness" and its "archetypal free spirit". "As a dreamer and activist, his eloquent words changed the way Americans saw their mountains, forests, seashores, and deserts", said nature writer [[Gretel Ehrlich]].<ref name=Ehrlich>{{cite book|last=Ehrlich|first=Gretel|title=John Muir: Nature's Visionary|url=https://archive.org/details/johnmuirnaturesv0000ehrl|url-access=registration|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=National Geographic Society|year=2000|oclc=248316300}}</ref> He not only led the efforts to protect forest areas and have some designated as national parks, but his writings presented "human culture and wild nature as one of humility and respect for all life".<ref name=Wilkins/>

[[Robert Underwood Johnson]], editor of ''Century Magazine'', which published many of Muir's articles, states that he influenced people's appreciation of nature and national parks, which became a lasting legacy:

{{blockquote|The world will look back to the time we live in and remember the voice of one crying in the wilderness and bless the name of John Muir. ... He sung the glory of nature like another Psalmist, and, as a true artist, was unashamed of his emotions. His countrymen owe him gratitude as the pioneer of our system of national parks. ... Muir's writings and enthusiasm were the chief forces that inspired the movement. All the other torches were lighted from his.<ref name=Bulletin/>}}

Muir exalted wild nature over human culture and civilization, believing that all life was sacred. Turner describes him as "a man who in his singular way rediscovered America. ... an American pioneer, an American hero".<ref name=Turner/> The primary aim of Muir's nature philosophy, writes Wilkins, was to challenge mankind's "enormous conceit", and in so doing, he moved beyond the [[Transcendentalism]] of [[Ralph Waldo Emerson|Emerson]] to a "biocentric perspective on the world". He did so by describing the natural world as "a conductor of divinity", and his writings often made nature synonymous with God.<ref name=Wilkins>{{cite book|last=Wilkins|first=Thurman|title=John Muir: Apostle of Nature|url=https://archive.org/details/johnmuirapostleo0000wilk|url-access=registration|location=Norman|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|year=1995|isbn=978-0806127972}}</ref>{{rp|265}} His friend, [[Henry Fairfield Osborn]], observed that as a result of his religious upbringing, Muir retained "this belief, which is so strongly expressed in the [[Old Testament]], that all the works of nature are directly the work of God".<ref name=Bulletin/> In the opinion of [[Enos Mills]], a contemporary who established [[Rocky Mountain National Park]], Muir's writings were "likely to be the most influential force in this century".<ref name=Bulletin/>

Since 1970, the [[University of the Pacific (United States)|University of the Pacific]] has housed the largest collection of Muir's personal papers, including his travel journals and notebooks, manuscripts, correspondence, drawings and personal library.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Researching John Muir |url=https://www.pacific.edu/university-libraries/find/holt-atherton-special-collections/john-muir-papers |access-date=June 17, 2024 |website=}}</ref> In 2019, the University of the Pacific was given full ownership of the Muir collection, which had been expanding over the years. The university has a John Muir Center for Environmental Studies,<ref>{{Cite web |title=John Muir Studies at the University of the Pacific – John Muir Exhibit |url=https://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/uop/#:~:text=Since%201970,%20the%20University%20of,manuscripts,%20notes,%20and%20illustrations. |access-date=March 31, 2022 |website=vault.sierraclub.org}}</ref> the Muir Experience,<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Muir Experience |url=https://www.pacific.edu/university-libraries/find/holt-atherton-special-collections/muirexperience |access-date=March 31, 2022 |website=www.pacific.edu |language=en}}</ref> as well as  other programs related to Muir and his work.

==Tributes and honors==
[[File:Mount Muir.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.8|[[Mount Muir]] located one mile south of [[Mount Whitney]] in the [[Sierra Nevada|High Sierra]]]]
[[File:John Muir 1964 Issue-5c.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.8|John Muir on a 1964 US commemorative stamp]]
[[File:California quarter, reverse side, 2005.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.8|John Muir depicted on the California state quarter]]
California celebrates John Muir Day on April 21 each year. Muir was the first person honored with a California commemorative day when legislation signed in 1988 created John Muir Day, effective from 1989 onward. Muir is one of three people so honored in California, along with [[Harvey Milk Day]] and [[Ronald Reagan Day]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2010/07/ronald_reagan_john_muir_harvey_milk?page=1|title=Ronald Reagan, John Muir, Harvey Milk: The Californian trinity |publisher=The Economist|date=July 8, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328142947/http://www.scpr.org/news/2010/07/19/california-establishes-annual-day-honoring-reagan/|url=http://www.scpr.org/news/2010/07/19/california-establishes-annual-day-honoring-reagan/|archive-date=March 28, 2012|title=California establishes annual day honoring Reagan|agency=Associated Press|last=Hindery|first=Robin|date=July 19, 2010}}</ref>

''Mountain Days'', a 2000 musical by [[Craig Bohmler]] and Mary Bracken Phillips, celebrates Muir's life and was performed annually in a custom-built amphitheater in Muir's adult hometown of Martinez, California.<ref name="mountain of a musical">Kilduff, Paul. [https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/One-mountain-of-a-musical-opens-in-Martinez-2901096.php "One mountain of a musical opens in Martinez / John Muir tale plays in new amphitheater"]. ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]''. July 13, 2001.</ref><ref name="Muir newsletter">[https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1067&context=jmn#page=3 "John Muir Musical Scheduled For An Extended Run!!"]. ''The John Muir Newsletter'', Spring 2002. Vol. 12, No. 2. p. 2.</ref><ref name="sierra">[https://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/mountain_days/default.aspx "''Mountain Days: The John Muir Musical''"]. [[Sierra Club]]. November 28, 2018</ref><ref>Connema, Richard. [https://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/regional/sanfran/s240.html "John Muir is alive and well in ''Mountain Days: the John Muir Musical''"]. ''TalkinBroadway.com''. Retrieved August 12, 2019.</ref>

The play ''Thank God for John Muir'', by [[Andrew Dallmeyer]] is based on his life.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Bruce|first1=Keith|title=Arts News|url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts-ents/music/arts-news.118471443|access-date=February 23, 2015|publisher=Herald Scotland|date=February 16, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Theatre review: Thank God for John Muir|url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/theatre-review-thank-god-for-john-muir-1-1631025|access-date=February 23, 2015|publisher=The Scotsman|date=May 10, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=John Muir 2015|url=http://www.visiteastlothian.org/johnmuir2015.asp|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150223171253/http://www.visiteastlothian.org/johnmuir2015.asp|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 23, 2015|website=Visit East Lothian|access-date=February 23, 2015}}</ref>

The following places are named after Muir:
<!--Note: Each place must have either a bluelink (its own article), a citation, or use the name "John Muir" in the place name. If the place uses only the word "Muir", and not a full "John Muir", then the article or citation MUST mention that the place was named after John Muir.-->

{{div col|colwidth=25em}}
* [[Mount Muir]] in the Sierra Nevada, California<ref>{{cite gnis |id=1654926 |name=Mount Muir |access-date=May 31, 2011 }}</ref>
* [[Mount Muir (Alaska)|Mount Muir]] in [[Chugach Mountains]] of Alaska (probable)<ref name="gnis">{{cite gnis|id=1406692|name=Mount Muir|access-date=June 12, 2019 }}</ref>
* Mount Muir (elevation {{convert|4688|ft|abbr=on|disp=or}}) in [[Angeles National Forest]] north of Pasadena, California<ref>{{cite lpc}}</ref><ref>{{cite peakbagger |pid=13469 |name=Mount Muir, California}}</ref>
* [[Black Butte (Siskiyou County, California)|Black Butte]], also known as Muir's Peak, next to Mount Shasta, California<ref>{{cite summitpost |id=151230 |name=Black Butte (CA) |access-date=December 14, 2009 }}</ref>
* [[Muir Glacier]] and [[Muir Inlet]], Alaska<ref>{{cite book |first1=Richard L |last1=Scheffel |first2=Susan J |last2=Wernert |title=Natural Wonders of the World |url=https://archive.org/details/naturalwondersof00sche |url-access=registration |year=1980 |isbn=0-89577-087-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/naturalwondersof00sche/page/259 259] |publisher=Reader's Digest Association |location=Pleasantville, N.Y.}}</ref><ref>{{GNIS|1423834|Muir Inlet}}</ref>
* John Muir Trails in [[John Muir Trail|California]], [[John Muir Trail (Tennessee)|Tennessee]], Connecticut, and Wisconsin
* [[John Muir Wilderness]] (southern and central Sierra Nevada)
* [[Muir Pass]] Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, the divide at {{convert|11955|ft|abbr=on}} above sea level, between Evolution Creek and Middle Fork of Kings River<ref>USGS Map, Mt. Goddard Quadrangle</ref>
*[[John Muir Health]] hospital network in Walnut Creek, California 
* [[Muir Woods National Monument]] just north of San Francisco, California<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/muwo/learn/historyculture/upload/muwo-hsr2006.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160510213219/https://www.nps.gov/muwo/learn/historyculture/upload/muwo-hsr2006.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 10, 2016 |title=Historic Resource Study for Muir Woods National Monument |publisher=National Park Service |first1=John |last1=Auwaerter |first2=John F. |last2=Sears |year=2006 |page=69 |access-date=May 25, 2020 }}</ref>
* [[John Muir National Historic Site]] in [[Martinez, California]]
* [[Camp Muir]] in [[Mount Rainier National Park]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/upload/Camp-Muir-Route-with-Get-Your-Bearings-map-Jan18.pdf |title=Camp Muir |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=May 25, 2020 }}</ref>
* [[John Muir College]], the second established of the eight undergraduate colleges of [[University of California, San Diego]]
* [[John Muir High School]], an Early College Magnet in [[Pasadena, California]]
* [[John Muir Elementary School]], an elementary school in [[San Jose, California|San Jose]], California.
* John Muir Highway, a section of [[California State Route 132]] between [[Coulterville, California|Coulterville]] and Smith Station at [[California State Route 120]]. This road roughly follows part of the route Muir took on his first walk to Yosemite.<ref>[http://www.sierranevadageotourism.org/content/john-muir-highway/sieBE0CAAAB5452AEB3B John Muir Highway Geotourism], Sierra Nevada Geotourism Mapguide</ref>
* [[John Muir Memorial County Park]], County Park memorializing his father's homestead when they immigrated to [[Wisconsin]]
* The main-belt asteroid [[128523 Johnmuir]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=128523 Johnmuir (2004 PX42) |url=https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=128523#content |website=JPL Small-Body Database Browser |publisher=[[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]] |access-date=May 25, 2020 }}</ref>
* [[John Muir Country Park]], East Lothian. Scotland.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.visiteastlothian.org/attractions/sports-and-adventure/VEL-10240|title=John Muir Country Park|publisher=East Lothian Council|access-date=May 3, 2018}}</ref>
* [[John Muir Way]] [[Long Distance Route|long-distance trail]] in southern Scotland<ref>{{Cite web |title=About the John Muir Way |url=https://johnmuirway.org/about |website=John Muir Way |access-date=May 25, 2020 }}</ref>
* John Muir House, the headquarters building of [[East Lothian Council]], Scotland.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/info/210560/your_council/12319/contact_us/1|title=East Lothian Council: Contact Us|publisher=East Lothian Council|access-date=May 3, 2018}}</ref>
* John Muir Campus, [[Dunbar]]<ref>{{cite news| url=https://muirbirthplacefriends.org.uk/2012/02/dunbar-primary-school/| title=Dunbar Primary School| date=February 27, 2012| publisher=Friends of John Muir's Birthplace| access-date=May 7, 2018}}</ref> One of two campuses of Dunbar Primary School,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.edubuzz.org/dunbarprimary/about-our-school-3/contact-info/|title=Dunbar Primary School: About Our School|publisher=Dunbar Primary School|access-date=May 3, 2018}}</ref> the successor to the school Muir attended.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://muirbirthplacefriends.org.uk/2015/10/a-colourful-life/| title=A Colourful Life| date=October 11, 2015| publisher=Friends of John Muir's Birthplace| access-date=May 7, 2018}}</ref>
{{div col end}} 
* Muir Woods also called John Muir Park, in Madison, Wisconsin, was designed by G. William Longenecker and Richard E Tipple from the University of Wisconsin Landscape Architecture Department. Official dedication of John Muir Park took place on February 8, 1964. Ceremonies at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin headquarters building included the unveiling of a John Muir commemorative stamp.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015 |title=Cultural Landscape Inventory 2005- John Muir Park |url=https://d1t7dpw65z19lw.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/05/John-Muir-Park_rev2015.pdf }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Muir Woods |url=https://lakeshorepreserve.wisc.edu/visit/places/muir-woods/ |access-date=April 14, 2024 |website=Lakeshore Nature Preserve}}</ref>
* Muir Valley – a privately owned nature preserve and rock climbing area in the Red River Gorge area of Kentucky. The Valley is approximately 400 acres in size and walled in by over seven miles of majestic cliffs of hard Corbin Sandstone. The owners, Rick & Liz Weber, chose the name, "Muir Valley", to honor the memory of John Muir.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/geography/place_names.aspx#:~:text=The%20Valley%20is%20approximately%20400,the%20memory%20of%20John%20Muir.|title = Places and Schools Named After John Muir – John Muir Exhibit}}</ref>

John Muir was featured on two US commemorative postage stamps. A 5-cent stamp issued on April 29, 1964, was designed by [[Rudy Wendelin|Rudolph Wendelin]], and showed Muir's face superimposed on a grove of redwood trees, and the inscription, "John Muir Conservationist". A 32-cent stamp issued on February 3, 1998, was part of the "[[Celebrate the Century]]" series, and showed Muir in Yosemite Valley, with the inscription "John Muir, Preservationist".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/stamps/|title=John Muir Stamps and First Day Covers|publisher=Sierra Club|access-date=April 1, 2010|location=San Francisco, CA|archive-date=June 16, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100616144123/http://sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/stamps/|url-status=dead}}</ref> An image of Muir, with the [[California condor]] and [[Half Dome]], appears on the California [[state quarter]] released in 2005. A quotation of his appears on the reverse side of the [[Indianapolis Prize]] Lilly Medal for conservation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indianapolisprize.org/content.aspx?CID=1194 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20110507105414/http://www.indianapolisprize.org/content.aspx?CID=1194 |archive-date=May 7, 2011 |title=Lilly Medal Awarded Prize Winners |publisher=Indianapolis Zoological Society |access-date=November 14, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> On December 6, 2006, California Governor [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] and First Lady [[Maria Shriver]] inducted John Muir into the [[California Hall of Fame]] located at [[The California Museum for History, Women, and the Arts]].

The [[John Muir Trust]] is a Scottish charity established as a membership organization in 1983 to conserve wild land and wild places. It has more than 11,000 members internationally.<ref>{{citation| title=Annual Report| publisher=John Muir Trust| page=9| year=2017}}</ref>

The [[John Muir's Birthplace|John Muir Birthplace Charitable Trust]] is a Scottish charity whose aim is to support John Muir's birthplace in Dunbar, which opened in 2003 as an interpretative centre focused on Muir's work.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jmbt.org.uk/about/john-muir-birthplace-charitable-trust/|title=About the John Muir Birthplace Charitable Trust|publisher=John Muir Birthplace Charitable Trust|access-date=May 3, 2018}}</ref> A statue of Muir as a boy by the [[Ukraine|Ukrainian]] sculptor [[Valentin Znoba]] had been unveiled outside the house in 1997.

[[Muirite]] (a mineral), ''[[Erigeron muirii]]'', ''[[carlquistia|Carlquistia muirii]]'' (two species of aster), ''[[Ivesia muirii]]'' (a member of the rose family), ''[[Eurasian wren|Troglodytes troglodytes muiri]]'' (a wren), ''[[Ochotona princeps|Ochotona princeps muiri]]'' (a pika), ''[[Thecla muirii]]'' (a butterfly), ''[[Calamagrostis muiriana]] (a Sierra Nevada subalpine-alpine grass)''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=10518|title=Calamagrostis muiriana|work=Information on California plants for education, research and conservation, with data contributed by public and private institutions and individuals, including the Consortium of California Herbaria|publisher=The Calflora Database [a non-profit organization]}}</ref> and ''[[Amplaria muiri]]'' (a millipede) were all named after John Muir.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/science/|title=Scientific Names in Honor of John Muir|work=John Muir Exhibit|publisher=Sierra Club|access-date=October 30, 2010|archive-date=August 29, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100829170841/http://www.sierraclub.org/john%5Fmuir%5Fexhibit/science/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2006, he was inducted into the [[Hall of Great Westerners]] of the [[National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Hall of Great Westerners |url=https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/hall-of-great-westerners/ |website=National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum |access-date=November 22, 2019}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[George Dorr]]

==Works==
===Books===
{{div col|colwidth=29em}}
* {{cite book| title = A Thousand-mile Walk to the Gulf | url = https://archive.org/details/cu31924028782633 | quote = gulf muir.<!-- Is that really a quote? What is its purpose? --> | location = Boston | publisher = Houghton Mifflin | year = 1916 | isbn = 978-1728654881 | first = John | last = Muir |author-link = John Muir }}
* {{cite book| title = Edward Henry Harriman | url = https://archive.org/details/edwardhenryharr00muirgoog | location = Garden City, New York | publisher = Doubleday, Page | year = 1911 | isbn = 978-1375410335 | first = John | last = Muir |author-link = John Muir}}
* {{cite book | title = John Muir: His Life and Letters and Other Writings | first = John | last = Muir | editor-last = Gifford | editor-first = Terry | location = London: Seattle | publisher = Mountaineers Books | year = 1996 | isbn = 978-0898864632 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/johnmuirhislifel0000muir }}
* {{cite book| title = John Muir: Spiritual Writings | editor-first = Tim | editor-last = Flinders | location = Maryknoll, NY | publisher = Orbis Books | year = 2013 | isbn = 978-1626980358}}
* {{cite book| title = Letters to a Friend: Written to Mrs. Ezra S. Carr, 1866-1879| url = https://archive.org/details/letterstoafrien00muirgoog | quote = Letters to a Friend.| location = Boston | publisher = Houghton Mifflin | year = 1915 | first = John | last = Muir | author-link = John Muir | isbn = 978-0486832371}}
* {{cite book| title = My First Summer in the Sierra | url = https://archive.org/details/myfirstsummerin00muirgoog | location = Boston | publisher = Houghton Mifflin | year = 1911 | lccn= 17000159 | ol= OL6593288M | first = John | last = Muir | author-link = John Muir }}
* {{cite book| title = Our National Parks | url = https://archive.org/details/ournationalparks00mu | quote = Our National Parks. | location = Boston| publisher = Houghton, Mifflin | year = 1901 | isbn = 978-1423650393 | first = John | last = Muir | author-link = John Muir }}
* {{cite book| title = Picturesque California: The Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Slope; California, Oregon, Nevada, Washington, Alaska, Montana, Idaho, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Etc| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=1eg1AQAAMAAJ | year = 1888 | asin =B001PV5DKK |last1 = Muir|first1 = John | author-link = John Muir | publisher = J. Dewing Publishing Company}}
* {{cite book| title = Steep Trails | url = https://archive.org/details/steeptrails0000muir | quote = Steep Trails. | location = Boston | publisher = Houghton | year = 1918 | isbn = 978-1557427885 |last1 = Muir|first1 = John | author-link = John Muir }}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/writings/stickeen/default.aspx |title=Stickeen – John Muir's Adventure with a Dog and a Glacier |publisher=Sierra Club |access-date=September 8, 2012 |archive-date=May 23, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523211319/http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/writings/stickeen/default.aspx |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite book| title = Studies in the Sierra | url = http://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/writings/studies_in_the_sierra | year = 1950 | quote = reprint of serials from 1874 | last1 = Muir |first1 = John | author-link = John Muir }}
* {{cite book| title = The Cruise of the Corwin | last1 = Muir |first1 = John | author-link = John Muir | url = https://archive.org/details/cruisecorwinjou00muirgoog | quote = The Cruise of the Corwin. | location = Boston| publisher = Houghton Mifflin | year = 1917 | isbn = 978-1010129097}}
* {{cite book| title = The Mountains of California | last1 = Muir |first1 = John | author-link = John Muir | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=vP8ZAAAAYAAJ | location = New York | publisher = Century | year = 1894 | isbn = 978-1986655576}}
* {{cite book| title = The Story of My Boyhood and Youth | url = https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.89139| quote = The Story of My Boyhood and Youth. | ol= OL1618178W | first = John | last = Muir | author-link = John Muir | isbn = 978-1406808636 | location = Boston| publisher = Houghton, Mifflin | year = 1913}}
* {{cite book| title = The Yosemite | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=XgoVAAAAYAAJ | location = New York | publisher = Century | year = 1912 | isbn =978-1684221783 | last1 = Muir |first1 = John | author-link = John Muir }}
* {{cite book| title = Travels in Alaska | url = https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.86702 | quote = Travels in Alaska. | location = Boston |publisher = Houghton Mifflin | year = 1915 | isbn = 978-1611045659 | first = John | last = Muir | author-link = John Muir }}
{{div col end}}

===Essays online===
{{div col|colwidth=29em}}
* "[https://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/sgml/moa-idx?notisid=ABP2287-0050-40&type=boolean&slice=1&&&q1=muir&rgn1=Author&op2=And&rgn2=Title&op3=And&rgn3=Author&year1=1815&year2=1926&searchSummary=34%20matching%20%20journal%20articles&size=50&layer=third&coll=serial1 Alaska. The Discovery of Glacier Bay]"
* "[https://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/sgml/moa-idx?notisid=ABK2934-0080-19&type=boolean&slice=1&&&q1=muir&rgn1=Author&op2=And&rgn2=Title&op3=And&rgn3=Author&year1=1815&year2=1926&searchSummary=34%20matching%20%20journal%20articles&size=50&layer=third&coll=serial2 The American Forests]"
* "[https://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/sgml/moa-idx?notisid=ABQ7578-0082-73&type=boolean&slice=1&&&q1=muir&rgn1=Author&op2=And&rgn2=Title&op3=And&rgn3=Author&year1=1815&year2=1926&searchSummary=34%20matching%20%20journal%20articles&size=50&layer=third&coll=serial2 Among the Animals of the Yosemite]"
* "[https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1898/12/among-the-birds-of-the-yosemite/308171/ Among the Birds of the Yosemite]"
* "[https://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/sgml/moa-idx?notisid=ABP7664-0022-139&type=boolean&slice=1&&&q1=muir&rgn1=Author&op2=And&rgn2=Title&op3=And&rgn3=Author&year1=1815&year2=1926&searchSummary=34%20matching%20%20journal%20articles&size=50&layer=third&coll=serial2 The Coniferous Forests of the Sierra Nevada]"
* "[https://web.archive.org/web/20010425003558/http://www.djma.org.uk/djma Features of the Proposed Yosemite National Park]"
* "[https://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/sgml/moa-idx?notisid=ABK2934-0085-80&type=boolean&slice=1&&&q1=muir&rgn1=Author&op2=And&rgn2=Title&op3=And&rgn3=Author&year1=1815&year2=1926&searchSummary=34%20matching%20%20journal%20articles&size=50&layer=third&coll=serial2 The Forests of Yosemite Park]"
* "[https://web.archive.org/web/20010425003558/http://www.djma.org.uk/djma Fountains and Streams of the Yosemite]"
* "[https://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=scmo;cc=scmo;rgn=full%20text;idno=scmo0020-3;didno=scmo0020-3;view=image;seq=0359;node=scmo0020-3%3A3 In the Heart of the California Alps]"
* "[https://web.archive.org/web/20010425003558/http://www.djma.org.uk/djma Living Glaciers of California]"
* "[https://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=ABK4014-0057-115 The New Sequoia Forests of California]"
* "[https://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=ABP2287-0043-20 A Rival of the Yosemite, King's River Canyon]"
* "[https://web.archive.org/web/20010425003558/http://www.djma.org.uk/djma Snow-Storm on Mount Shasta]"
* "[https://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=scmo;cc=scmo;rgn=full%20text;idno=scmo0017-4;didno=scmo0017-4;view=image;seq=0496;node=scmo0017-4%3A2 Studies in the Sierra: The Glacier Meadows of the Sierra]"
* "[https://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=scmo;cc=scmo;rgn=full%20text;idno=scmo0017-3;didno=scmo0017-3;view=image;seq=430;node=scmo0017-3%3A16;page=root;size=100 Studies in the Sierra: The Mountain Lakes of California]"
* "[https://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=scmo;cc=scmo;rgn=full%20text;idno=scmo0017-5;didno=scmo0017-5;view=image;seq=0662;node=scmo0017-5%3A4 Studies in the Sierra: The Passes of the Sierra]"
* "[https://web.archive.org/web/20010425003558/http://www.djma.org.uk/djma The Treasures of the Yosemite]"
* "[https://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/sgml/moa-idx?notisid=ABK2934-0086-26&type=boolean&slice=1&&&q1=muir&rgn1=Author&op2=And&rgn2=Title&op3=And&rgn3=Author&year1=1815&year2=1926&searchSummary=34%20matching%20%20journal%20articles&size=50&layer=third&coll=serial2 The Wild Gardens of the Yosemite Park]"
* "[https://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/sgml/moa-idx?notisid=ABK2934-0081-4&type=boolean&slice=1&&&q1=muir&rgn1=Author&op2=And&rgn2=Title&op3=And&rgn3=Author&year1=1815&year2=1926&searchSummary=34%20matching%20%20journal%20articles&size=50&layer=third&coll=serial2 The Wild Parks and Forest Reservations of the West]"
* "[https://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/sgml/moa-idx?notisid=ABP7664-0022-3&type=boolean&slice=1&&&q1=muir&rgn1=Author&op2=And&rgn2=Title&op3=And&rgn3=Author&year1=1815&year2=1926&searchSummary=34%20matching%20%20journal%20articles&size=50&layer=third&coll=serial2 The Wild Sheep of the Sierra]"
* "[https://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/sgml/moa-idx?notisid=ABK2934-0081-63&type=boolean&slice=1&&&q1=muir&rgn1=Author&op2=And&rgn2=Title&op3=And&rgn3=Author&year1=1815&year2=1926&searchSummary=34%20matching%20%20journal%20articles&size=50&layer=third&coll=serial2 The Yellowstone National Park]"
* "[https://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/sgml/moa-idx?notisid=ABK2934-0084-22&type=boolean&slice=1&&&q1=muir&rgn1=Author&op2=And&rgn2=Title&op3=And&rgn3=Author&year1=1815&year2=1926&searchSummary=34%20matching%20%20journal%20articles&size=50&layer=third&coll=serial2 The Yosemite National Park]"
{{div col end}}
{{botanist|J.Muir}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book | last = Austin | first = Richard C. | title = Baptized into Wilderness: A Christian Perspective on John Muir | publisher = Creekside Press| year = 1991 | isbn = 978-0-9625831-2-4}}
* Bilbro, Jeffrey. "Preserving "God's Wildness" for Redemptive Baptism: Muir and Disciples of Christ Theology" in ''Loving God's Wildness: The Christian Roots of Ecological Ethics in American Literature''. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama P, 2015. 63–98. {{ISBN|978-0-8173-1857-4}}.
* Blessing, Matt. "[http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm/ref/collection/wmh/id/52346 'The inventions, though of little importance, opened all doors for me': John Muir's Years as an Inventor]". ''Wisconsin Magazine of History'', vol. 99, no. 4 (Summer 2016): 16–27.
* {{cite book | last = Ehrlich | first = Gretel | year = 2000 | title = John Muir: Nature's Visionary | publisher = [[National Geographic Society|National Geographic]] | isbn = 978-0-7922-7954-9 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/johnmuirnaturesv0000ehrl }}
* Engberg, Robert and Donald Wesling, 1999. ''John Muir: To Yosemite and Beyond''. University of Utah Press: Salt Lake City. {{ISBN|978-0-87480-580-2}}
* Fleck, Richard F., ed., 1997. ''Mountaineering Essays''. University of Utah Press: Salt Lake City. {{ISBN|978-0-87480-544-4}}.
* {{cite book |last = Gifford | first = Terry | title = John Muir's Literary Science | publisher = The Public Domain Review | year = 2011 | url = http://publicdomainreview.org/2011/06/09/john-muirs-literary-science/}}
* {{Cite CAB|wstitle= Muir, John |last= Homans |first= James E. |author-link= |page= |short=}}
* Hunt, James B. 2013. ''Restless Fires: Young John Muir's Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf in 1867–68''. Mercer University Press.
*  King, Dean. ''Guardians of the Valley: John Muir and the Friendship That Saved Yosemite''. New York: Scribner, 2023.
* Lasky, Kathryn. ''John Muir: America's first environmentalist'' (Candlewick Press, 2014)
* {{cite book | last = Miller | first = Char | year = 2001 | title = Gifford Pinchot and the Making of Modern Environmentalism | publisher = Island Press | isbn = 978-1-55963-822-7 | url = https://archive.org/details/giffordpinchotma00mill }}
* {{cite journal | author = O'Casey, Terrence | date= September 24, 2006 | title = John Muir: God's Preacher of Creation | journal = Christian Standard | url = http://christianstandard.com/2006/09/cs_article-401/}}
* {{cite journal | author = Smith, Michael B. |date=June 1998 | title = The Value of a Tree: Public Debates of John Muir and Gifford Pinchot | journal = The Historian | volume = 60 | issn = 0018-2370 | issue = 4 | pages = 757–778 | doi = 10.1111/j.1540-6563.1998.tb01414.x}}
* Turner, Frederick. ''John Muir: From Scotland to the Sierra: A Biography'' (Canongate Books, 2014)
* {{cite book | editor-last = White | editor-first = Graham  | year = 2009 | title = Journeys in the Wilderness, A John Muir Reader | publisher = [[Birlinn Limited|Birlinn]] |isbn = 978-1-84158-697-7}}
* {{cite book | last = Williams | first = Dennis | year = 2002 | title = God's Wilds: John Muir's Vision of Nature | publisher = Texas A&M University Press |isbn = 978-1-58544-143-3}}
* {{cite book|last=Witschi |first=N.S. |title=Traces of Gold: California's Natural Resources and the Claim to Realism in Western American Literature |publisher=University of Alabama Press. |year=2002 |location=Tuscaloosa |url=https://archive.org/details/tracesofgold0000unse |url-access=registration |isbn=978-0-8173-1117-9}}
* {{cite journal| doi=10.1093/envhis/10.1.8| url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0199831068| title=John Muir and the Modern Passion for Nature| first=Donald| last=Worster| journal=Environmental History| volume=10| pages=8–19|date=January 2005 | issue=1| url-access=subscription}}
* {{cite book | last = Worster | first = Donald | year = 2008 | title = A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir | publisher = Oxford University Press | isbn = 978-0-19-516682-8 | url = https://archive.org/details/passionfornature00wors_0 }}
* {{cite book | last = Wuerthner | first = George | year = 1994 | title = Yosemite: A Visitor's Companion | publisher = Stackpole Books | pages = [https://archive.org/details/yosemitevisitors00wuer/page/25 25–37] | isbn = 978-0-8117-2598-9 | url = https://archive.org/details/yosemitevisitors00wuer/page/25 }}
* {{cite book|author=Young, Samuel Hall|title=Alaska Days with John Muir|url=https://archive.org/details/alaskadayswithj00youngoog|year=1915|publisher=Fleming H. Revell }}

== External links ==
{{Sister project links|wikt=no|commonscat=yes|n=no|author=yes|b=no|v=no}}
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/john-muir}}
* {{Gutenberg author|id=Muir,+John|name=John Muir}}
* {{Internet Archive author|sname=John Muir}}
* {{Librivox author|id=486}}
* {{Find a Grave |id=747}}
* [https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir/ John Muir Papers] at [https://www.pacific.edu/university-libraries/find/holt-atherton-special-collections.html Holt-Atherton Special Collections.]

{{Yosemite National Park}}
{{Sequoia National Park}}
{{Kings Canyon National Park}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muir, John}}
[[Category:John Muir| ]]
[[Category:1838 births]]
[[Category:1914 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century American writers]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Scottish writers]]
[[Category:Activists from California]]
[[Category:American Disciples of Christ]]
[[Category:American botanical writers]]
[[Category:American botanists]]
[[Category:American conservationists]]
[[Category:American essayists]]
[[Category:19th-century American explorers]]
[[Category:American geologists]]
[[Category:American inventors]]
[[Category:American male essayists]]
[[Category:American mountain climbers]]
[[Category:American naturalists]]
[[Category:American nature writers]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American non-fiction environmental writers]]
[[Category:Deaths from pneumonia in California]]
[[Category:Engineers from California]]
[[Category:Hetch Hetchy Project]]
[[Category:Hikers]]
[[Category:History of the Sierra Nevada (United States)]]
[[Category:People from Dunbar]]
[[Category:People from Martinez, California]]
[[Category:People of the American Old West]]
[[Category:Progressive Era in the United States]]
[[Category:Scottish Disciples of Christ]]
[[Category:Scottish activists]]
[[Category:Scottish botanical writers]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish botanists]]
[[Category:20th-century Scottish botanists]]
[[Category:Scottish conservationists]]
[[Category:Scottish emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Scottish engineers]]
[[Category:Scottish essayists]]
[[Category:Scottish explorers]]
[[Category:Scottish geologists]]
[[Category:Scottish inventors]]
[[Category:Scottish mountain climbers]]
[[Category:Scottish naturalists]]
[[Category:Scottish nature writers]]
[[Category:Sierra Club presidents]]
[[Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from California]]
[[Category:Writers who illustrated their own writing]]
[[Category:Yosemite National Park]]
[[Category:United States Coast and Geodetic Survey personnel]]
[[Category:Climbing and mountaineering writers]]
[[Category:Explorers of Alaska]]