Exploring Yosemite Valley occupied much of his next six years. On all of his explorations he kept a journal of scientific and personal observations and also pencil drawings. Reproduced by permission of Archive Photos, Inc. Strentzel, the daughter of a Polish plant grower. They would have two children. In , after another trip to Alaska, Muir settled on a fruit ranch near Martinez, California. He worked for ten years to make enough money to enable him to stop.
Having provided permanently for his wife, two daughters, and himself, he turned his full attention to the study of nature. Glaciers and freezing particularly interested him, and his work contributed to an explanation of the process by which glaciers are formed.
He also went on expeditions to Europe, Asia, and Australia. In Muir argued in Century magazine that Yosemite Valley should become a national park. The passage of a law in making that happen owed much to Muir's influence. The Mountains of California , Our National Parks , and his many articles in popular magazines greatly advanced the conservation movement, as did his creation in of the Sierra Club, an organization dedicated to preserving wild lands such as Yosemite.
Muir served as the president of the club until his death. Muir's wife died in From then until his death Muir published four books, including Stickeen , which was a popular dog story, and My First Summer in the Sierra He died in Los Angeles, California, on December 24, John of the Mountain, drawn from Muir's journal of his Alaskan expedition, was published in Ehrlich, Gretel. John Muir: Nature's Visionary. Muir, John. Edited by Linnie Marsh Wolfe.
Eventually Muir gave in to her perseverance and on June 17, they became engaged, the day before Muir's first trip to Alaska. On a very stormy April 14, , they were married in the Strentzel's white house with white Astrakan apple blossoms decorating the home. A copy of their Marriage Certificate, signed by Dr. Dwinell and witness Mrs. Hatch, survives. Muir would have liked Dwinell because of his literary and scientific interests -- he also founded the Agassiz Institute in following a visit of Louie Agassiz to Sacramento.
Helen's room overlooked the train track, tunnels, and trestle, on the side of Mt. She became fascinated with trains and plastered her room with posters from the train companies, learned the timetables, and watched for expected trains coming around the mountain.
Both girls accompanied their father on walks in the nearby hills, and Muir named two of the peaks Mt. Wanda and Mt. Eventually the girls wanted music lessons.
They were interested in the violin, guitar, and piano and needed to practice. Muir was distracted easily from bookmaking in the upstairs Scribble Den and couldn't stand the sounds of nearby practicing. Eventually he relegated the girls' practicing to the soundproof brick room supporting the water tank at the rear of the house. Later that became known facetiously as the Music Room. Probably Louie couldn't play the piano when he was working, and likely she did most of her playing while he was gone.
Also while Muir was gone, Louie managed the fruit ranch very capably, handled the finances and bookkeeping, and even sent checks to cover Muir's hotel bills. In Louie accompanied her husband to Yosemite Valley. It was her first and only trip there and was a mistake from the start.
She mistook trout for catfish, didn't like hiking about, and saw bears behind every tree. Muir also grumbled about the cost of transporting her several trunks of clothes. At the end of the '80s when Muir had been home quite a bit of the time, his literary output vanished, and so did his enthusiasm for most everything else. He needed more time in the mountains, away from civilization. Louie recognized this and unselfishly encouraged him to follow his heart. Among her letters which encouraged John back to the mountains is the one from August 9, letter which he received in Seattle just after a climb of Mt.
The Alaska book and the Yosemite book, dear John, must be written, and you need to be your own self, well and strong to make them worthy of you. There began his years of wanderlust. He walked a thousand miles from Indianapolis to the Gulf of Mexico. From that moment on, though he would travel around the world, California became his home. It was California's Sierra Nevada and Yosemite that truly claimed him. In , he walked across the San Joaquin Valley through waist-high wildflowers and into the high country for the first time.
By he had found living glaciers in the Sierra and had conceived his then-controversial theory of the glaciation of Yosemite Valley. He began to be known throughout the country. Beginning in , a series of articles by Muir entitled "Studies in the Sierra" launched his successful career as a writer.
He left the mountains and lived for awhile in Oakland, California. From there he took many trips, including his first to Alaska in , where he discovered Glacier Bay. Settling down to some measure of domestic life, Muir went into partnership with his father-in-law and managed the family fruit ranch with great success.
But ten years of active ranching did not quell Muir's wanderlust. In later years he turned more seriously to writing, publishing articles and 10 major books that recounted his travels, expounded his naturalist philosophy, and beckoned everyone to "Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.
0コメント