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The John Muir Newsletter, Winter 2001/2002, The John Muir Center

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

Volume 12, Number 1 NEWSLETTER John Muir's Travels to South America and Africa by Michael P. Branch, University of Nevada, Reno (Continued from the Summer/Fall issue. Excerpted from Michael Branch's new book, John Muir's Last Journey: South to the Amazon and East to Africa; Unpublished Journal and Selected Correspondence. Copyright © 2001 by Island Press. Published by Island Press/Shearwater Books, Washington, D.C, and Covelo, California. All rights reserved. Hardcover $27.50. ISBN 1-55963-640-8. To order John Muir's Last Journey, please call Island Press at (800) 828-1302, or place your order at the Island Press website, www.islandpress.org ve had a most glorious …

The John Muir Newsletter, Fall 2001, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

Volume 11, Number 4 NEWSLETTER John Muir's Travels to South America and Africa By Michael P. Branch, University of Nevada, Reno ■; ;rt?Jxcerpted from Michael Branch's new book, John Muir's Last turney: South to the Amazon and East to Africa; Unpublished irnal and Selected Correspondence. Copyright © 2001 by fl§and Press. Published by Island Press/Shearwater Books, Wash- Bgton, D.C., and Covelo, California. All rights reserved. Hardcover $27.50. ISBN 1-55963-640-8. To order John Muir's Last Journey, please call Island Press at (800) 828-1302, or place your order at the Island Press website, www.islandpress.org. ve had a most glorious time on this …

The John Muir Newsletter, Spring 2001, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

JOHN in lilt 111! Wl 11% m MUIR Spring 2001 WSLE "'That Florida flavor': Nature and Culture in jftoRA Neale Hurston's Work for the Federal Writers' Project"1 Valerie Levy, Decatur, Georgia WlfSclitor's Note: The noted African-American author, Zora Wfeale Hurston, is not widely known as a nature writer. For a discussion of her work in that vein, below is an excerpt from the work of an outstanding graduate student, Valerie Levy.) n 1938 famed African-American folklorist, anthropologist, and author Zora Neale Hurston left Harlem and returned to her home state, Florida, to supplement her income by working as a relief …

The John Muir Newsletter, Winter 2000/2001, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

NEWS TER Was John Muir A Woodsman? by Jason Meijia, California (Editor's Note: The former director of the John Muir ■Center, R. H. Limbaugh, has submitted the following paper as an example of outstanding undergraduate "■research on John Muir.) hat is a woodsman? Several definitions are available. First, Webster's College Dictionary defines the term as "a person accustomed to life in the woods and skilled in the arts of the woods, as hunting or trapping." Secondly, a special operations organization, spECOps, with the United States Special Forces Veterans, provides global survival training and according to it, a modern "woodsman" should …

The John Muir Newsletter, Fall 2000, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

I J ' Ov Volume 10, Number 4 NEWSLETTER I Fall 2000 A Sense of the Natural by Richard F. Fleck w rom the time of my first published essay about a Maine sea coast tidal pool in June, 1954 (when I was not quite seventeen), until now, some forty-six fpars later, my major source of inspiration has been the Batural world, be it the Irish Mountains of Mourne rolling flown to the sea or the rocky coast of Maine, or the windy Himmits of Longs Peak, Colorado or Mount Fuji, Japan, ■have always delighted in the smell of turf …

The John Muir Newsletter, Summer 2000, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

u Volume 10, Number 3 oi. Summer 21)01) NEWSLETTER Reconstruction of John Muir's First Public Lecture, Sacramento, 1876 by Steve Pauly, Pleasant Hill, California WEditor's Note: This is Part IV of Steve Pauly's article recreating John Muir's first public talk; the earlier parts appeared in 1999 issues.) OSEMITE CREEK GLACIER The broad, many-fountained glacier to which the basin of Yosemite Creek belonged, was about fourteen miles in BSngth by four in width, and in many places was not less than a ^thousand feet in depth. Its principal tributaries issued from lofty .iphitheatres laid well back among the northern spurs of …

The John Muir Newsletter, Spring 2000, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

NEWSLETTER M Transcendentalist by L. Mikel Vause, Weber State University he term "transcendentalist" evokes an interesting image. Generally when one thinks of a transcendentalist, the image of a little brown-skinned mystic, sitting in lotus position chanting "ommm" comes to ihind. Although American transcendentalism certainly does have Far Eastern roots, one ascribing to that title is Br more likely to be found tramping around the back country rather than curled up on a mat contemplating the ilssence of existence. The founder of American transcendentalism is Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The Sage of Concord." It was Emerson who, with the publication of Nature …

The John Muir Newsletter, Winter 2000, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

volume 10, Number 1 ^%4Km§-Winter 2000 NEWSLETTER Some Writings and Words of John Muir Compared with Writings of Henry David Thoreau by Stan Hutchinson, Sierra Madre, California ohn Muir's earliest exposure to the writings of Henry D. Thoreau probably occurred in the home of Dr. and Mrs. Ezra S. Carr while he was a student it the Wisconsin State University, Madison, from ■ [lebruary, 1861, to June, 1863. The Carrs were keenly interested in the works of Emerson and Thoreau, and had (granted Muir access to their library. It is reasonable to presume his reading matter included Thoreau's Walden published …

The John Muir Newsletter, Fall 1999, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

TOP "i Volume 9, Number 4 MUIR Fall 1999 VULUMJ, J, HUMbEK 1 i; TALL 1333 newsXhtter John Muir's Struggle in the North: Travels in Alaska and The Cruise of the Corwin by Hal Crimmel, Ph.D. raditionally, Muir's reputation has been that of America's foremost wilderness lover, sage, and advocate, unrelenting in his quest for a pure wilderness experience. "For Muir, wilderness was not a confrontation," Harold Simonson tells us, "but a confirmation."1 This is the Muir that captured the public's imagination, j|e Muir who could write, "The whole wilderness seems to be alive and familiar, full of humanity. The …

The John Muir Newsletter, Summer 1999, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

NEW Reconstructing John Muir's First Public Lecture, Sacramento, 1876 by Steve Pauly, Pleasant Hill, California (Editor's Note: This is the third section of Steve Mauley's article which began with the Winter issue.) rock about two miles west of Lake Tenaya has a train of boulders derived from it. The boulders are scattered along a level ridge, where they have not ben disturbed in any appreciable degree since they came to rest toward the close of a glacial period. An examination of the rock proves conclusively that not only were they - rnany of which are twelve feet in diameter - …

The John Muir Newsletter, Spring 1999, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

NEWSLETTER c Reconstructing John Mum's First Public Lecture, Sacramento, 1876 by Steve Pauly, Pleasant Hill, California (Editor's Note: In our previous issue, Steve Pauley's article placed John Muir's first public talk in context. Wmere is his re-creation of some sections of the talk.) n the beginning of the long glacial winter, the lofty Sierra seems to have consisted of one vast undulated wave, in which a thousand separate mountains, with their domes and spires, their innumerable canons and lake basins, lay concealed. In the development of these, the Master Builder chose for a tool, not the earthquake nor lightning to …

The John Muir Newsletter, Winter 1998/99, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

NEWSLETTER Winter 1998-99 The Importance of John Muir's First Public Lecture, Sacramento, 1876 by Steve Pauly, Pleasant Hill, CA INTRODUCTION his article focuses on Muir's first public lecture and its importance as one of several turning points in his evolution as a public figure. The venue was the Congregational Church in Sacramento on January 25, 1876. The lecture was the fifth in a series sponsored by the Sacramento Literary Institute. Muir approached this task with fear, began poorly and with apology, finally recalled his topic, enthralled the large audience with his discussion and illustration of the current and ancient glaciers …

The John Muir Newsletter, Fall 1998, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

Volume 8, Number 4 . I Fall 1998 NEWSLETTER The Muir Renaissance in Scotl by Graham White (Editor's note: A leading voice in the Scottish effort to wkdiscover John Muir, Graham White wrote the introduction to the Canongate collection of Muir's wilderness essays, and is completing a second volume of Muir Writings for that publisher. He can be reached at Brox- mouth Gardens, Dunbar, Scotland EH42 Iqw, or by e-mail at 101320.5 7@compuserve.com.) W. he John Muir Newsletter has invited me to outline the resurgence of interest in John Muir in the land of his birth, and to clarify various …

The John Muir Newsletter, Summer 1998, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

John Muir On Mount Ritter: A New Wilderness Aesthetic by Philip G. Terrie (Editor's note: Philip G. Terrie is Professor of English and f American Studies at Bowling Green State University, and author •f Forever Wild: Environmental Aesthetics and the Adirondack wporest Preserve (1985). This article first appeared in The Pacific Historian (1987), and is reproduced here by permission.) hile John Muir has been the subject of considerable scholarly scrutiny in recent years, we have yet to arrive at a complete understanding of his response to nature.1 One on is that we are often too eager to portray him as …

The John Muir Newsletter, Spring 1998, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

NEWSLETTER YOSEMITE'S POETS: JOHN MUIR'S INFLUENCE ON THE CAREER OF ANSEL ADAMS by Joshua Greenfield, Master's Candidate at Hunter College, City University of New York John Muir was one of those exceptional men whose writing touches us deeply, revealing the world which is potentially avail- Wble to us all. The quality of Muir's vision has undeniably colored my own moods and response and clarified the statements of my camera. Ansel Adams Mm Muir and Ansel Adams were the two great poets of Yosemite H alley and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. As novelist Wallace fltegner pointed out in a 1985 memorial …

The John Muir Newsletter, Winter 1998, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

mm IWinter 1998 NEWSLETTER Writing or Living? John Muir's Writerly Identity and Ambivalence by Randall Roorda, University of Missouri, Kansas City (Editor's note: As many fans of John Muir realize, Muir was not comfortable with writing for publication. This analysis of that ■'issue is a revision of a paper presented earlier to the Western Literature Association. We wish to thank the State University of lew York Press for permission to print this excerpt from the forthcoming book, Dramas of Solitude: Narratives of Retreat in American Nature Writing, by Randall Roorda.) lite aspect of John Muir's lite I offer is that …

The John Muir Newsletter, Fall 1997, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

Fall 1997 NEWSLETTER Intimacies of a New England Trip: John Muir's 1898 Excursion by j. Parker Huber (Editor's note: Parker Huber, a regular contributor to these ■pages, here excerpts and discusses a few days of John Muir's life from the pages of Muir's journal of 1898 and from his letters.) ohn Muir's extensive travels included five trips to New England, finch occurred in 1893,1896,1898,1903 and 1911. His longest fxposure to New England came in late summer and autumn of 1898. This visit had three phases: first an overnight on Cape Cod, ; which is considered here, followed by a tour …

The John Muir Newsletter, Summer 1997, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

MUIR 1997 What Does Love Have To Do With It: ~Chr7sTIAi^^ &~KlNDRED REDEMPTION by Bonnie Johanna Gisel (Editor's note: Adjunct Assistant Professor of Nineteenth-Century American Cultural History at Drew University '' TnIleVrSey' ^se[ant^PTlthe coJ^on, in Fall 1997, of her Ph.D. dissertation ZJeannecZrrntitled Jeanne C. Carr: Into the Sun. A Nineteenth-Century American Woman's Experience in Nature and Wilderness) copyright @ 1997, by Bonnie J. Gisel hi ! amination of the letters of Elvira Hutchings written to me C. Carr and to John Muir above all reveal a portrait of friendship shared by Muir and Elvira Hutchings. A further examination provides insight …

The John Muir Newsletter, Spring 1997, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

JOHN WgW Volume 7, Number 2 NEW MUIR Spring 1997 X I 4 J^,AN EPISODE IN THE YOSEMITE: by Frank E. Buske copyright @ 1989,1991, by Frank E. Buske (Editor's note: Dr. Frank Buske, emeritus professor and former Chair of the English Department at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, now lives in Tucson, Arizona. This paper was presented at the 1990 John Muir Conference at UOP, and is published here, along with letters from a private collection, with the author's permission.) ('•< Muir spent the winter of 1873-75 at the McChesney home in land, having come down from his beloved mountains to spend time putting into words some of the observations he had made • ■ nig the trees and the glaciers and on the ■ - les. Mrs. Jeanne Carr and others of his I «ls had, for a long time, been * •imaging him to do more writing; they HHgested that there was a market for his j I les and a need for him to set down his ilf|overies while they were still fresh in his mind. Mrs. McChesney, in a later reminiscence, described Muir as "dressed gi»iei ally in what we call now negligee, i.e., he wore a blue flannel shirt, but was never : without a sprig of some green plant as an-S*0 jjpment." Muir's apparel would be appropriate for ij§krnd of life he most enjoyed. He disliked lifting to dress for any formal occasion and hied to avoid any social gathering that would HHuire clothing and behavior that were not comfortable to him. Although he had uently written of his loneliness, sped1 w.f t enviously about his relatives and ids who had married and were raising families, he seems to made no effort to alter his own bachelor status during that Winter in the Bay Area. Mrs. J "• ' Carr The subject of John Muir and his relationship with women is interesting to ponder, and is a topic that has received a good deal of attention and even more misinformed speculation. Some verses that he wrote before this time, highly critical of young women, their appearance and the way they dressed, prompted his friend, Bradley Brown, to write the eighteen-year old Muir, "Excuse me, John, but perhaps unreciprocated love was the cause of your rhyming against the sweet little creatures. To love is painful, that is true. Not to love is painful, too. But oh! It gives the greatest pain to love and not to be loved again." The subject of Muir's poem may well have been imaginary but Brown's observations can certainly be considered prescient. At twenty-two, in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, working with ice-boat inventor Wiard, John Muir wrote his brother, David, telling him of the people he was meeting. David, very much a ladies' man, replied, "I would like very well to hear that piano and Miss E.P. (excuse me, John) playing on it." Miss E.P. was, of course, Emily Pelton, niece of the proprietors of the Mandell House where Muir was living. In December of that same year, John Muir wrote his sister, Sarah, and her husband, David Galloway, of an occasion which shows a rather vivid picture of his social skills: UNIVERSITY OR page 1 (continued on page 3) PACIFIC

NEWS NOTES: JOHN MUIR CENTER PUBLICATION PROGRAM The John Muir Center announces the continuation of its series of …

The John Muir Newsletter, Winter 1996/97, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

Volume 7, Number 1 NEW °3> f\ND VARWIN God and Evolution in Nature by Shayne Zurilgen (Editor's note: The author, a senior in geology at the University of the Pacific, prepared this paper in the fall of 1996for an undergraduate history class, "JohnMuir and the Environment.") Ifred Lord Tennyson was looking into his microscope one day when he was moved to comment, "Strange that these wonders should draw some men to God and repel others."1 Tennyson was addressing the fervor surrounding Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. While he didn't really identify anyone in particular, Tennyson conceivably could …

The John Muir Newsletter, Fall 1996, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

Volume 6, Number 4 NEW DNSERVATIONIST: Agriculture in California's Central Valley by Kevin S. Frazier ;:';:::::;:.'ij ; (Editor's note: our feature article this month was written by a senior at the University of the Pacific, the first recipient of the Rockwell Hunt Summer Research Scholarship for UOP undergraduates.) s I frequently drive through the California Central Valley from my home in Sonora to school in Stockton, my constant companions are expansive agricultural fields. Corn gives way to tomatoes which give way to sugar beets; orchards of walnuts turn to orchards of peaches or apricots; herds of cattle graze by the …

John Muir Newsletter, Summer 1996, John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

John Muir Newsletter summer 1996 university of the pacific volume 6, number 3 JOHN MUIR'S ATTENTION EPISTEMOLOGY by Richard Wiebe (Editor's note: Professor of Philosophy at Fresno Pacific College, Richard Wiebe presented this paper at a 1995 conference sponsored by the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment). Talk of mysteries!—Think of our life in nature,— daily tobe shown matter, to come in contact with it,— rocks, trees, wind on our cheeks! the so/M earth! the actual world! the common sensel Contact! Contact! Who are we? where are we? —"Ktaadn" from The Maine Woods by Henry David Thoreau …

John Muir Newsletter, Spring 1996, John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

John Muir N spring 1996 university of the pacific volume 6, number 2 JOHN MUIR AND THEBIDWELLS: THE FORGOTTEN FRIENDSHIP By Michael J. Gillis (Editor's note: this article was originally published in the Spring, 1995 issue oftheDogtown Territorial Quarterly, and reprinted here with the kind permission of its publisher, Bill Anderson of Paradise, California.. The author, Michael Gillis, is Lecturer in History at California State University, Chico. He and a colleague, Michael Magliaria, are working on a book-length study of John Bidwell, Chico's founder and most prominent citizen) The thirty-seven year friendship between John Muir and the Bidwells which began …

John Muir Newsletter, Winter 1995/96, John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

John Muir Newsletter winter 1995-96 university of the pacific volume 6, number 1 HOW I FOUND SMOKEY JACK'S CAMP AND TWENTY-HILL HOLLOW ByRobert Bauer (Editor's note: When not raising turkeys, Robert Bauer is a graduate student in anthropology at California State University, Stanislaus, working on a master's thesis that places Muir and his work in the context of the land and people of the Sierra foothills between the Merced and Tuolumne rivers.) John Muir first came to eastern Merced County in 1868 by a circuitous route. Following a botanzing trip through Florida and Cuba, he was taken with a fever …

John Muir Newsletter, Fall 1995, John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

Muir Newsletter fall 1995 university of the pacific volume 5, number 4 JOHN MUIR AND THE VAN DYKE RANCH: INTIMACY AND DESIRE IN HIS FINAL YEARS By Peter Wild (Editor's note: Well-known author, poet, biographer and nature writer, Peter Wild is Professor of Modern Language at the University of Arizona in Tucson. The following paper is an outgrowth of his recent research on the Muir family in the Southwest. Part One was published in the previous issue.) PARTTWO The Muirs owed much of Helen's well-being to the ranchers, Theodore Strong Van Dyke and his son Dix. The Van Dykes were …

John Muir Newsletter, Summer 1995, John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

John Muir Newsletter summer 1995 university of the pacific volume 5, number 3 JOHN MUIR AND THE VAN DYKE RANCH: INTIMACY AND DESIRE IN HIS FINAL YEARS By Peter Wild (Editor's note: Well-known author, poet, biographer and nature writer, Peter Wild is Professor of Modern Language at the University of Arizona in Tucson. The following paper is an outgrowth of his recent research on the Muir family in the Southwest. Part Two will be published in the next issue.) PARTONE When occasional gunfire erupted in the town, it could be heard at the nearby desert ranch, but that didn't seem …

John Muir Newsletter, Spring 1995, John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

John Muir Newsletter spring 1995 university of the pacific volume 5, number 2 JOHN MUIR AND ZEN BUDDHISM by Michelle L. Dwyer (Editor's note: Michelle Dwyer is an English and Philosophy double major at the University of the Pacific. This paper was prepared in the fall of 1994 for an undergraduate course, "John Muir and the American Environment. ") Many question whether John Muir followed traditional Christianity, mystic pantheism, ora combination of the two. After reading many of Muir's writings, it seems to me that he follows the religious beliefs of Zen Buddhism closely enough to say that Muir understood …

John Muir Newsletter, Winter 1994/1995, John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

John Muir Newsletter winter 19i4-9a university of the pacific volume 5, number 1 FOLLOWING MUIR'S FIRST SUMMER ROUTE by John Fiske (Editor's note: John Fiske, retired engineer and Muir aficionado, lives near Coulterville and has thoroughly explored the region, tracking Muir's 1869 route as described in My First Summer in the Sierra. A year ago he accompanied a group of Muir enthusiasts from Japan on an excursion that began near Snelling and ended in Tuolumne Meadows. Fiske's trail notes are reprinted below. His meticulous research, and his careful delineation of the current topography and nomenclature, are valuable contributions to modern …

John Muir Newsletter, Fall 1994, John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

John Muir Newsletter fall 1994 university of the pacific volume 4, number 4 JOHN MUIR'S PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION By Janene Ford Library/Archives Assistant Holt-Atherton Library It is said a picture is worth a thousand words. John Muir could easily turn out a thousand words, but as far as we know he seldom, if ever, used a camera. However, it is evident that Muir recognized and respected the value of visual images. During his lifetime he amassed a collection of nearly 3,000 photographs, many of which were taken by acquaintances and friends such as William Keith, Charles Lummis, Theodore Lukens, Marion Delany, …

John Muir Newsletter, Summer 1994, John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

John Muir Newsletter summer 1994 university of the pacific volume 4, number 3 JOHN MUIR IN RUSSIA, 1903 PART THREE by William H. Brennan (Editor's note: this is the last article in a three-part series by Bill Brennan, Professor of History at the University of the Pacific, a specialist in Russian and Soviet history and foreign policy. For prior articles, see the 1993 fall and winter issues of this newsletter.) When Muir left the vicinity of Saint Petersburg, then the capital of Imperial Russia, it was with an obvious sense of relief. He had found Peter the Great's pride and …