the american forests john muir summary

Ginger Wadsworth. 'Yes, John Muir; and you know I promised to return and visit you in about twenty-five years, and though I am a little latesix or seven yearsI've done the best I could . I suppose we need not go mourning the buffaloes. During heavy rainfalls and while the winter accumulations of snow were melting, the larger streams would swell into destructive torrents; cutting deep, rugged-edged gullies, carrying away the fertile humus and soil as well as sand and rocks, filling up and overflowing their lower channels, and covering the lowland fields with raw detritus. The feudal lords valued the woodlands, and enacted vigorous protective laws; and when, in the latest civil war, the Mikado government destroyed the feudal system, it declared the forests that had belonged to the feudal lords to be the property of the state, promulgated a forest law binding on the whole kingdom, and founded a school of forestry in Tokio. After several legal battles, Congress established Yosemite National Park in 1890 in order to protect thousands of acres of forest land from further destruction. Here and there in the Southern States there are still considerable areas of timbered government land, but these are comparatively unimportant. Back at the turn of the 20th Century Gifford Pinchot and John Muir had radically contrasting views of how to manage . Listen to the trailer for Holy Week. President Theodore Roosevelt was one of the most powerful voices in the history of American conservation. Any fool can destroy trees. In 1849, Muir and his family immigrated to Wisconsin to homestead. This excerpt from "The American Forests," was part of John Muir's 1897 campaign to save the American wilderness. The chief aims of the administration are effective protection of the forests from fire, an efficient system of regeneration, and cheap transportation of the forest products; the results so far have been most beneficial and encouraging. His lifelong passion for hiking began when he hiked 1,000 miles from Indianapolis to the Gulf of Mexico in. 331-[365]; no. Besides his labor, only a few pounds of nails are required. Accordingly, with no eye to the future, these pious destroyers waged interminable forest wars; chips flew thick and fast; trees in their beauty fell crashing by millions, smashed to confusion, and the smoke of their burning has been rising to heaven more than two hundred years. The two most fascinating questions about extraterrestrial life are where it is found and what it is like. Muir, John, 1838-1914 Publication date 1901 Topics National parks and reserves -- United States, Yosemite National Park (Calif.) Publisher Boston, New York : Houghton, Mifflin and Company Collection cdl; americana Digitizing sponsor MSN Contributor University of California Libraries Language English Muir constantly brings up the burning of the forests. The abstract is typically a short summary of the contents of the document. Year by year the remnant is growing smaller before the axe and fire, while the laws in existence provide neither for the protection of the timber from destruction nor for its use where it is most needed. Taking from the government is with them the same as taking from nature, and their consciences flinch no more in cutting timber from the wild forests than in drawing water from a lake or river. But this priceless land has been patented, and nothing can be done now about the crazy bargain. 2) Yosemite Glaciers. Thence still westward the invading horde of destroyers called settlers made its fiery way over the broad Rocky Mountains, felling and burning more fiercely than ever, until at last it has reached the wild side of the continent, and entered the last of the great aboriginal forests on the shores of the Pacific. According to the everlasting laws of righteousness, even the fraudful buyers at less than one per cent of its value are making little or nothing, on account of fierce competition. Only by gift or purchase, so far as I know, can the government get back into its possession a single acre of this wonderful forest. Humans, Muir decided, are no greater or lesser than other forms of life. They cannot run away; and if they could, they would still be destroyedchased and hunted down as long as fun or a dollar could be got out of their bark hides, branching horns, or magnificent bole backbones It took more than three thousand years to make some of the trees in these Western woodstrees that are still standing in perfect strength and beauty, waving and singing in the mighty forests of the Sierra. Still, in the long run the world does not move backward Light is surely coming, and the friends of destruction will preach and bewail in vain. by man, must have been a great delight to. But there is no such road on the western side of the continent. Muir, John, "The American Forests" (1897). John Muir: A Reading Bibliography by Kimes "The forests of America, however slighted by man, must have been a great delight to God; for they were the best he ever planted." He described trees with a diameter of twenty feet as "lordly. I was consequently keen to read his short essay "Save the redwoods" when it popped up as an LOA story-of-the-week three weeks ago. In one case which came under the observation of Mr. Bowers, it was the practice of a lumber company to hire the entire crew of every vessel which might happen to touch at any port in the redwood belt, to enter one hundred and sixty acres each and immediately deed the land to the company, in consideration of the company's paying all expenses and giving the jolly sailors fifty dollars apiece for their trouble. But as this groundbreaking book demonstrates, what Muir was really seeing when he admired the grand vistas of Yosemite and the gold and purple flowers carpeting the Central Valley were the fertile gardens of the Sierra Miwok and Valley . Both environmentalists were great activists that informed the . After the destructive 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, the decision was made to dam the valley to provide the recovering city with clean water. This paper looks at the roles that language had in the writings of John Muir, the father of American national parks and Gifford Pinchot, the father of American forest conservation. In any case, it will be hard to teach the pioneers that it is wrong to steal government timber. FAQ | Uncle Sam is not often called a fool is business matters, yet he had sold millions of acres of timber land at two dollars and a half an acre on which a single tree was worth more than a hundred dollars. To prepare the ground, it was rolled and sifted in seas with infinite loving deliberation and forethought, lifted into the light, submerged and warmed over and over again, pressed and crumpled into folds and ridges, mountains and hills, subsoiled with heaving volcanic fires, ploughed and ground and sculptured into scenery and soil with glaciers and rivers, very feature growing and changing from beauty to beauty, higher and higher. John Muir, Naturalist: A Concise Biography of the Great Naturalist. They buy no land, pay no taxes, dwell in a paradise with no forbidding angel either from Washington or from heaven. Not a mountain is left in the landscape. Listen to the trailer for Holy Week. While in Alaska, I saw the loveliest forests and scenery I've ever seen. In no other way than under some one of these laws can a citizen of the United States make any use of the public forests. The Wild Parks and Forest Reservations of the West 2. Under the timber and stone act, of the same date, land in the Pacific States and Nevada, valuable mainly for timber, and unfit for cultivation if the timber is removed, can be purchased for two dollars and a half an acre, under certain restrictions. The Wild Parks and Forest Reservations of the West, chapter 1 of 'Our National Parks' by John Muir (1901). Many of the miners find that timber is already becoming scarce and dear on the denuded hills around their mills, and they too are asking for protection of forests, at least against fire. > Under these circumstances, the bawling, blethering oratorical stuff drowns the voice of God himself. Everywhere, everywhere over all the blessed continent, there were beauty, and melody, and kindly, wholesome, foodful abundance. On the contrary, all the brains, religion, and superstition of the neighborhood are brought into play to prevent a new growth. John Muir; At Home in the Wild. Shirley Sargent. Yet the dawn of a new day in forestry is breaking. These forests were composed of about five hundred species of trees, all of them in some way useful to man, ranging in size from twenty-five feet in height and less than one foot in diameter at the ground to four hundred feet in height and more than twenty feet in diameter, lordly monarchs proclaiming the gospel of beauty like apostles. John Muir (1838-1914) was born in Scotland and emigrated to Wisconsin as a young boy. He wrote many magazine articles and books, inspiring other people to love nature and drawing attention to the need to protect the environment. Over nearly all of the more accessible slopes of the Sierra and Cascade mountains in southern Oregon, at a height of from three to six thousand feet above the sea, and for a distance of about six hundred miles, this waste and confusion extends. The volume is from the press of Houghton . He is best known for his work as a conservationist, particularly his role in the establishment of Yosemite National Park in California. The abstract is typically a short summary of the . On the contrary, they are made to produce as much timber as is possible without spoiling them. John Muir was born on April 21, 1838 in the small rural town of Dunbar, Scotland. But most preferred the shake business, until something more profitable and as sure could be found, with equal comfort and independence. These forests were composed of about five hundred species of trees, all of them in some way useful to man, ranging in size from twenty-five feet in height and less than one foot in diameter at the ground to four hundred feet in height and more than twenty feet in diameter, lordly monarchs proclaiming the gospel of beauty like apostles. Emerson says that things refuse to be mismanaged long. In "The American Forests", John Muir's purpose is to reveal the disloyalty that Americans have towards their agriculture. John Muir in Yosemite. This first chapter is essentially an overview of the entire book. The remnant protected will yield plenty of timber, a perennial harvest for every right use, without further diminution of its area, and will continue to cover the springs of the rivers that rise in the mountains and give irrigating waters to the dry valleys at their feet, prevent wasting floods and be a blessing to everybody forever. President Teddy Roosevelt was profoundly influenced by Muir and the conservation movement. The disappearance of the forests in the first place, it is claimed, may be traced in most cases directly to mountain pasturage. The half dozen transcontinental railroad companies advertise the beauties of their lines in gorgeous many-colored folders, each claiming its as the scenic route. The route of superior desolation the smoke, dust, and ashes route would be a more truthful description. This grand tree, Sequoia sempervirens, is surpassed in size only by its near relative, Sequoia gigantea, or big tree, of the Sierra Nevada, if indeed it is surpassed. Everybody on the dry side of the continent is beginning to find this out, and, in view of the waste going on, is growing more and more anxious for government protection. Once, in a company of this kind, I heard a man say, as he peacefully smoked his pipe: Boys, as soon as this jobs done Im goin into the duck business. President Theodore Roosevelt & John Muir. But light is surely coming, and the friends of destruction will preach and bewail in vain. John Muir was one of the country's most famous naturalist and conservationist and Muir Woods, part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area, is named in his honor. 237, pp. The making of the far-famed New York Central Park was opposed by even good men, with misguided pluck, perseverance, and ingenuity; but straight right won its way, and now that park is appreciated. Theres big money in it, and your grub costs nothing. Likewise many of natures five hundred kinds of wild trees had to make way for orchards and cornfields. It is the only genuine Erebus route. As is shown by Mr. E. A. Bowers, formerly Inspector of the Public Land Service, the foundation of our protective policy, which has never protected, is an act passed March 1, 1817, which authorized the Secretary of the Navy to reserve lands producing live-oak and cedar, for the sole purpose of supplying timber for the navy of the United States. Abstract. Still, the species is not in danger of extinction. It has been planted and is flourishing over a great part of Europe, and magnificent sections of the aboriginal forests have been reserved as national and state parks, the Mariposa Sequoia Grove, near Yosemite, managed by the State of California, and the General Grant and Sequoia national parks on the Kings, the Kaweah, and Tule rivers, efficiently guarded by a small troop of United States cavalry under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior. Every train rolls on through dismal smoke and barbarous melancholy ruins; and the companies might well cry in their advertisements: Come! Of course a way had to be cleared through the woods. The first few thousands he sells or trades at the nearest mill or store, getting provisions in exchange. The redwood is the glory of the Coast Range. The fact is, it was all started over 100 years ago by two men I like to refer to as the founding fathers of America's public lands. As timber the redwood is too good to live. Flying Spur Press, Yosemite, California. Chuck Roe -A Sesquicentennial Account of John Muir's 1,000 Mile Walk - A review of the landscape 150 years after Muir's walk, with a focus on the progress of land conservation and identification of the many publicly-accessible, protected natural areas now located immediately along Muir's route. Roe's intent was to observe and describe the publicly accessible parks, nature preserves, forests . 1) The Sierra Nevada. To the southward stretched dark, level-topped cypresses in knobby, tangled swamps, grassy savannas in the midst of them like lakes of light, groves of gay sparkling spice-trees, magnolias and palms, glossy-leaved and blooming and shining continually. Critics including the . These two sequoias are all that are known to exist in the world, though in former geological times the genus was common and had many species. 1971. As for reservation and protection of forests, it seems as silly and needless to them as protection and reservation of the ocean would be; both appearing to be boundless and inexhaustible. They cover an area of about 29,000,000 acres. About seventy million acres it still owns, enough for all the country, if wisely used. In the settlement and civilization of the country, bread more than timber or beauty was wanted; and in the blindness of hunger, the early settlers, claiming Heaven as their guide, regarded Gods trees as only a larger kind of pernicious weeds, extremely hard to get rid of. The American Forests In decrying the destruction of woodlands by loggers, settlers, and industrialists, Muir, the father of America's conservation movement, advanced the notion that. To Muir, these forests are a true creation by God himself--everlasting, plentiful, and can feed every man and . Visit the parks associated with John Muir! Every tree heard the bodeful sound, and pillars of smoke gave the sign in the sky. The trees are felled, and about half of each giant is left on the ground to be converted into smoke and ashes; the better half is sawed into choice lumber and sold to citizens of the United States or to foreigners: thus robbing the country of its glory and impoverishing it without right benefit to anybody, a bad, black business from beginning to end. Only the lower, perfectly clear, free-splitting portions of the giant pines are used, perhaps ten to twenty feet from a tree two hundred and fifty in height; all the rest is left a mass of ruins, to rot or to feed the forest fires, while thousands are hacked deeply and rejected in proving the grain. This means that less than 50,000 acres have been planted with stunted, woebegone, almost hopeless sprouts of trees, while at the same time the government has allowed millions of acres of the grandest forest trees to be stolen, or destroyed, or sold for nothing. Muir's nature was a pristine refuge from the city. It has, therefore, as shown by Mr. Pinchot, refused to deliver its forests to more or less speedy destruction by permitting them to pass into private ownership. The people will not always be deceived by selfish opposition, whether from lumber and mining corporations or from sheepmen and prospectors, however cunningly brought forward underneath fables and gold.

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