Analysis: Features of the Proposed Yosemite National Park

Date: September, 1890

Author: John Muir

Genre: article

Summary Overview

By the end of the nineteenth century, John Muir had become a major figure in American society, representing, to many, the conservation movement. Having spent many years living in and visiting the Yosemite area, in east central California, he was convinced that it was a special area in need of preservation. With pressure increasing to open this area for widespread use, in the late 1880s Muir began pushing hard for its incorporation as a national park, as Yellowstone, in northwestern Wyoming, had previously been. After convincing the editor of The Century magazine to visit Yosemite, the editor understood the need for this to happen. Muir was invited to write an article for the magazine advocating the protection of Yosemite. Thus, this article was written and published in early 1890, and by the end of the year, the highlands area around the Yosemite Valley had been designated a national park. It would take another sixteen years of pressure by Muir for the federal government to take control of the valley and of the Mariposa Grove, thereby incorporating what later became the major tourist destinations into the park.

Defining Moment

With the movement of more and more people into the western part of the United States, less and less land was being left in its natural state. While most land was still undeveloped, this did not mean that logging, mining, and grazing were not extending into what had once been remote wilderness. Although the first attempt at conservation had been in 1864, when President Lincoln signed a bill giving the state of California control of the Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove for the preservation of these areas, in the following decades, the pressure to exploit natural resources had far surpassed the movement to conserve or preserve natural areas. However, conservation steps were taken, such as the establishment of the first national park in 1872, administered by the Army. John Muir's sojourn into the Yosemite wilderness in 1869 transformed his life and eventually the nation. He came to experience the wilderness as a religious experience. For him, it was not to be conserved; rather, it should be preserved.

Ranchers' desires for more land upon which to graze their animals resulted in their unrestricted movement onto federal land. If at any time they did violate any federal statute, enforcement was a low priority for the government. Thus, domestic sheep were grazing on the highlands around the Yosemite Valley, causing great harm to the native plants. Witnessing what was occurring, Muir felt compelled to protect this beautiful wilderness area from harm. For several years he advocated for federal protection of the region just outside what had been granted to California. Finally, in 1889, he was able to get the editor of The Century magazine to join the cause, resulting in this article and the creation of the national park the next year.

Once he had an appropriate forum through which to communicate his ideas to the nation, Muir was able to get quick results—as he had become a leading figure in the conservation movement. In 1871, Muir published his first article about the region. From that time forward, Muir wrote numerous articles, and by 1876, he began giving public lectures, advocating for the protection of forests, especially in and around Yosemite. His articles about the wilderness and his travels were so popular that some were used in school textbooks. With no strong opposition to the incorporation of the land into a park, Muir's push succeeded with virtually no opposition. This accomplishment, along with his writings and other accomplishments, have made Muir virtually the patron saint of the wilderness preservation movement in the United States.

Author Biography

John Muir (1838–1914) was born in Scotland, but his family moved to Wisconsin in 1849. His father was a strict conservative Christian who disapproved of Muir's interest in the world around him. He was mechanically inclined, attended the University of Wisconsin, and took science classes before moving to Canada during the Civil War. After the war, he returned to Indiana, where an accident in a saw mill injured one eye. After recovery, he walked to the Florida Keys, traveled to Cuba, then back to New York, studying the plants all along the way. In 1868, he sailed to California, and then visited what would become Yosemite National Park. He took up residence there, working as a shepherd, and studied all aspects of the area. He would later travel as far north as Alaska, but his focus was upon the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and especially the Yosemite area. From 1878 until his death, he split his time between the wilderness and Martinez, California, where he married Louisa Strentzel in 1880. His later years included writing numerous books and articles, co-founding the Sierra Club, and lobbying for the preservation of wilderness areas and the creation of national parks.

Document Analysis

The text reprinted here is virtually the whole second half of the article written by John Muir in his proposal for the creation of a national park consisting of the region around Yosemite Valley. The proposed park would contain about 15,000 square miles, with two major valleys, the Hetch Hetchy Valley and the Yosemite Valley, sometimes referred to by Muir as the Merced Yosemite Valley. This half of the article focused on the Hetch Hetchy Valley, which was flooded by the completion of a reservoir in 1923. The two valleys paralleled each other not only in orientation, but in their physical characteristics and beauty. Thus, there are many references comparing the two valleys: their rock formations and their waterways. While there was and is a wide variety of flora and fauna within the region, Muir understood that what would draw people to a national park in Yosemite were the panoramic views of water and rock.

Beginning upstream from Hetch Hetchy, Muir describes the beauty of what is now known as the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River. As in Muir's day, this area is today not accessible by vehicle. The description of the formations that border the river is a virtual catalog of the formations found in Yosemite. El Capitan, Cathedral Spires, Half Dome, and others are compared to what could be found in this canyon. Having traveled extensively in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Muir's statement that the cascades in the river in this canyon “surpass those of any other cañon in the Sierra” has great meaning.

Moving into the broader, now flooded, Hetch Hetchy Valley, Muir continues to describe the wonders of the region. The directions he gives for traveling from Yosemite to Hetch Hetchy are where the roads and trails are still located. The gray rock that created the walls along both canyons is described as the same. Standing out in both valleys were the waterfalls which poured water hundreds of feet from the hills and mountains into the valleys. Describing them in great detail, Muir hoped that the unique waterways would help gain support by those who might want to see them in the future, undisturbed by people. His poetic language regarding how he saw an ethereal quality in the Tueeulala Falls demonstrates the spiritual quality that the wilderness had for Muir. Having referred to the “divine repose” of the flowing stream, Muir ends his description by proclaiming the wonders of the falls he saw as a “flood of singing air, water, and sunlight woven into cloth that spirits might wear.” For Muir—and, he hoped, for those considering the creation of the park—this was the essence of wondrous beauty. Unlike most lobbying efforts, Muir's article says nothing about the proposed legislation until the last paragraph of the full text. Having tried to share a vision of the unique features of the Yosemite and Hetch Hetchy Valleys, he hopes that they can be preserved.

Bibliography and Additional Reading

Fox, Stephen. American Conservation Movement: John Muir and his Legacy. Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 1986. Print.

“The John Muir Exhibit.” Sierra Club. Sierra Club, 2014. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.

Muir, John. The Yosemite. 1912. The Sierra Club, 2003 Web. 13 Oct. 2014.

Perrottet, Tony. “John Muir's Yosemite,”Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian Institution, Jul. 2008. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.

Worster, Donald. A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008. Print.