John Muir: His Achievements

John Muir: His Achievements/Journeys

John Muir worked at a factory in Canada. He invented time and money saving machines for the factories. But one day an accident changed his whole outlook on life. As he was tightening a machine belt with a file, the file flew out and pierced his right eye. His left eye grew dim to the reaction.

John's friends and neighbors tried to help him and brought doctors.

Some friends read to him. Children brought him flowers and listened to his stories. He finally began to regain his sight. His employer, grateful for the work that he had done for his company, offered John a job as foreman and a future partnership. But John gave up the chance to be a wealthy business man because he wanted to use his precious sight to enjoy the creations of nature.

On September 1, 1867, John stepped off a train in Louisville, Kentucky.

The next day he set out on foot to walk from Louisville to Florida, a distance of 1,000 miles. In Florida, he planned to catch a boat for South America because he was eager to observe the plants of southern lands. This was known as the thousand-mile walk. During his journey, he would stop to collect plant samples and write about his observations in his journal.

John was weak from the trip and thought that he would need much more energy to travel to South America. He decided to visit Yosemite Valley, where he would regain his strength. He took up the job as a herder there and began to explore the area. Then he got a job as guide to the Yosemite. Muir quickly became an expert on Yosemite. John believed that glaciers had helped in the formation of the valley. People began to pay attention to his ideas. Some agreed and some didn't. John spent years studying glaciers and tracking glaciers in the Sierra Nevada.

In 1874, Jeanne Carr introduced John Muir to Louie Wanda because she wanted John to leave his lonely life. John first tramped the wilderness of

California, Nevada, Utah, the Pacific Northwest, and Alaska. Then he decided that he should settle down and went to visit Louie Wanda in the Alhambra Valley.

They got married and had two daughters, Annie and Helen Wanda.

John worked on Louie's farm for many years, but started to miss the wilderness... ... middle of paper ...

...food.

The next year at the university, John acquired a teaching job in a one- room school. It was hard to keep up with the teachings and his studies, but the money helped him considerably. John took chemistry and geology with Dr. Carr and Latin and Greek classes with Dr. James Davie Butler. Both men opened new worlds for John.

During John's college years, the United States was suffering through the

Civil War. Many university students joined the army, but John saw the wounded from the war and disliked it. He decided to go botanizing in Canada to dodge the draft. His brother Daniel, Jr. had already gone to Canada, and John planned to meet him near Niagara Falls in September.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1) JOHN MUIR SAVING THE WILDERNESS; Corinne J. Naden and Rose

Blue;The Millbrook Press; 1992

2) JOHN MUIR SON OF THE WILDERNESS; Linnie Wolfe; The Ryerson Press;

1945