The Rural Voice, 2003-04, Page 51Book Review
Ontario stop important in development of environmentalist hero
On the Trail of
John Muir
By Cherry
Good, Luath
Press Ltd., (in
Canada from
Natural
Heritage
Books), 120
pgs., paper -
hack, $19.95.
Reviewed by Jennifer Croft
Only by going in silence, without
baggage, can one truly get into the
heart of the wilderness. All other
travel is mere dust and hotels and
baggage and chatter. John Muir
To outdoor enthusiasts John Muir
is known by many titles: botanist,
wilderness conservationist, father of
the American National Park system
and founder of the Sierra Club.
Many places la4claim to contributing
to Muir's love of nature, including:
his birthplace of Dunbar, Scotland;
Fountain Lake and Hickory Hill,
Wisconsin; Yosemite Valley and the
Sierra Nevada, California; the Grand
Canyon, Arizona; Alaska; and
locally, Meaford, Ontario.
In her book, On the trail of John
Muir, Cherry Good does more than
just provide the details of Muir's life.
Good literally offers a road map to
those who wish to follow in the
footsteps of Muir from birth to death.
From the details of the house he was
born in (128 High Street, Dunbar,
Scotland) to the names and phone
numbers of the guides to view this
house, Good provides the guidance
for Muir enthusiasts to view any and
all locations that played a significant
role in the life of Muir.
John Muir was born in Dunbar,
Scotland in 1838. His father, Daniel
Muir, is painted as being a cruel and
insensitive man whose religious fana-
ticism caused him to rule over his
household with an iron fist. In 1849,
Daniel Muir removed his family from
the evil temptations of civilization to
the "new Eden" in the wilderness of
Wisconsin. This was to be the beg-
inning of John Muir's love and enth-
usiasm for the wilderness for which
he would later become identified.
Muir's Canadian connections
began in 1864 at the age of 25, when
he followed his brother in an escape
of the Civil War draft. Exact details
of Muir's time in Canada are
unknown, as no journal of his
Canadian sojourn survives. Either he
didn't keep a journal of this period of
his life, or it went up in flames when
the mill in which he was working
burned to the ground. What
information there is on Muir's Can-
adian experience has been gleaned
from a few autobiographical frag-
ments and from letters to his friends.
After spending several months
wandering along the northern shores
of Georgian Bay, throughout
southeastern Grey County and down
to Niagara Falls, Muir and his brother
found work with the Trout sawmill in
Meaford. Muir spent a year and a
half working and living with the
Trout family, during which time he
fell in love with the area. It was only
after the Trout mill burned to the
ground in 1866 that Muir decided it
was time to move on.
Letters donated to the Meaford
museum in 1994, written by John
Muir to his friends in Meaford,
resurrected interest in this portion of
Muir's life. The Canadian Friends of
John Muir was formed to preserve
concern for what they claim to be a
vital time in the development of
Muir's notions about Man, Nature
and the Creator.
After leaving Canada, Muir's love
of nature motivated him to spend as
much of his time as possible in the
wilderness. Much of his life was
spent traveling and exploring the
wilderness of the Gulf of Mexico,
Yosemite Valley and the Sierra
Nevada of California, and Alaska. In
1890, Muir's efforts in the
preservation of Yosemite resulted in
the area being declared as a National
Park. In 1892, with a growing public
awareness of the need for
preservation of wild places, Muir and
a small band of friends formed the
Sierra Club "to enlist the support and
co-operation of the people and the
government in preserving the forests
and other natural features of the
Sierra Nevada Mountains."
Despite his discomfort with
civilization, Muir became a very
public figure. He published various
articles and books regarding his
adventures and the need for
wilderness conservation. He acted as
advisor to various presidents
regarding conservation initiatives.
His influence did not cease with his
death in 1914; several of his journals
and compilations of his letters to his
friends were published years after his
death. Biographies and critical works
on Muir continue to appear at
frequent intervals in the United
States. His determination to protect
and preserve the wilderness has
continued to inspire those who came
after him.
Good's narration of Muir's life is
a compelling story. Muir's life could
not be more interesting and eventful
if he was a fictional character. Good
manages to maintain the reader's
interest and portray the eventfulness
of this life, while at the same time
guiding the readers to the exact
locations of the various markers of
Muir's life. On the Trail of John
Muir is a worthy read for anyone who
has ever appreciated the smell of the
outdoors and the feel of the open
breeze across your face.0
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