At Trout Hollow * John Muir and his brother Dan made arrangements to live in the cabin at Trout Hollow where they could "den up" for the winter and assist with the construction of an addition to William Trout's rake factory. By the end of the Civil war in 1865, Dan returned to the USA while John remained on to complete a contract making rake handles for Trout. William Trout noted that his family of " studious...well informed lively lot of boys and girls, some of the school teachers," would be excellent companions for the Muirs. And so they were. Muir notes that all topics relating to Nature, the Creator, and Man were open for discussion with the Trout family. Wm. Trout said of the 28 year old John Muir "He examined nature with a lover's eye...." He stated that Muir was "a real live inventor" and " a studious, methodical systematic persistent observer". * Sketch of the cabin at left by John Muir 1865

By chance in November 1999 the Clerk of St. Vincent Township found the original survey map of Trout Hollow 1858. This image of Trout's mill and the location of the pond, verify the work of archeologists and our theories about the mill location. The other "red" buildings are more difficult to identify. We have explored one. A flood in 1912 did much to alter the course of the Bighead River, thereby removing any possibility of working on the site east of the pond.

ORIGINAL TROUT HOLLOW MAP 1858