This Chronology features important events in Muir’s life, as well as important events related to his life and legacy from his death in 1914 to 2019. It was generated from two original documents by Google Notebook LM on May 9, 2025.

1838
◦  April 21: John Muir is born in Dunbar, Scotland to Daniel Muir & Ann Gilrye Muir.

1840
◦ April 21: John Muir turns 2 years old.
◦ Brother David is born.
◦ Muir bites the doctor’s arm while fearing for his baby brother’s safety during vaccination.

1841
◦ April 21: John Muir turns 3 years old.
◦ Enters primary school at the age of three in Dunbar.

1842
◦ April 21: John Muir turns 4 years old.
◦ Muir’s love of nature awakens in early childhood.

1843
◦ April 21: John Muir turns 5 years old.
◦ Brother Daniel is born.

1845
◦ April 21: John Muir turns 7 years old.
◦ Enters Dunbar Grammar School, where he is taught Latin, French, English, mathematics, and geography.
◦ Reads about natural history in a school reader and is especially fascinated by America’s fauna as described by John Audubon and Alexander Wilson.
◦ Spends much time wandering the local coastline and countryside.

1846
◦ April 21: John Muir turns 8 years old.
◦ Twin sisters Mary and Annie are born.

1849
◦ April 21: John Muir turns 11 years old.
◦ February: The Muir family emigrates from Glasgow to New York, the trip taking six weeks by sailing ship, then via the Great Lakes and wagon to Fountain Lake, Buffalo Township, Marquette County, Wisconsin.
◦ Spring: Leaves Scotland & arrives at Fountain Lake [now Ennis Lake] Wisconsin with brother, sister & father. The remainder of the family arrives later that year.

1853
◦ Develops interest in mechanical invention.

1855-1856
◦ Daniel Muir, Sr. purchases the Hickory Hill tract; sells the Fountain Lake tract to David Galloway.

1857
◦ Helps family construct house, barn & well at Hickory Hill.

1860
◦ April 21: John Muir turns 22 years old.
◦ September: Muir leaves home at age 22 to exhibit his inventions at the State Fair in Madison, Wisconsin.
◦ Receives his first public recognition in An Ingenious Whittler — an 1860 newspaper account of his exhibited inventions.
◦ Meets Jeanne Carr, a judge of the exhibits and wife of Ezra Carr, a professor at University of Wisconsin. Also meets James Davie Butler, another faculty member.
◦ October-December: In Prairie du Chien working with Mr. Williard on ice boat construction.
◦ Historical Context: Abraham Lincoln is elected President of the U.S.A..

1861
◦ April 21: John Muir turns 23 years old.
◦ January: Enrolls at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and attends for almost 2 1/2 years (5 trimesters).
◦ Teaches school in winter.
◦ Winter-Spring ’62: Teaches public school in McKeebey District near Madison.
◦ Learns about geology from Dr. Ezra S. Carr.
◦ Carr’s wife, Jeanne, becomes his mentor.
◦ Invents a study desk that retrieves a book, holds it, and automatically replaces it with another.
◦ Muir has his first informal lesson in botany from Milton S. Griswold, a classmate, beneath a black locust near North Hall; Muir experiences a major epiphany about the orderliness of botany, which changes his life.
◦ Historical Context: The U.S. Civil War (1861 – 1864) begins.

1862
◦ April 21: John Muir turns 24 years old.
◦ March: Continues studies at the University.
◦ Muir becomes consumed with an interest in botany.

1863

◦ April 21: John Muir turns 25 years old.
◦ June: Leaves the University, intending to enter medical school; returns to Fountain Lake farm to await a draft call and to work for sister Sarah and husband David Galloway.
◦ Returns home at periods awaiting possible draft for the American Civil War.
◦ Historian Millie Stanley refutes the common accusation that John Muir was a draft dodger in her article based on original documents.
◦ One of the earliest photos of John Muir is taken in 1863.
◦ July: Geo-biological walking tour into Iowa with two friends.
◦ July-February 1864: Works for brother-in-law on Fountain Lake farm.
◦ Takes first botanical foot journey along the Wisconsin River to the Mississippi.

1864
◦ April 21: John Muir turns 26 years old.
◦ March-September: Botany expedition through lower Canada.
◦ Travels to Canada and remains there for two years.
◦ Before leaving Canada, he attempts to save a portion of Fountain Lake Farm for its beauty alone — presaging his major contribution to the formation of the national park system.
◦ September: Begins work as mechanic at sawmill & rake & broom factory operated by Wm. Trout near Meaford, Canada; lives with Trout family.
◦ Works at Trout’s sawmill and broom and rake factory at Meaford, Ontario.
◦ Botanizes in Ontario, discovering the rare orchid, Calypso borealis, the subject of his first published writing.
◦  Historical Context: President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill giving Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Big Tree Grove to California as state park lands; this is the nation’s first act of wilderness preservation (Note that Muir had nothing to do with this).

1865

◦ April 21: John Muir turns 27 years old.
◦ Uses his inventive abilities to improve manufacturing efficiency at Trout’s factory.
◦ When asked to teach Sunday school class, offers his students lessons in botany instead of the Bible as a means of understanding creation.
◦ Begins correspondence with Jeanne Carr. Letters to a Friend, consisting of letters written to Jeanne Carr between 1866 and 1879 is published in 1915. Norman S. Berg reprints Letters to a Friend in 1973. Kindred and Related Spirits: The Letters of John Muir and Jeanne C. Carr, edited by Bonnie Johanna Gisel is published in 2001.
◦ Historical Context: President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated.

1866
◦ February 22: The Meaford, Ontario factory where Muir had been working burns down.
◦ March: Factory burns; destroys JM field journals & puts him out of work.
◦ Muir returns to the USA.
◦ April 21: John Muir turns 28 years old.
◦ May: Returns to US; finds job at carriage plant in Indianapolis.
◦ Employed as foreman and engineer at a carriage factory in Indianapolis, Indiana; he automates the machinery there.
◦ December: Muir’s first published writing, “The Calypso Borealis”, is published in the Boston Recorder.

1867
◦ April 21: John Muir turns 29 years old.
◦ March 5: Blinded in a factory accident.
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March: Eye accident at carriage plant causes temporary blindness.
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After weeks of agony, cared for by Catharine Merrill, his sight returns.
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April: Eyesight recovers; commits life to nature study.
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Muir decides to leave factory work to study nature.
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September 1: After recuperation and an extended visit at home, Muir sets out on a 1000 mile walk to Florida and Cuba, with South America as his ultimate goal.
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Fall: Long illness in Florida; convalesces near Cedar Keys.
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September 12: Muir passes through Kingston, Tennessee, and describes a “grand rock dwelling” calling it the “most heavenly place I ever entered”. He writes about the beauty of a mountain stream.
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(150 years later, Roane County Tourism and the City of Kingston would celebrate this event with a “Muir Fest” – see entry under 2017).
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Restless Fires: Young John Muir’s Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf in 1867 by James B. Hunt is published in 2012.
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Photographer John Earl publishes John Muir’s Longest Walk in 1975, containing excerpts and photos of the 1867 trip.
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Dr. D. Bruce Means retraces John Muir’s 1,000 Walk to the Gulf of Mexico in 1984 and finds virtually none of Muir’s wilderness remained.
•
1868
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January: Arrives in Havana, Cuba, where he spent four weeks.
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Early March: Brief stay in New York City en route to West Coast.
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Late March: Arrives in San Francisco via Isthmus of Panama.
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April-June: First visit to Yosemite via Pacheco Pass, Snelling and Crane Flat.
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Summer-Spring ’69: Begins job as sheepherder for John Connel, alias Smokey Jack; takes up serious study of Sierra geology & botany.
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Donna and Peter Thomas begin a walk retracing Muir’s 1868 Walk from San Francisco to Yosemite in 2006. Their new book Anywhere That is Wild: John Muir’s First Walk to Yosemite is featured at a symposium in 2018.
•
1869
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June-September: Herds sheep for Pat Delany in Tuolumne Meadow region.
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November: Begins part-time job sawing fallen timber for J.M. Hutchings in Yosemite Valley.
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November 1869-October 1870: Hikes, climbs, & studies the Sierra Nevada range.
•
1870
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July: Tours upper Yosemite with S.S. McClure and J. B. McChesney.
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August: Meets Prof. Joseph LeConte; joins ten day expedition to Yosemite high country, Bloody Canyon and Mono Lake.
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Summer: Teresa Yelverton in Yosemite, interviews Muir.
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Ca. October-December: Returns to work for Pat Delaney along the Tuolumne River near La Grange.
•
1871
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January: Resumes work as sawyer for Hutchings in Yosemite.
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April 21: John Muir turns 33 years old.
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May: Ralph Waldo Emerson visits Muir in Yosemite Valley.
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July: Unhappy with Hutchings’ treatment; quits his job.
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July-August: Exploring expedition to Mono Lake and High Sierra back of Yosemite.
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August: Begins intensive glacier study as preparation for a book proposed for the Boston Academy of Sciences.
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September: First article on glaciers sent to New York Tribune.
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Autumn: Muir’s first visit to to Hetch Hetchy valley, which he calls the “Tuolumne Yosemite”.
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Fall: Numerous short trips to study glacial evidence in Yosemite high country, including trip to Mt. Lyell and head of Merced River.
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November: First trip down Tuolumne River to Hetch Hetchy.
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December 5: New York Tribune publishes Muir’s first article from California, titled “Yosemite Glaciers”.
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Winter-Spring ’72: Rooms at Black’s Hotel; works on manuscript drafts.
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Muir makes second, unsuccessful attempt, to buy a portion of Fountain Lake Farm for preservation.
•
1872
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March: Eyewitness to major earthquake in Yosemite Valley.
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March: Muir family sells Hickory Hill farm & moves to Portage, Wisconsin.
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April: Builds log cabin in Yosemite Valley.
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April 21: John Muir turns 34 years old.
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Spends winter working on his writings about Yosemite.
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Muir’s articles “Yosemite Valley in Flood” (April), “Twenty Hill Hollow” (July), and “Living Glaciers of California” (December) are published in The Overland Monthly.
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Summer: Decides upon career as professional writer.
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July: Merrill Moores arrives to spend a few months with Muir.
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July: Meets Asa Gray in Yosemite Valley. Asa Gray, Professor of Botany at Harvard, visits Muir.
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August-September: Fifteen day trip to Illiluette Basin.
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September: Nine day trip with Merrill Moores to Hetch Hetchy.
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September: Ten day trip through upper half of Tuolumne Canyon.
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October: Meets William Keith; joins him in excursion to Mt. Ritter.
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Makes first ascent of Mount Ritter (13,000 ft.) via the north face.
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Meets the artist William Keith, who becomes his life-long friend. Keith, Old Master of California by Brother Cornelius is published in 1942, including letters written by Muir to Keith.
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November: Keith takes Muir to Bay Area; Muir meets Ina Coolbrith, Charles Warren Stoddard, other notables. Has first California photograph taken by Rulofson.
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December: Returns to Yosemite Valley; winter excursions to Glacier Point, Tenaya Canyon; works on glacier articles.
◦
Historical Context: Yellowstone becomes the first U.S. national park.
•
1873
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March 25: Boston Weekly Transcript publishes “The Hetch Hetchy Valley”, the fifth of Muir’s newspaper columns to appear in print.
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April 21: John Muir turns 35 years old.
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Ca. April: Father Daniel leaves family to join a religious group at Hamilton, Canada.
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Spring: Works on articles for The Overland Monthly.
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Muir winters in Oakland and begins writing articles on Yosemite.
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June: Receives visitors in Yosemite: Jeanne Carr, Emily Pelton, Albert Kellogg, William Keith; Muir & Keith become close friends.
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June-July: Six week trip to High Sierra, Tuolumne Canyon with Mrs. Carr, William Keith and Albert Kellogg.
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July-August: Five week trip to explore entire Sierra range.
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September: Trip with Galen Clark, Billy Simms, Albert Kellogg through Mariposa Grove, N. Fork San Joaquin.
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September-October: Sixteen day trip to Kings River Canyon & through Kearsarge Pass.
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First excursion to Kings River Canyon.
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October-November: Climbs Mt. Whitney from East; visits Mono Lake.
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Solo-climbs Mount Whitney (14,500 ft.), the first recorded ascent by an eastern route.
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October-November: First visit to Lake Tahoe.
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November 1873-August 1874: Moves to Oakland to write; lives at home of J.B. McChesney; meets John Swett; works on “Sierra Studies”.
•
1874
◦
April 21: John Muir turns 36 years old.
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Solo ascent of Mount Shasta (14,400 ft.).
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Explores the Modoc Lava Beds (now a National Monument) just south of the Oregon border.
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San Francisco’s The Overland Monthly starts publishing Muir’s series, “Studies in the Sierra”. John Muir’s Studies in the Sierra is published in book form by the Sierra Club in 1950.
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July: Meets Dr. John Strentzel, wife and daughter Louie. Through Jeanne Carr, meets the woman who will become his wife, Louie Wanda Strentzel.
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August: Returns to Yosemite; accompanies J.J. Reilly on photo trip to high Sierra.
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September: Resumes residence at Black’s Hotel.
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October-November: Trip to Lake Tahoe & Mt. Shasta; climbs Shasta; spends week in snowstorm at 9,000 ft. elevation.
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December: Completes Shasta trip; crosses divide between Yuba & Feather Rivers.
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Forms close friendship with State Superintendent of Schools John Swett and his wife, Mary Tracy Swett.
•
1875
◦
April 21: John Muir turns 37 years old.
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February: Returns to Bay Area; resides with Swett Family in San Francisco.
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April-May: Trip to Shasta; climbs summit with Jerome Fay. Climbs Mount Shasta and Mount Whitney.
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May-June: Trip to Yosemite high country & Owens River with Keith, John Swett & J.B. McChesney.
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July: Trip to southern Sierra with George Bayley & Charles Washburn; climbs Whitney July 20.
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August: Follows Merced River. An article “The Kings River Valley” by John Muir, reprinted from The Daily Evening Bulletin, San Francisco, August 13, 1875, is published in Sierra Club Bulletin in 1941.
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September-November: Three month trip with mule “Brownie” through southern Sierra to study Giant Sequoia. Takes three-month mule trip to southern Sierra Nevada “hunting big redwoods”.
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Lives in Bay Area writing magazine articles.
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Winter-Spring ’76: Returns to San Francisco; lives with Swett family; works on articles; meets Henry George.
•
1876
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April 21: John Muir turns 38 years old.
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January-February: Joins Keith in first systematic Sierra forest conservation effort; writes newspaper articles; lobbies Sacramento lawmakers.
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January: Gives first public lecture, to the Literary Institute of Sacramento.
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Sacramento Record-Union publishes his article, “God’s First Temples”, urging government protection of the forests.
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Begins to write and lobby in public for forest protection and conservation.
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July-September: As newspaper correspondent, tours central Sierra; writes series of dispatches for San Francisco Bulletin.
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October-November: Excursion with Coast & Geodetic Survey in Nevada & Utah.
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December 1876-Spring ’77: Returns to Swett residence to work on articles.
•
1877
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May-July: Excursion in Utah as Bulletin correspondent.
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August-September: Excursion through San Gabriel Mountains; returns to Northern Calif.; tours Santa Cruz Big Trees; climbs Mt..
•
1877-1878
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Winter: Returns to San Francisco; lives with Swett family; writes & lectures.
•
1878
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April 21: John Muir turns 40 years old.
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Spring: Many trips to Martinez; trip to headwaters of North and Middle Forks American River.
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September-October: Guides U.S. Geodetic Survey in Nevada and sends reports to the San Francisco Evening Bulletin, later published in Steep Trails.
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July-November: As Bulletin correspondent, joins Coast & Geodetic Survey reconnaissance of 39th parallel in Utah & Nevada.
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Publishes “Lake Tahoe in Winter” in San Francisco Bulletin, later reprinted in Sierra Club Bulletin.
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Muir begins corresponding with the Strentzel family.
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Muir’s essay on the California Dipper, then known as the water ouzel, published in Scribners Monthly with the title “The Hummingbird of the California Water Falls”.
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Winter-Spring ’79: Establishes residence with Isaac Upham in San Francisco; begins work on bee pasture article, others for Scribners.
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Steep Trails is published posthumously in 1918.
•
1879
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June: Lectures on glaciers at sunday school convention in Yosemite Valley.
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June: Announces engagement to Louie Strentzel.
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June 1879-January 1880: First Alaska trip; Bulletin correspondent; itinerary includes Portland, Seattle, Victoria. Meets S. Hall Young at Fort Wrangel; they travel together to Sitka, Stickeen River, Fairweather Mountains, Glacier Bay.
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Returns to Portland January 1880.
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S. Hall Young publishes Alaska Days with John Muir in 1915, recounting two journeys with Muir in 1879 and 1880, describing Muir’s abilities and affinity for nature and people, and first mentioning the dog Stickeen.
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Robert Moran attributes his interest in conservation to his 1879 meeting with Muir when donating land for Moran State Park in 1921.
•
1880
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January: Visits Portland, Oregon, on the return from his first trip to Alaska. Planned to explore the Columbia River Gorge but became “entangled in a snarl of lectures”.
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Spends a month in Portland, Oregon and gives first public lectures about his travels and discoveries in Alaska. Has first meetings with many pioneer mountaineers and conservationists in Pacific Northwest.
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January: En route home from Alaska; trip up Columbia River; visits The Dalles; lectures in Portland.
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February: Returns to San Francisco; works on bee pasture article.
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February: Trip to Lake Tahoe with Thomas Magee; visits Bidwell ranch; returns to Martinez for stay with Strentzels.
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March: Takes room in San Francisco to work on articles.
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April 21: John Muir turns 42 years old.
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April 14: Muir marries Louisa Wanda (Louie) Strentzel, age 33.
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April-July: Rents part of Strentzel ranch; lives in Coleman house on ranch; works in orchards and vineyards to learn fruit business.
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July: Makes second trip to Alaska, adventure with Stickeen.
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July-September: Second Alaska trip as Bulletin correspondent. Travels with Thomas Magee to Victoria, Fort Wrangel. Joins S. Hall Young and Indians on canoe trip to Glacier Bay; adventure with dog “Stickeen” August 29-30. Returns to Portland via mail steamer.
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Fall-Spring ’81: At home in Martinez.
•
1881
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March: Annie Wanda Muir is born in Martinez March 25. Wanda Muir Hanna (Muir’s first child) dies at age 60 in 1942.
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May-October: Third Alaska trip as Bulletin correspondent. Joins Arctic expedition aboard USS Corwin to search for lost steamer Jeannette; itinerary includes Bering Strait, Siberian coast. Corwin party claims discovery of Wrangel Land; takes possession for U.S.. The Cruise of the Corwin is published posthumously in 1917.
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Fall: Returns to Martinez in time for grape harvest.
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Fall 1881-November 1882: At home in Martinez.
•
1882
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November 1882-March 1883: Sisters Margaret & Sarah spend winter with Muir family at Martinez.
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The Muir-Strentzel ranch house in Martinez is 100 years old in 1982.
•
1883
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April: Complains of being “lost & choked in agricultural needs” on the Strentzel ranch.
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The John Muir Trust is founded in Scotland to conserve wild land, and is named in Muir’s honor. The trust makes its first purchase of mountain acres in 1987.
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April 21: Writer and actor, Lee Stetson, begins production of “Conversation With a Tramp –An Evening with John Muir” in Yosemite, a one-man play that is still performed today. Stetson’s performance is part of the John Muir National Historic Site’s 20th anniversary celebration in 1984. Stetson also begins production of “Stickeen and Other Fellow Mortals” in 1986. A new video and DVD, Yosemite: The Storm of Beauty, narrated by Lee using the writings of John Muir, is published in 1999. Lee Stetson establishes a website featuring his John Muir Productions in 2000. Lee Stetson is sworn in as a Mariposa County Supervisor on January 7, 2003. Lee Stetson releases a new DVD/BluRay, the Voice of John Muir, in 2010. Lee Stetson portrays John Muir in the IMAX film National Parks Adventure (released 2016). In April-May, 2016, Lee Stetson portrays John Muir walking the John Muir Way in Scotland and revisiting his boyhood home.
•
1884
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April 21: John Muir turns 46 years old.
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July: First and only trip to Yosemite Valley with wife Louie. Muir takes Louie (his wife) to Yosemite.
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October: Robert Underwood Johnson writes to urge JM to take up his pen again.
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December: Sister Annie Muir arrives in Martinez for a lengthy stay to recover health.
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The John Muir National Historic Site celebrates its 20th anniversary with the reconstruction of the carriage house at the site.
•
1885
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April 21: John Muir turns 47 years old.
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Travels through Portland en route to see family in Wisconsin. Makes brief stop in Columbia Gorge and at Multnomah Falls.
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August: Two week trip in Yellowstone Park; meets and travels with Mr. and Mrs. A.H. Sellers. Muir visits and writes about Yellowstone National Park.
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August-October: Premonition father is dying; speeds to Portage to gather family; proceeds to Kansas City in time to see Daniel Muir the last time alive.
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Muir has a premonition that his father is dying; he gathers up his siblings for one last visit.
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Daniel Muir (his father) dies in Kansas City, Missouri with John at his bedside. Daniel is buried in the Elmwood Cemetery, and Muir writes an obituary about his father. The Muir-Hanna Family Trust contributes a headstone for Muir’s father Daniel Muir at the historic Elmwood Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri in 2004.
•
1886
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April 21: John Muir turns 48 years old.
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January 23: Birth of his second child, Helen Muir. Helen Muir (Muir’s second child) dies at age 78 in 1964.
•
1887
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April 21: John Muir turns 49 years old.
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Spring: Accepts offer to edit and contribute to Picturesque California.
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Muir begins work as editor and author on Picturesque California.
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May: Muir shows Muir Woods to noted British evolutionist Alfred Russel Wallace.
•
1888
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June: Trip to Lake Tahoe with C.C. Parry.
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July-September: Trip with Keith to Shasta & Puget Sound; climbs Mt. Rainier August 14.
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August: Louie Muir decides to sell or lease large portions of Strentzel estate, hoping to free JM from management responsibilities and revitalize his study & writing.
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Winter 1888-Summer 1889: Takes room sporadically in San Francisco to concentrate on writing for Picturesque California.
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The World Wilderness Congress calls for appreciations in honor of Muir’s 150th anniversary.
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First Scottish editions of Story of my Boyhood and Youth and My First Summer in the Sierra are published by Canongate Publishing, Edinburgh.
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The U.S. Congress declares April 21st John Muir Day in honor of 150th anniversary of Muir’s birth.
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The California State Legislature adopts Concurrent Resolution No. 96, first proclaiming John Muir Day in California.
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The John Muir National Historic Site sponsors special 150th anniversary celebration events.
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Dozens of newspaper stories throughout the U.S. recognize Muir’s life.
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The John Muir Chapter of the Sierra Club erects a sign in Muir Park near Montello, Wisconsin, noting Muir lived there from 1849 to 1855 and tried to preserve parts of it.
•
1889
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April 21: John Muir turns 51 years old.
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Winter 1889-Spring ’90: Works on Yosemite articles for Century Magazine.
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Around the campfire at Soda Springs, in Tuolumne Meadows (Yosemite), Century magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson persuades Muir to write articles urging protection of Yosemite.
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In a September 13, 1889 letter to Robert Underwood Johnson, Muir describes himself as a “”poetico-trampo-geologist-bot & ornith – natural etc etc !-!-!”.
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April 21 is proclaimed John Muir Day on an annual basis by the State of California in 1989.
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Eco-Troubadour Bill Oliver sings “Muir Power to You” at the California Wilderness Conference in 1989 to honor Assemblyman Bob Campbell for sponsoring the John Muir Day legislation. Oliver makes the song available for free download in 2000.
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Galen Rowell publishes The Yosemite combining his photographs and Muir’s words from The Yosemite in 1989.
•
1890
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April 21: John Muir turns 52 years old.
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June-August: Fourth trip to Alaska; 10 day solo-expedition by sled across Muir Glacier.
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Muir’s articles on Yosemite, “The Treasures of Yosemite” and “Features of the Proposed Yosemite National Park” published in Century magazine, which greatly aid the campaign to establish Yosemite National Park.
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September: Returns to Martinez; intensive work on Yosemite campaign.
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October: Sequoia & General Grant Parks created without Kings Canyon.
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October: Yosemite becomes a National Park; the bill passes Congress & is signed.
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Muir campaigns for Kings Canyon National Park (which would take another 49 years) and for Sequoia National Park, and sees the establishment of Sequoia National Park, and corresponds with George Stewart, known as the Father of Sequoia National Park.
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October: Dr. John Strentzel dies; Muir family moves in to “Big House”. Muir’s father-in-law John Strentzel dies; Muir family moves into the ranch house to care for Mrs. Strentzel.
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November: Begins campaign to include Kings Canyon into Sequoia National Park bill.
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The Library of America publishes John Muir: Nature Writings edited by William Cronon in 1990, a compilation of several books and selected essays.
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Diane Garey and Lawrence R. Hott of Florentine Films produce “The Boyhood of John Muir,” a one-hour dramatic feature for public television in 1990.
•
1891
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April 21: John Muir turns 53 years old.
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Spring: John and Margaret (Muir) Reid arrive to take over management of remaining Strentzel-Muir properties. Muir’s eldest sister Maggie and her husband John Reid move to Alhambra Valley, and John Reid assumes many of the duties of ranch management, freeing Muir for writing and exploration.
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June: Two week trip with Charles D. Robinson to South Fork Kings River. Muir visits Kings River region of the southern Sierra Nevada. Adolph D. Sweet publishes a story about his first-hand “Meeting John Muir in King’s Canyon” in 1952.
•
1892
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April 21: John Muir turns 54 years old.
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March-April: Trip to Wisconsin to help brother David with business & finances; David & family move to Alhambra Valley. John’s brother David and his family move to the Martinez ranch from Portage, relieving his brother of the burden of ranch management. Muir is completely free to return to the wilderness and his efforts to save it.
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June: Helps organize Sierra Club to unite West Coast conservationists.
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Muir co-founds the Sierra Club; serves as its President for the rest of his life.
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Samuel Merrill reported that “I had never seen Mr. Muir so animated and happy before… the happiest day in his life… was the day in San Francisco in the summer of 1892, when he found himself the center of a devoted and loyal group of citizens who organized themselves into the Sierra Club and made him President”.
•
1892-1893
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Intensive lobbying efforts to fight the Caminetti Bill in Congress which proposes to reduce Yosemite Park boundaries by half. The Caminetti bill is defeated in Congress in March 1895.
•
1892-1977
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The Sierra Club Bulletin is a significant publication source for Muir’s writings and articles about him.
•
1893
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April 21: John Muir turns 55 years old.
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August-September: Portions of Muir-Strentzel estate are sold.
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May: Muir takes East Coast trip.
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May-June: Trip East en route to Europe; visits Chicago World’s Fair, Boston, New York; introduced to literati & social elite.
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Muir stops for nearly a week at the Chicago World’s Fair; finding it “a cosmopolitan rat’s nest”. He expands on his assessment in a letter to Louie, describing the art galleries, buildings, grounds by Frederick Law Olmstead, and illuminated terraces and fountains.
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In New York, Century editor Robert Underwood Johnson takes Muir on a succession of luncheons and champagne dinners in his honor. Muir remarks he had no idea he was so well known, considering how little he had written.
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Through Robert Underwood Johnson, meets Henry Fairfield Osborn, Charles S Sargent, Charles Anderson Dana, Mark Twain, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Charles Dudley Warner, Rudyard Kipling, George W . Cable, and Nicola Tesla.
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June 8: Visits Concord, Massachusetts and lays flowers on Thoreau’s and Emerson’s graves; visits Walden Pond.
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June: Meets John Burroughs for the first time.
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June-September: Three month trip to Europe; visits Edinburgh, Dunbar, Norway, London, Switzerland, France, Italy, Ireland. Trip to Europe: Edinburgh, Dunbar, London, Ireland, Norway, Switzerland, France, and Italy.
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September: Visits Washington D.C. with R.U. Johnson upon return from Europe; discusses forestry matters with Interior Dept. Upon his return from Europe, goes with Robert Underwood Johnson to Washington, D.C., to lobby the Secretary of the Interior Hoke Smith, and other governmental leaders.
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December: Active in campaign to create Mt. Rainier National Park. Campaigns for creation of Mount Rainier National Park.
•
1894
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April 21: John Muir turns 56 years old.
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January-October: Works on chapters of Mountains of California & articles.
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Muir’s first book, The Mountains of California, is published.
•
1895
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April 21: John Muir turns 57 years old.
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January: Begins revising Alaska journal notes.
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February: Completes “Glacier Bay” article.
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March: Caminetti bill defeated in Congress.
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July-September: Five week trip from Tahoe to Tuolumne Canyon & Yosemite Valley; meets Theodore P. Lukens in Hetch Hetchy; expresses growing indignation against Yosemite Valley mismanagement by the State Park Commission.
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November-December: Trip to southern California; visits Lukens; lectures at Throop Institute & Pasadena High School.
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John Muir and professors Joseph LeConte and William Dudley speak on preserving national parks and forest reserves at the annual meeting of the Sierra Club.
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Muir urges the return of Yosemite Valley to federal management.
•
1896
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April 21: John Muir turns 58 years old.
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June: Premonition of mother’s illness; visits Portage in time to see his mother for the last time. Muir feels a strong premonition about the health of his mother; travels east to Wisconsin.
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June 23: Muir’s mother, Ann Gilrye Muir, dies.
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Travels East to receive honorary degree from Harvard. Receives Honorary A.M degree from Harvard University. Grace S. Lindsley recalls a visit Muir made to Madison in 1896, and his opinion of receiving an honorary degree from an East Coast university in 1935.
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Visits old friends in Milwaukee (Trouts) and Indianapolis (Moores, Merrill).
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June 26: John Muir visits John Burroughs at Hyde Park; their second meeting. The next day Burroughs writes a journal entry about John Muir and their meeting.
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July: Joins the U.S. Forestry Commission, chaired by Charles Sargent, on a survey of the forests of Yellowstone, the Black Hills in South Dakota, the Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming, and forests in Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Joins Forestry Commission in Chicago; accompanies members on inspection.
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Visits Portland, Oregon, again in 1896, 1899, and 1908. Meets with L.L. Hawkins, William Steel, and other members of the Mazamas mountaineering club. By that time the Mazamas and the Sierra Club were working together on numerous conservation activities.
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August: Fifth trip to Alaska; three weeks with Henry Fairfield Osborn.
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August-September: Returns to Oregon; rejoins Forestry Commission at Crater Lake; inspects southern Cascades, the Santa Lucia coast range, the mountains of southern California, the Grand Canyon, and the southern Sierra Nevada.
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Muir makes third attempt to buy land at Fountain Lake for preservation.
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August 5: John, along with his brother David, register to vote in Contra Costa County, stating his occupation as “geologist” and his basis of citizenship “by virtue of father’s naturalization”.
•
1897
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April 21: John Muir turns 59 years old.
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Awarded honorary L.L.D. degree from the University of Wisconsin.
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August-September: Sixth trip to Alaska; 5 weeks via Banff and Canadian Rockies with C.S. Sargent & William Canby. S. Hall Young recounts an accidental meeting with Muir when boarding the steamer to Alaska at Seattle in 1897 in his autobiography published in 1927.
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Muir’s articles on forest preservation, published in Harper’s Weekly and Atlantic Monthly, create popular support for protecting forests.
•
1897-1898
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Fall 1897-Spring ’98: In Martinez working on Yellowstone Park & other articles.
•
1898
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April 21: John Muir turns 60 years old.
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May: Four day trip to Truckee-Tahoe area for tree study.
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U.S. Forestry Commission survey of North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, and Delaware.
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Visits Washington D.C., to lobby and sightseeing.
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Muir Visits Roan Mountain astraddle the Tennessee/North Carolina border.
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John Muir Visits Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina.
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Muir also tours Montreal, St. Lawrence River, Maine, and Vermont mountains.
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Muir visits Florida, visited his old friends the Hodgson family, who had tended him during his life-threatening bout with malaria in 1867.
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Writes “The Wild Parks and Forest Reservations of the West” article which promotes Mt. Rainier National Park along with other places.
•
1899
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April 21: John Muir turns 61 years old.
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Mount Rainier National Park is established.
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Visits Portland, Oregon, again in 1896, 1899, and 1908. Meets with L.L. Hawkins, William Steel, and other members of the Mazamas mountaineering club. By that time the Mazamas and the Sierra Club were working together on numerous conservation activities.
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Muir’s seventh trip to Alaska, with the Harriman Alaska Expedition. Itinerary includes Victoria, Ft. Wrangel, Juneau, Glacier Bay, Sitka, Prince William Sound, Cook Inlet, Unalaska & St. Lawrence Island.
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Railroad magnate Edward H. Harriman organizes a summer voyage to Alaska, converting a steamship into a luxury “floating university” with scientists and writers, including Muir.
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Muir makes many friendships on the vessel, and would later write stories about this trip.
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Returns to Martinez August 3.
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Looking Far North: The Harriman Expedition to Alaska, 1899 by William Goetzmann and Kay Sloan (Viking, 1982) is mentioned.
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The Harriman Expedition Retraced in 2001, presented as film and website on PBS. The Harriman Alaska Expedition Retraced: A Century of Change, 1899–2001 edited by Thomas S. Litwin is published in 2005.
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Mark Adams publishes Tip of the Iceberg: My 3,000-Mile Journey Around Wild Alaska in 2018, retracing the 1899 expedition.
•
1900
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April 21: John Muir turns 62 years old.
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February-June: Extended illness due to “La Grippe” (flu) and bronchitis.
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August-September: Trip with C. Hart Merriam & Vernon Bailey family; visits Lake Tahoe, Mono Lake, Bloody Canyon, Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite Valley.
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Revisits his old haunts in the Sierra Nevada in the headwaters of various rivers, in the company of C. Hart Merriam.
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Muir works on a series of articles about parks and forests.
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January 17: On the Trail of John Muir by Cherry Good is published in Edinburgh, Scotland, and later distributed in U.S..
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March 18: Concord John Muir Festival presents a series of live performances by and about John Muir.
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April 15: John Muir’s vision was behind the Presidential Proclamation of Giant Sequoia National Monument, a process which John Muir was instrumental in starting nearly 100 years ago by urging President Theodore Roosevelt to protect America’s treasures under the authority of the Antiquities Act of 1906. Then-President Bill Clinton quotes Muir (“These majestic trees will continue to ‘preach God’s forestry fresh from heaven.'”) in proclaiming the new National Monument. This is believed by many to have effectively completed John Muir’s dream of preserving all Giant Sequoia Groves. However, the battle continues as the Forest Service continually refuses to follow the principles, requiring correction by courts.
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Lee Stetson establishes a website featuring his John Muir Productions.
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Eco-Troubadour Bill Oliver makes his classic song of John Muir inspiration, “Muir Power to You”, available for free download.
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October 12: World Premiere of “Mountain Days: the John Muir Musical” at Chronicle Pavilion in Concord, California. The Willows Theatre moves annual performance to the John Muir Amphitheater in Martinez in 2001.
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The National Park Service acquires John Muir’s grave site from The American Land Conservancy.
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Noted outdoor educator and author Joseph Cornell publishes John Muir: My Life With Nature, an “autobiography” largely using John Muir’s words but simplified for young people.
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Chris Highland publishes Nature’s Temple: Daily Wisdom from John Muir. An expanded book based on this is published in 2001 as Meditations of John Muir: Nature’s Temple.
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The National Geographic Society publishes its second book about John Muir in the twentieth century, John Muir: Nature’s Visionary by Gretel Ehrlich.
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The Canadian Friends of John Muir, the John Muir Memorial Association, and other groups worldwide launch The Global John Muir Network website.
•
1901
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April 21: John Muir turns 63 years old.
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Our National Parks is published. Muir wrote in this book about the Buffalo Soldiers protecting Yosemite and Sequoia before the National Park Service, praising their “quiet duty” and contrasting them with corrupt politicians.
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June: Trip to Portland with daughters aboard steamship.
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June-July: Four week trip with daughters to southern Sierra.
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July-August: Three week trip with daughters & Sierra Club to Tuolumne Meadows, Lake Tenaya.
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Leads first annual Sierra Club trip to the mountains, guiding nearly 100 Sierra Club members around Yosemite for a month.
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Muir’s good friend, the geologist Joseph Le Conte, dies on the Yosemite outing.
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The city of San Francisco begins a campaign to build a reservoir in Hetch Hetchy Valley. Restore Hetch Hetchy is formed in 1999 to focus attention on restoring the valley Muir called “one of Nature’s rarest and most precious mountain temples”.
•
1902
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January: Ten day trip to Arizona. January 13 – Muir left on the train for Arizona; visits the Grand Canyon.
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January – Muir contemplated writing no fewer than 6 new books: (1) A small one, “Yosemite and Other Yosemites,” (2) a “California tree and shrub book,” (3) “a mountaineering book,” (4) “Alaska,” (5) “A book of studies” (landscape-making forces, etc.), (6) Possibly his autobiography (considered it “hardly worth while” but might do it to “say a good word for God”).
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Spring – Muir reported describing the Colorado Grand Cañon as “the toughest job I ever tackled”.
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He and Sargent begin to plan “a journey through the forests of Siberia and Manchuria” which eventually turns into his world tour of 1903-1904.
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John Muir’s moving tribute to Catharine Merrill, “Words from an Old Friend,” is published.
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Muir writes to Sir Joseph Hooker at Kew Gardens, London, England.
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April 21: John Muir turns 64 years old.
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July – Muir joined the second Sierra Club outing, to King’s River canyon and, for some, the high country.
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July-August: Five week trip to Kern River & southern Sierra with daughters & party including C.H. Merriam, T.P. Lukens, Keith, Henry Gannett; joins Sierra Club party en route.
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Following the Club Outing, Muir explored the Kern River Cañon.
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Explores the Giant Sequoia of the Converse Basin, measuring them with a steel tape-line; he lamented “the horrible destruction of the Kings River groves now going on”.
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September – “Now I’m at work on a little Yosemite book”.
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Crater Lake National Park is established.
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God’s Wilds: John Muir’s Vision of Nature, by Dennis C. Williams is published in 2002.
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Points of Light Foundation announces John Muir as an Honoree on THE EXTRA MILE -Points of Light Volunteer Pathway (Washington, D.C.) in 2002.
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A John Muir-Yosemite design is among the top 20 semi-finalists for the California Quarter Program in 2002.
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On John Muir’s birthday, April 21, 2002, the Sacramento Bee proclaimed that “Today, the idea of restoring the Hetch Hetchy Valley doesn’t feel so wacky”.
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U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer announces introduction of the proposed “California Wild Heritage Wilderness Act of 2002,” citing Muir’s call: “In God’s wildness lies the hope of the world”.
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Historian Millie Stanley refutes the common accusation that John Muir was a draft dodger in her article “John Muir and the Civil War”. A summary of this research is “Was John Muir a Draft Dodger?” by Harold Wood.
•
1903
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April 21: John Muir turns 65 years old.
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April 28: John Muir becomes a naturalized citizen of the United States.
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May 15-17: President Theodore Roosevelt spends 3 days and nights camping alone with Muir in Yosemite. This camping trip is highlighted in the IMAX film National Parks Adventure (released 2016) and satirized on Comedy Central’s “Drunk History” in 2019.
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May 15-17: President Theodore Roosevelt spends 3 days and nights camping alone with Muir in Yosemite.
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1903-1904 – World tour: Joins C.S. Sargent & son in Boston. Visits London, Paris, Holland, Berlin (June, 1903); Russia, Korea, Japan, China (July-Sept). Sargents return & JM continues alone to India (Sep-Oct); Egypt (Oct- Nov); Ceylon (Nov-Dec); Australia (Dec); New Zealand (Jan-Feb 1904); Malaysia, Philippines, Japan (Feb-April). Arrives in San Francisco from Hong Kong via Hawaii May 27, 1904. At age 65, Muir climbs the Mueller Glacier on Mount Cook, New Zealand. John Muir’s Last Journey – South to the Amazon and East to Africa: Unpublished Journals and Selected Correspondence, edited by Michael P. Branch is published in 2001. Note: Source 1 lists travel to East Africa in 1907 Historical Context, but Source 2 places African travel in Jan-Feb 1904 as part of the world tour, which aligns better with his age (65) and the overall timeline of the world tour in both sources. Source 1’s 1907 entry likely contains a misplaced detail or historical context note.
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On January 7, 2003, Lee Stetson, well-known for his portrayals of John Muir, is sworn in as a Mariposa County Supervisor.
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April 28, 2003: California Governor Gray Davis recommended five design concepts – including a John Muir-Yosemite coin – to the U.S. Mint as part of the Fifty State Commemorative Coin Program.
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August 9, 2003: The John Muir Birthplace on High Street, Dunbar, Scotland, re-opens to the public after a two-year renovation. Designed as an interpretive center to educate visitors about Muir’s life.
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August 8, 2003: John Muir’s Mountain Days returned for its fourth season in Martinez, California, considered California’s Biggest Outdoor Musical.
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The John Muir Festival Center is formed as a nonprofit corporation.
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Michael Muir, a great-grandson of John Muir, takes a 1,000 mile journey in a horse drawn cart, following the route taken by John Muir in his first great wilderness adventure, The Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf. Starting in Louisville, Kentucky on September 22, 2003, and arriving at Cedar Keys on December 11, 2003.
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September 2, 2003: BBC Radio in the UK broadcasts a program: “John of the Mountains: Following in the footsteps of John Muir” which observes Muir was inspirational, with vibrant, prophetic writings, and was one of the first to realize all species are interconnected.
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November 18, 2003: The Indiana Historical Bureau unanimously approves the application for a state historical marker commemorating John Muir’s time in Indiana.
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Restore Hetch Hetchy publishes a documentary video Hetch Hetchy: Yosemite’s Lost Valley narrated by Shari Belafonte to promote a solution for restoring the valley.
•
1904
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April 21: John Muir turns 66 years old.
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May 27: Muir returns home at the end of his World Tour.
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Intensifies campaign to return Yosemite Valley back to federal control.
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March 29, 2004: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announces the selection of the John Muir-Yosemite design for the California State Quarter.
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April 21, 2004: John Muir’s birthday, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says Muir’s evocative reflections continue to inspire citizens to appreciate and protect natural heritage.
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May: The Muir-Hanna Family Trust contributes a headstone for Muir’s father Daniel Muir at the historic Elmwood Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri.
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July 2, 2004: The Indiana Historical Bureau and the Hoosier Chapter of the Sierra Club dedicate a new State Historical Marker – John Muir in Indiana.
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August 4, 2004: Former President Bill Clinton quotes Muir (“Everybody needs beauty as well as bred – places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.”) with reference to a proposal to roll-back the Roadless Rule for National Forests. Clinton notes Muir inspired Theodore Roosevelt.
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November 8, 2004: California Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman announces the State review of the possibility of restoring Muir’s beloved Hetch Hetchy Valley.
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Historical Context: George W. Bush is re-elected as President of the U.S.A..
•
1905
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April 21: John Muir turns 67 years old.
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January 31, 2005: The U.S. Mint releases the John Muir-Yosemite design for its State Quarters program. United States Mint Director joins Governor Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver to launch the quarter.
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February 9, 2005: The University of the Pacific sponsors a celebration of the John Muir California Quarter. Concept designer Garrett Burke presents a slide show.
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April 1, 2005: Opening of “The Life and Legacy of John Muir” exhibit and film produced by the Clan Currie Society at the at Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island National Monument. This exhibition is reprised in 2016 at Ellis Island National Monument.
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April 23, 2005: John Muir Birthday/Earth Day Celebration at John Muir National Historic Site, Martinez. John Muir National Historic Site features a new visitor orientation film.
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January-March: Yosemite Recession campaign. JM active lobbyist in Sacramento.
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With William Colby, Muir actively lobbies in Sacramento for state legislation to return Yosemite Valley back to federal control.
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June: Daughter Helen’s health poor; JM takes both daughters to Adamana, Arizona for high desert air. Daughter Helen is ill; she travels with Muir to Arizona for recovery. Wife’s health worsens while they are away; JM & Wanda rush home late June.
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August 6: Muir’s wife, Louie Strentzel Muir, dies.
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August-September: JM and Wanda return to Adamana to rejoin Helen.
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The Mazamas and the Sierra Club hold a joint summer outing and climb of Mt. Hood and Mt. Rainier. Steven Mather, later the first director of the National Park Service, is on this outing. Early Sierra Club activists Edward Parsons and William E. Colby were also members of the Mazamas which established friendships that later provided support for Muir’s efforts to protect Hetch Hetchy.
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Muir studies the Petrified Forest and campaigns for its protection.
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October: JM returns briefly to Martinez to settle estate; leaves again for Adamana; studies petrified forest.
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November 1905-Spring ’06: JM returns to Martinez; engages in fossil study at UC Berkeley.
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The Harriman Alaska Expedition Retraced: A Century of Change, 1899–2001 Edited by Thomas S. Litwin is published.
•
1906
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April 21: John Muir turns 68 years old.
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March: JM replaces Wanda in Adamana; Wanda returns to Martinez to make wedding plans.
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May: Wanda replaces JM at Adamana; JM returns to Martinez to assess earthquake damage to property; continues fossil study at Berkeley and Stanford.
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June 11: President Roosevelt signs federal legislation to return Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove to become part of the Yosemite National Park, after a 17 year campaign by John Muir and the Sierra Club.
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June: Wanda returns; marries Thomas Rae Hanna at Martinez; moves into adobe home on ranch property. Muir’s daughter Wanda marries Thomas Hanna. JM rejoins Helen at Adamana.
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August: Brings Helen back to Martinez.
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October: Two day trip with Helen to Calistoga & Geyserville.
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Petrified Forest proclaimed a National Monument by President Theodore Roosevelt.
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January 24, 2006: John Muir Selected for Induction in Hall of Great Westerners at National Cowboy Museum in Oklahoma City.
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March 31-April 1, 2006: University of the Pacific hosts their sixth John Muir conference, John Muir in Global Perspective.
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April 2, 2006: Donna and Peter Thomas begin their walk Retracing Muir’s 1868 Walk from San Francisco to Yosemite.
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April, 2006: Bonnie Johanna Gisel publishes Nature Journal with John Muir.
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June, 2006: Minor Planet Named for John Muir.
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July, 2006: John Muir Inducted in inaugural California Hall of Fame.
•
1907
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April 21: John Muir turns 74 years old (Note: Muir was born in 1838, so he turned 69 in 1907).
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May-June: Trip to Los Angeles; visits Luken’s Hemminger Flat reforestation project.
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June-July: One month trip with Sierra Club to Yosemite high country & Hetch Hetchy.
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October: Two week trip with Keith to Hetch Hetchy.
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December: Tours Mojave desert in search of suitable location for Helen, who has recurring bouts of pneumonia; brings her to Daggett December 21; builds cottage for her and companion on ranch of T.S. Van Dyke.
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Muir continues the fight against the destruction of wilderness.
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Muir joins the Sierra Club’s annual summer Outing to the Kern River Canyon country, where the group meets a family outing led by Stephen Mather.
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Muir’s book The Yosemite is published.
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Historical Context: Source 1 lists Feb-March 1907 travels in East Africa, via ship to New York. Source 2 places African travel in 1904 as part of the 1903-1904 world tour. The 1904 date is more consistent with Muir’s age at the time of the world tour. This entry in Source 1 may be a misplaced historical context note or transcription error.
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May 3, 2007: Sierra Club Sues University of Wisconsin Over Coal-Fired Power Plant, saying the university is failing to live up to its progressive tradition and citing Muir’s inspiration from his education there. The lawsuit argues the university violated the Clean Air Act.
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A 2007 Time magazine special “The Greening of the Pentagon” reports former CIA Director James Woolsey imagined a dialogue between John Muir and General George Patton on climate change, finding they reach the same “green conclusion” for different reasons.
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July 18, 2007: The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) awards a grant for the documentary, “John Muir in the New World”. This film premieres on PBS in 2011.
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November 7, 2007: The play “Forces of Nature” by Stephen Most premieres, following Muir and Pinchot meeting with President Roosevelt, highlighting the Hetch Hetchy conflict.
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Wisconsin Friends of John Muir conduct numerous local activities near Muir’s boyhood home, including a “John Muir Nature and History Route” mobile app and celebrating Muir’s birthday. They also work on restoring prairies and preserving historic sites.
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June – December, 2017: The traveling display “Wisconsin’s John Muir” launched in 2016 continues to be hosted by University of Wisconsin-System libraries.
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July 9, 2017: Keith Fitch’s orchestral work, The Range of Light, composed using Muir texts, premieres at Rocky Ridge Music Center.
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Friends of John Muir’s Birthplace in Dunbar host a special exhibit featuring the 125th anniversary of the Sierra Club.
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March 13, 2017: Gesa Power House Theatre presented “John Muir: Watch, Pray, and Fight” – a one-man play created and performed by Mark Raddatz – script entirely from Muir’s words.
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April 22, 2017: John Muir Birthday- Earth Day celebration at the John Muir National Historic Site in Martinez, hosted by NPS and John Muir Association, featuring family activities, music, exhibits, Ranger portrayal of Muir, and conservation awards.
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April 22, 2017: John Muir Birthday at John Muir County Park, Wisconsin, with party, clean up, and bird saunter.
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April 21, 2017: John Muir Garden Party at University of the Pacific.
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The Angeles Chapter celebrates John Muir’s birthday with annual Rendezvous Hikes and a commemorative hike on the anniversary of the naming of John Muir Peak.
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John Kolar portrays Muir in “A visit with John Muir” at the Wilderness Center, Ohio, in November 2017.
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“An Influential Life — John Muir” mini-lectures held at University of Wisconsin-Green Bay library in November 2017.
•
1908
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January: Returns to Martinez to conduct ranch business; takes brief trip to Pasadena.
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February: Recurring attacks of “La Grippe”; unable to write “for months”.
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March: Five day trip to Yosemite.
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March-April: Two week trip to southern California; visits Helen at Daggett, Sellers family in Pasadena.
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Muir Woods National Monument celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2008.
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Photographer Stephen Joseph and historian Bonnie Gisel publish a new website on John Muir’s Botany in 2008. They also publish their book, Nature’s Beloved Son: Rediscovering John Muir’s Botanical Legacy. A traveling exhibit based on this book opens in 2011.
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April 6, 2008: Harold Wood, Chair of the Sierra Club John Muir Education Committee, is a featured guest on an Online Radio Show.
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Historian Donald Worster publishes A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir in 2008. Worster also gives a keynote “On John Muir’s Trail” at a symposium in 2018.
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June: Prepares revision of Stickeen for book publication.
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June-July: Three week trip with Sierra Club to southern Sierra.
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August: Brief visit to Daggett.
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August-September: Three week stay at Pelican Bay, Oregon, as guest of E.H. Harriman; dictates autobiography.
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September: Trip to Muir Woods with Keith.
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September: Brief trip to Daggett.
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December: Begins work on Yosemite guidebook; spends Christmas with Helen in Daggett.
•
1909
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January: Two week trip to Daggett and Pasadena.
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February-March: Six week trip to Arizona & southern California. Joined by John Burroughs at Grand Canyon; together visit Helen in Daggett. JM alone joins E.H. Harriman for special trip to lower Colorado River to study flood control problems.
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April: Returns to L.A. from Colorado River to care for Helen who spends five weeks in hospital with typhoid fever. Takes Helen back to Daggett for recuperation.
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April-May: Rejoins John Burroughs in Yosemite for one week visit.
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June: Brief visit to Daggett.
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July: Three week trip with Sierra Club to Yosemite & Hetch Hetchy.
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August: Three day trip to Lake Tahoe; two day trip to Daggett.
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September: Three day trip to Daggett.
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October: Tours Yosemite with Pres. Taft; guides Secretary of Interior Ballinger through Hetch Hetchy.
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October: Helen marries Buel A. Funk.
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Friends of John Muir’s Birthplace becomes new name for Dunbar’s John Muir Association in 2009.
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April 22, 2009: John Muir Inducted in the Extra Mile Volunteer Pathway.
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September: Ken Burn’s long-awaited television six-episode documentary The National Parks: America’s Best Idea and the companion book feature John Muir. Lee Stetson is featured in this series.
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September, 2009: Scottish television station STV nominates John Muir in a Scotland TV contest for the title “Greatest Scot.” Muir later loses to his favorite poet, Robert Burns.
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The Episcopal Church of America adds John Muir in its liturgical resource, Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints, describing a kind of minor annual “Feast Day” ceremony on April 22 for Muir. Muir is also included in the Dancing Saints Icons” project.
•
1910
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January-February: Two week trip to L.A., Pasadena and Daggett.
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January: The Montello Historic Preservation Society begins “The Year of John Muir in Marquette County,” the boyhood home of John Muir in Wisconsin. Events over the year include publication of a book, Muir is Still Here, a special exhibit, and Muir-related outings and lectures. Local Thyme Shares Master Gardeners planted lilacs in honor of the Muir family. The exhibit “Muir is Still Here” opens June 19, 2010. Book signing of Heart of John Muir’s World by Millie Stanley held in August 2010.
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Lee Stetson releases a new DVD/BluRay, the Voice of John Muir.
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March: Yosemite trip with Henry F. Osborn & family; trip to L.A. for luncheon in honor of Andrew Carnegie.
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March-April: Stays with Hooker family in L.A., working on manuscript of First Summer in the Sierra.
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April: Completes Summer manuscript; works on Yosemite guidebook and a proposed book on animals.
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April 5: Scotland’s Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning Michael Russell gives an editorial “Prizing the Power of the Sea” noting Muir’s idealism, advocacy, and building movements for change, suggesting Muir would be excited by the prospect of natural resources solving the climate crisis.
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April 9: The Scottish Government and Sierra Club hold a special tree planting ceremony and presentation on John Muir’s Legacy in a Climate-Challenged World with speakers Carl Pope (Sierra Club) and Michael Russell.
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April 21: Celebrating John Muir’s 172nd Birthday, Sierra Club unveils revamped John Muir Exhibit website.
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April 22-24: John Muir: Naturalist and Scientist Symposium at the University of the Pacific, Stockton, California.
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June 5: Both Mariposa and Tuolumne counties designate Highway 132 from Coulterville to Highway 120 (a major route into Yosemite National Park) as the John Muir Highway. A dedication ceremony was held.
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A musical play written and directed by Nancy Robichauds with music by Ann Schafer, “The Wild Adventures of John Muir” also premiered.
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June 10: Returns to Martinez to be with sister Margaret, who dies June 22.
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July: Five day trip to Shasta Springs with William Herrin.
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July-August: Returns to Los Angeles to work on book manuscript.
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August: Weekend trip to Wm. Herrin’s summer home near Shasta.
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August-October: In Martinez, tending to ranch matters & writing.
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October-November: Returns to Hooker home in Los Angeles to write.
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December: Brief trip to Palo Alto to visit Kellogg family.
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December 1910-February 1911: Returns to L.A. to continue work on Yosemite manuscript.
•
1911
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January: Proposed trip to Mexico with Wm. Herrin.
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February-March: In Martinez on family & ranch business.
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March: In Los Angeles; attends Roosevelt party in Pasadena.
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April-June: Three month trip East on Hetch Hetchy and personal business; visits New York, Washington, Boston, New Haven (receives Yale honorary degree). Receives Yale honorary degree.
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June-August: Stays with New York friends, preparing South America trip.
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January: Sierra Club Bulletin publishes the speech John Muir made to the American Alpine Club on June 17, 1911 in New York.
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Publication of My First Summer in the Sierra: 100th Anniversary Illustrated Edition with Photographs by Scot Miller.
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John Muir’s Literary Science is published by Terry Gifford in The Public Domain Review (June 9, 2011).
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April 18: The film documentary John Muir in the New World premieres on the American Master television series on PBS.
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Saturday, April 21: John Muir Birthday – Earth Day at John Muir National Historic Site, Martinez, California celebrates John Muir’s 174th birthday and the 42nd Anniversary of Earth Day.
•
1912
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August 1911-March 1912: Trip to South America & Africa. Itinerary includes Amazon River (Aug-Sept); Rio De Janeiro (Sept-Oct); Buenos Aires, Chile (November); Uruguay (December). Reaches Capetown South Africa (January); Zambezi River, Baobab forests (January); Lake Victoria, Egypt (February). Returns to New York March 26.
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March-April: In New York, proofing Yosemite book & autobiography.
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April: Returns to Martinez via Los Angeles.
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The Contemplative John Muir: Spiritual Quotations from the Great American Naturalist by Stephen K. Hatch is published.
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Bruce Byers retraces John Muir’s visit to Chile to study the Monkey Puzzle Tree.
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Scottish singer-songwriter Kathy Muir (no relation) writes a song inspired by John Muir, Sweet and Easy.
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The new John Muir Geotourism Center in Coulterville, California, launches a geotourism project to include a small Muir museum, annual festival, and outreach programs. The Third Annual John Muir Festival is held June 9, 2012. The 4th Annual is held June 7 & 8, 2013. The 5th Annual is held May 31, 2014. The 6th Annual is held May 16, 2015.
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A new children’s book about John Muir, For the Love of Trees by Debra A Fristek, Illustrated by Wendy H. Berry, is published.
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The Wisdom of John Muir: 100+ Selections compiled by Anne Rowthorn is published.
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Restless Fires: Young John Muir’s Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf in 1867 by James B. Hunt is published.
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The Wisconsin Friends of John Muir is founded.
•
1913
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John Muir Memorial Muir Shelter (aka as “Muir Hut”) is built by the Sierra Club in the summers of 1930 and 1931 to commemorate John Muir. It is the only building conceived and erected by the Sierra Club to honor its first President. It is placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. The Angeles Chapter’s beloved Muir Lodge, built and dedicated in 1913, was destroyed by flood in 1938.
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January 14, 2013: Sierra Club publishes a quiz, How Muir Are You?.
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April 3 – June 3, 2013: John Muir Exhibit at Federal Hall, NYC, presents “In The Footsteps of John Muir” by Ken Paterson as part of Scotland Tartan Week.
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April 8, 2013: A project is launched to document in three-dimensional digital format Scottish conservationist John Muir’s homes, his birthplace in Dunbar, Scotland, and his long-time home in Martinez, California.
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May 17, 2013: A concert band piece “A Dauntless Soul” by composer William Camphouse, premiered at John Swett High School in Martinez, California.
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A stage play performed in Gaelic celebrates 175 years since the birth of Muir: Seonaidh a’ Mhonaidh (John of the Moors).
•
1914
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April 21: John Muir turns 76 years old.
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May: A young Japanese college student, Ryozo Azuma, learns about Muir when visiting Mt. Rainier, reads his books, travels to Martinez where he meets Muir. Azuma later becomes a noted Japanese conservationist and mountaineer, known as “The John Muir of Japan”.
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Scotland celebrates the 100th anniversary of environmentalist John Muir’s death.
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In April, Muir’s homeland unveils the John Muir Way, a trail that snakes 105 miles from his hometown of Dunbar to Helensburgh.
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Kim Heacox publishes John Muir and the Ice That Started a Fire: How a Visionary and the Glaciers of Alaska Changed America (2014).
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March 21-22, 2014: The John Muir Symposium sponsored by the University of the Pacific’s John Muir Center is held, marking anniversaries of the Yosemite Grant (150th), Muir’s death (100th), the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon (100th), and the passage of the Wilderness Act (50th). The University hosts the 60th California History Institute. The event features papers by new Muir scholars and familiar names, with plenaries by UK scholars. A special exhibit on the history of the Muir Papers is planned.
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April 13, 2014: “Urban chamber music” group “Chance” premieres John Muir – University of the Wilderness, a narrative concert. This group later tours nationally and internationally.
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May 31, 2014: 5th Annual John Muir Festival sponsored by the John Muir Geotourism Center.
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Fountain Lake Farm in central Wisconsin, the boyhood home of John Muir, is purchased for protection by a Wisconsin land trust. The newly protected area will adjoin the John Muir Memorial County Park and be part of a larger 1,400-acre natural preserve. Sierra Club Vice-President Spencer Black notes that America’s mountains are not over-developed like the Alps because “we had Muir”.
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November, 2014: Controversy arises when at a conference titled “A Century Beyond Muir” at UCLA, several academics assert “Muir’s a dead end… It’s time to bury his legacy and move on.” Harold Wood writes a summary and rebuttal, “John Muir’s Legacy is Alive and Well”.
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December 24: John Muir dies in California Hospital, Los Angeles, from pneumonia on Christmas eve.
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Muir’s grave is beside that of his beloved wife Louie at what is now known as the Muir/Strentzel Gravesite.
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Muir is buried in the Strentzel family cemetery, Alhambra Valley, Martinez, California. The National Park Service acquires John Muir’s grave site in 2000.
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December 24, 2014: John Muir fans around the world commemorate the 100th anniversary of Muir’s passing. Numerous books, newspaper and magazine articles, and websites note the date, many reprinting a passage from the December 25, 1914 issue of Los Angeles Times: “”John Muir is dead… for the birds, and the beast and all living things have lost a friend.”. At the John Muir National Historic Site in Martinez, California, a commemorative celebration of Muir’s life is held. National Park Service rangers pay tribute, and one reads the eulogy that William Frederick Badè delivered as Muir’s body lay in his casket. Elsewhere, special events commemorated the anniversary.
Posthumous Events and Legacy:
•
1915
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Travels in Alaska is published by Muir’s literary executor, William F. Badè. It is translated and published in Japanese in 1942.
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Letters to a Friend consisting of letters written to Jeanne Carr by John Muir between 1866 and 1879 is published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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S. Hall Young publishes Alaska Days with John Muir in which he recounts two journeys with Muir in 1879 and 1880. Young describes Muir’s ability, his broad Scotch, affinity for Indian wisdom and theistic religion, and special insight with Stickeen.
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The Sierra Club wins passage of California legislation appropriating the first $10,000 for construction of the John Muir Trail. The trail construction is finally completed in 1938. A Guide to the John Muir Trail, by Walter Starr is published by the Sierra Club in 1934. Pathway in the Sky: The Story of the John Muir Trail, by Hal Roth, is published in 1965. Ansel Adams publishes Sierra Nevada: The John Muir Trail in 1939.
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Robert Underwood Johnson’s tribute to Muir is reprinted in 1922, having originally appeared in the 1916 “John Muir Memorial Number” of the Sierra Club Bulletin.
•
1916
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A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf is published.
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The U.S. Congress establishes the U.S. National Park Service, fulfilling one of Muir’s dreams. Sierra Club member Stephen Mather becomes its first Director.
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A special “John Muir Memorial Number” of Sierra Club Bulletin (vol. 10, no. 1, January, 1916) is published, containing tributes, excerpts, and book reviews.
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Mary H. Wade publishes Pilgrims of To-day a book of short biographies for young people of “Great Americans” who were emigrants, which begins with a chapter about John Muir.
•
1917
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The Cruise of the Corwin is published.
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To the Memory of John Muir by C. Hart Merriam is published in the Sierra Club Bulletin.
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Mary R. Parkman includes a chapter “The Laird of Skyland: John Muir,” in her book Heroes of To-Day.
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Artist Orlando Routland creates an oil painting of John Muir, part of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.
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July 9, 2017: Keith Fitch’s orchestral work, The Range of Light, composed using texts selected from several of John Muir’s writings, premieres at Rocky Ridge Music Center.
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March 13, 2017: Gesa Power House Theatre presents “John Muir: Watch, Pray, and Fight” – a one-man play created and performed by Mark Raddatz – script entirely from Muir’s words.
•
1918
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Steep Trails is published.
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On the University of Wisconsin campus, Muir Knoll is designated as a memorial to John Muir; a red granite “Muir Knoll boulder” is placed.
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Muir Knoll is officially dedicated with a ceremony on June 18, 1918. Speakers include Judge Milton S. Griswold (who gave Muir his first botany lesson) and Muir’s roommate Charles E. Vroman.
•
1919
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The National Parks Association (re-named the National Parks Conservation Association in 1970) is founded with the support of Stephen T. Mather. Robert Sterling Yard becomes its first leader.
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The tree on the campus of the University of Wisconsin, where John Muir first had his epiphany about botany, is officially designated as the “Muir Locust”. This tree was cut down in 1953 when it was dying.
•
1920
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Muir’s previously unpublished article, “Save the Redwoods” is published in the Sierra Club Bulletin.
•
1921
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Robert Moran donates land for Moran State Park on Orcas Island, Washington. Moran attributes his interest in conservation to his 1879 meeting with Muir.
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The Smithsonian Institution sponsors an exhibit on Muir at the National Portrait Gallery.
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Wisconsin Governor Patrick J. Lucey launches ceremonies for “John Muir Ecology Week” in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.
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Shirley Sargent publishes John Muir in Yosemite, containing photos and a summary of Muir’s Yosemite years.
•
1922
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Robert Underwood Johnson’s Tribute to Muir is reprinted.
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Eminent man of letters Mark Van Doren reviews the 8-volume set of The Writings of John Muir in The Nation magazine. Van Doren opines that Muir “might have been better known” but suggests there may be a movement toward him.
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The John Muir Memorial Association begins publishing its newsletter, The View from John Muir’s Window.
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December 17: Formal dedication of John Muir’s Martinez home as a National Historic Site. It was designated by Congress in 1964.
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Boise State College in Idaho publishes “John Muir” by Thomas J. Lyon, summarizing Muir’s life and thoughts.
•
1923
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William Frederic Badè writes the Preface for the two-volume The Life and Letters of John Muir which is published the next year.
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Norman S. Berg reprints Letters to a Friend.
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Country Beautiful publishes The American Wilderness in the Words of John Muir, including photos and Muir quotations.
•
1924
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The Life and Letters of John Muir, edited by William F. Badè, is published.
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January: Sierra Club Bulletin publishes the speech John Muir made to the American Alpine Club on June 17, 1911 in New York.
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Historical Context: Calvin Coolidge is elected President of the U.S.A..
•
1925
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Pupils at the John Muir School in Seattle compose a John Muir Pageant and a book including essays and quotations.
•
1926
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John Muir’s account of visiting Mt. San Jacinto appeared first in Legends and History of the San Jacinto Mountains. Muir was reported to exclaim, “”The view from San Jacinto is the most sublime spectacle to be found anywhere on this earth!”.
•
1927
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S. Hall Young of Alaska… The Autobiography of S. Hall Young is published, which recounts an accidental meeting with Muir when boarding the steamer to Alaska at Seattle in 1897.
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Nature Magazine publishes “John Muir” by John Wright Buckham.
•
1928
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Samuel Merrill publishes “Personal Recollections of John Muir,” in Sierra Club Bulletin.
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Historical Context: Herbert Hoover is elected President of the U.S.A..
•
1929
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The Nature Singer by Charles Kellogg is published, recounting the author’s meeting John Muir, and discussing Muir’s views on Hetch Hetchy and the thirty years it took him to write Stickeen.
•
1930
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The Sierra Club builds John Muir Memorial Muir Shelter (aka as “Muir Hut”) on Muir Pass on the John Muir Trail in the summers of 1930 and 1931. It is the only building conceived and erected by the Sierra Club to honor its first President. On the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service in 2016, the Shelter was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. A commemorative ceremony was held.
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The Los Angeles Public Library System builds the “John Muir Branch Library”.
•
1934
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The Sierra Club publishes A Guide to the John Muir Trail, by Walter Starr.
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April 27: Fred Peake organizes a “John Muir Pilgrimage” from Lafayette to Wanda Muir’s home in the Alhambra Valley. Annual pilgrimages were organized around 1930 by Linnie Marsh Wolfe.
•
1935
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Grace S. Lindsley writes Recollections of John Muir, recalling visiting Muir in his room on the University of Wisconsin campus in the early 1860s. She describes his inventive bed/alarm clock and recalls a visit he made to Madison in 1896.
•
1936
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Mrs. H. J. Taylor (Rose Schuster Taylor) publishes a book Yosemite Indians and Other Sketches, which includes a chapter on John Muir.
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The latest in a series of annual pilgrimages to John Muir’s Gravesite organized around 1930 by Linnie Marsh Wolfe is held. A newspaper report describes the 1936 pilgrimage attended by about three hundred pilgrims, including Wanda Muir Hanna, with bagpipers and singing.
•
1938
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The 100th anniversary of the birth of John Muir.
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Linnie Marsh Wolfe publishes John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir. Wolfe later publishes Son of the Wilderness, her Pulitzer-prize winning biography of Muir, in 1945.
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Construction of the John Muir Trail is finally completed.
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Muir’s life is celebrated in Yosemite and national parks around the United States.
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March: The Sierra Club’s Angeles Chapter’s beloved Muir Lodge, built in 1913, was destroyed by flood.
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April: The Yosemite Natural History Association publishes a special issue of Nature Notes: “John Muir Number Commemorating the Hundredth Anniversary of His Birth April 21”.
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Pupils of Seattle’s John Muir School publish another book, John Muir, A Pictorial Biography.
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The “John Muir Association” in Berkeley joins the campaign for protection of the Redwood Mountain Grove of Giant Sequoias, which was included within Kings Canyon National Park in 1940.
•
1939
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Ansel Adams publishes his first book, Sierra Nevada: The John Muir Trail. Adams also publishes Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada in 1948, containing his photographs and selections from Muir’s works. Courage Books publishes America’s Wilderness, The Photographs of Ansel Adams, With the Writings of John Muir in 1990.
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The 1939 bill for Kings Canyon National Park originally included the title “John Muir-Kings Canyon National Park”, but it was dropped.
•
1940
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Kings Canyon National Park is established, incorporating much of the area that Muir had originally proposed for a Kings Canyon National Park decades earlier.
•
1941
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February 1: The Sierra Club publishes “The Kings River Valley” by John Muir in Sierra Club Bulletin, reprinted from The Daily Evening Bulletin, San Francisco, August 13, 1875.
•
1942
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Wanda Muir Hanna (Muir’s first child) dies at age 60.
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Muir’s book, Travels in Alaska, is translated and published in Japanese.
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Keith, Old Master of California by Brother Cornelius is published, including many letters written by John Muir to his friend the artist William Keith.
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December 31: The Liberty Ship SS John Muir is completed, serves throughout World War II, and is eventually scrapped in 1966.
•
1944
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The Sierra Club Bulletin publishes “The Creation of Yosemite National Park: Letters of John Muir to Robert Underwood Johnson”, the first time in print for these six lengthy letters.
•
1945
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Linnie Marsh Wolfe publishes Son of the Wilderness, her Pulitzer-prize winning biography of Muir.
•
1950
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The Sierra Club publishes in book form John Muir’s Studies in the Sierra.
•
1952
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September: Adolph D. Sweet publishes a story about his first-hand “Meeting John Muir in King’s Canyon”, wherein Muir complains about the slovenly camp-craft of artist C.D. Robinson.
•
1953
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The “Muir Locust” on the campus of the University of Wisconsin, where Muir had his botany epiphany, was dying and became a safety hazard. The University Board of Trustees ordered it cut down. Wood from the tree is turned into mementos.
•
1954
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Edwin Way Teale publishes The Wilderness World of John Muir.
•
1955
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The Sierra Club film Two Yosemites compares the damming of Hetch Hetchy to plans to dam Dinosaur National Monument.
•
1956
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The John Muir Memorial Association is organized April 27 in Martinez, California. Its purposes include perpetuating Muir’s memory, applying his principles to conservation, making his home a public shrine, and educating in the love of nature. Prior to this, an informal group, including William E. Colby, met annually on Muir’s birthday at the Muir-Strentzel gravesite. The Association begins an essay contest for school children in 1974, awards its first annual “John Muir Conservation Award” in 1978, begins publishing its newsletter in 1972, launches a fundraising campaign to build a Visitor/Education Center in 1998, releases a Tribute CD in 1999, and joins the launch of The Global John Muir Network website in 2000.
•
1957
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John Muir Memorial Park, at the site of Muir’s boyhood home, Fountain Lake Farm, is established near Montello, in Marquette County, Wisconsin, on May 5. A marker commemorates Muir’s role as father of national parks. The park was also established in 1959. Fountain Lake Farm is purchased for protection in 2014.
•
1959
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John Muir Memorial Park is established.
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At the University of Wisconsin, the seven-acre wooded area known as Bascom Woods, is named in honor of John Muir. Today, John Muir Park continues to serve as an outdoor laboratory. In 1964, the park is officially dedicated as a natural botanical laboratory.
•
1961
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Sierra Club awards its highest honor, the first John Muir Award to William E. Colby.
•
1964
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September 3: John Muir House in Martinez, California, is designated by Congress as the John Muir National Historic Site. Formal dedication occurs December 17, 1972. The site celebrates its 20th anniversary in 1984. The site sponsors 150th anniversary celebration events in 1988. The site hosts the annual Muir Birthday/Earth Day Celebration. The site features a new visitor orientation film in 2005. Sculptor William Pettee’s Nature’s Prophet sculpture is installed here in 2011.
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Helen Muir (Muir’s second child) dies at age 78.
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The Sierra Club publishes Gentle Wilderness: The Sierra Nevada, with photographs by Richard Kauffman and text from My First Summer in the Sierra.
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U.S. Post Office publishes a commemorative, 5-cent postage stamp: “John Muir, Conservationist”. The U.S. Postal Service releases a second commemorative stamp in 1998.
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The U.S. Wilderness Act passes; the John Muir Wilderness Area is established. A film Ode to Muir by Teton Gravity tells about a 40-mile winter expedition in the John Muir Wilderness in 2018.
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On the University of Wisconsin campus, the seven-acre “John Muir Park” is officially dedicated as a natural botanical laboratory.
•
1965
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Pathway in the Sky: The Story of the John Muir Trail, with text and photographs by Hal Roth, is published.
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John Muir is inducted into the Conservation Hall of Fame by the National Wildlife Federation.
•
1966
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April: John Muir College is chosen as the name for the second college at the University of California, San Diego. Scheduled to accept first students in Fall of 1967. UC San Diego’s John Muir College celebrates its 50th Anniversary in 2018 with a symposium.
•
1969
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A historical marker about Muir is dedicated at a wayside park on Highway 22 in Marquette County, Wisconsin.
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The Muir-Hanna families transfer the John Muir Papers to the custody of the University of the Pacific. The University sponsors conferences on Muir starting in 1980. The John Muir Papers, 1856-1957 are published on microform in 1986.
•
1971
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The Smithsonian Institution sponsors an exhibit on Muir at the National Portrait Gallery.
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Wisconsin Governor Patrick J. Lucey launches ceremonies for “John Muir Ecology Week” in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.
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Shirley Sargent publishes John Muir in Yosemite, containing photos and an excellent summary of Muir’s Yosemite years.
•
1972
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The John Muir Memorial Association begins publishing its newsletter, The View from John Muir’s Window.
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December 17: Formal dedication of John Muir’s Martinez home as a National Historic Site.
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Boise State College in Idaho publishes “John Muir” by Thomas J. Lyon.
•
1973
◦
Norman S. Berg reprints Letters to a Friend, comprising the letters John Muir wrote to Jeanne C. Carr between 1866 and 1879.
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Country Beautiful publishes The American Wilderness in the Words of John Muir, including color and black and white photos with Muir quotations.
•
1974
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The John Muir Memorial Association begins an essay contest for school children, with essay titled to be “In the Shadow of John Muir”.
•
1975
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Photographer John Earl publishes John Muir’s Longest Walk, containing excerpts from John Muir’s A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf and color photographs of much of what Muir sketched and described in his 1867 trip.
•
1977
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William and Maymie Kimes publish the first edition of John Muir: A Reading Bibliography. A second edition is published in 1986.
•
1978
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The John Muir Memorial Association awards its first annual “John Muir Conservation Award” to Marshall Kuhn.
•
1979
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The National Library of Scotland mounts an exhibition entitled “A Man of the Wilderness –John Muir (1838-1914)”.
•
1980
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November 13-15: The University of the Pacific sponsors its first national conference on Muir, “The World of John Muir”. The conference proceedings are published in 1981. The University hosts subsequent conferences and symposia.
•
1981
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John Muir House, Birthplace Museum opens at 128 High Street, Dunbar, Scotland.
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Martinez, California, proclaims Dunbar, Scotland its sister city.
•
1982
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The Muir-Strentzel ranch house in Martinez is 100 years old.
•
1983
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The John Muir Trust is founded in Scotland to conserve wild land, and is named in Muir’s honor. The trust makes its first purchase in 1987.
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April 21: Writer and actor, Lee Stetson, begins production of “Conversation With a Tramp –An Evening with John Muir” in Yosemite.
•
1984
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The John Muir National Historic Site celebrates its 20th anniversary. Festivities include Lee Stetson’s performance of “Conversations with a Tramp — An Evening with John Muir”.
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Dr. D. Bruce Means retraces John Muir’s 1,000 Walk to the Gulf of Mexico, and is heartsick to discover virtually none of Muir’s wilderness remained.
•
1985
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April 12-13: The University of the Pacific sponsors its second Muir conference, “John Muir –Life and Legacy”. The proceedings are published.
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John Muir Inducted as the first inductee in the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.
•
1986
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The John Muir Papers, 1856-1957 are published on microform. A Guide is also published.
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Second edition of John Muir: A Reading Bibliography by William F. and Maymie Kimes is published.
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Lee Stetson begins production of “Stickeen and Other Fellow Mortals”.
•
1987
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U.S. Interior Secretary Don Hodel proposes tearing down O’Shaugnessy Dam and restoring Hetch Hetchy to its pristine state. Restore Hetch Hetchy is formed in 1999, publishes a documentary in 2003, and California reviews possibility of restoration in 2004.
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The John Muir Trust in Scotland makes its first purchase, 3,000 mountain acres.
•
1988
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The World Wilderness Congress calls for appreciations in honor of Muir’s 150th anniversary.
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The first Scottish editions of Story of my Boyhood and Youth and My First Summer in the Sierra are published by Canongate Publishing, Edinburgh.
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The U.S. Congress declares April 21st John Muir Day in honor of 150th anniversary of Muir’s birth.
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The California State Legislature adopts Concurrent Resolution No. 96, first proclaiming John Muir Day in California. April 21 is proclaimed John Muir Day on an annual basis by the State of California in 1989.
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The John Muir National Historic Site sponsors special 150th anniversary celebration events.
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Dozens of newspaper stories throughout the U.S. recognize Muir’s life.
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The John Muir Chapter of the Sierra Club erects a sign in Muir Park near Montello, Wisconsin, noting Muir lived there and tried to preserve parts of it, quoting his words about the beauty being “pressed into my mind”.
•
1989
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April 21 is proclaimed John Muir Day on an annual basis by the State of California.
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Eco-Troubadour Bill Oliver sings “Muir Power to You” at California Wilderness Conference to honor Assemblyman Bob Campbell for sponsoring the John Muir Day legislation.
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Galen Rowell publishes The Yosemite combining his photographs and Muir’s words from The Yosemite.
•
1990
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April 19-22: The University of the Pacific sponsors its third Muir Conference.
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Courage Books publishes America’s Wilderness, The Photographs of Ansel Adams, With the Writings of John Muir.
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The Library of America publishes John Muir: Nature Writings edited by William Cronon.
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Diane Garey and Lawrence R. Hott of Florentine Films produce “The Boyhood of John Muir,” a one-hour dramatic feature for public television.
•
1998
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U.S. Postal Service releases its second commemorative postage stamp of John Muir as part of its “Celebrate the Century” stamp program. Dozens of First Day Covers are released.
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John Muir Memorial Association launches its “Thank You, John Muir” fund raising campaign to build a new Visitor/Education Center for John Muir National Historic Site.
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Dunbar’s John Muir Association, the East Lothian Council, and the John Muir Trust launch their campaign to purchase John Muir’s Birthplace in Dunbar, Scotland.
•
1999
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The John Muir Birthplace Trust announces its purchase of John Muir’s Birthplace in Dunbar, Scotland.
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Scotland presents “An Infinite Storm of Beauty,” a major exhibition on the life and achievements of John Muir, to mark the 150th anniversary of his emigration to the United States. This first international exhibition emphasizes his Scottish origins and seeks to reclaim him as an environmental icon for Scotland.
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Sacred Summits: John Muir’s Greatest Climbs, a compilation of commentaries and Muir’s essays, edited by Graham White, is published in Scotland.
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The John Muir Memorial Association releases the John Muir Tribute CD.
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The John Muir Exhibit website launches a virtual stamp collection display.
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Peter Lang Publishing publishes John Muir in Historical Perspective, edited by Sally M. Miller, a collection of papers from the 1996 John Muir Conference at the University of the Pacific.
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Elizabeth Pomeroy publishes John Muir in Southern California.
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A new video and DVD, Yosemite: The Storm of Beauty, narrated by Lee using the writings of John Muir, is published.
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Restore Hetch Hetchy is formed to focus public attention on the benefits of restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley, the place John Muir called “a wonderfully exact counterpart of Yosemite Valley . . . a grand landscape garden, one of Nature’s rarest and most precious mountain temples”.
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2000
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January 17: On the Trail of John Muir by Cherry Good is published in Edinburgh, Scotland, and later in the U.S..
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March 18: Concord John Muir Festival presents live performances.
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April 15: John Muir’s vision was behind the Presidential Proclamation of Giant Sequoia National Monument. President Bill Clinton quotes Muir in proclaiming the new National Monument. The battle continues as the Forest Service continually refuses to follow the principles.
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Lee Stetson establishes a website featuring his John Muir Productions.
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Eco-Troubadour Bill Oliver makes his classic song “Muir Power to You” available for free download.
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October 12: World Premiere of “Mountain Days: the John Muir Musical”.
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The National Park Service acquires John Muir’s grave site from The American Land Conservancy.
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Joseph Cornell publishes John Muir: My Life With Nature, an “autobiography” using Muir’s words for young people.
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Chris Highland publishes Nature’s Temple: Daily Wisdom from John Muir.
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The National Geographic Society publishes John Muir: Nature’s Visionary by Gretel Ehrlich.
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The Global John Muir Network website is launched by various groups.
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2001
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May 4-6: University of the Pacific hosts its fifth John Muir Conference.
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Kindred and Related Spirits: The Letters of John Muir and Jeanne C. Carr, edited by Bonnie Johanna Gisel is published. Gisel later publishes Nature Journal with John Muir in 2006 and The Wilder Muir: The Curious Nature of John Muir in 2017.
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John Muir’s Last Journey – South to the Amazon and East to Africa: Unpublished Journals and Selected Correspondence, edited by Michael P. Branch is published.
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Meditations of John Muir: Nature’s Temple, an expanded book based on Chris Highland’s Nature’s Temple, is published.
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August: National Park Service launches a greatly expanded Official John Muir National Historic Site website.
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Harriman Expedition Retraced – On July 22, 2001, scientists, artists, and writers retrace the 1899 Harriman Expedition. Presented as a film and website on PBS, and a book published in 2005.
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The Willows Theatre releases the Original Cast Recording for Mountain Days, the John Muir Musical and moves the annual performance to the John Muir Amphitheater in Martinez.
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Elizabeth Pomeroy publishes John Muir: A Naturalist in Southern California. Pomeroy also published John Muir in Southern California in 1999.
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November/December: Sierra Magazine notes the increase of “Muir Mania,” quoting author Kit Stolz on the vibrancy of Muir’s legacy.
•
2002
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Texas A & M University Press publishes God’s Wilds: John Muir’s Vision of Nature, by Dennis C. Williams.
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Points of Light Foundation announces John Muir as an Honoree on THE EXTRA MILE -Points of Light Volunteer Pathway.
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A John Muir-Yosemite design is among the top 20 semi-finalists for the California Quarter Program.
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On John Muir’s birthday, April 21, 2002, the Sacramento Bee proclaims that “Today, the idea of restoring the Hetch Hetchy Valley doesn’t feel so wacky”.
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May 11: U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer announces introduction of the proposed “California Wild Heritage Wilderness Act of 2002,” citing Muir’s quote “In God’s wildness lies the hope of the world” as inspiration.
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Historian Millie Stanley refutes the common accusation that John Muir was a draft dodger in her article “John Muir and the Civil War” (Published in University of the Pacific, John Muir Newsletter). A summary of this research is “Was John Muir a Draft Dodger?” by Harold Wood.
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2003
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On January 7, 2003, Lee Stetson is sworn in as a Mariposa County Supervisor.
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April 28: California Governor Gray Davis recommended five design concepts – including a John Muir-Yosemite coin – to the U.S. Mint. The John Muir-Yosemite design is selected in 2004 and released in 2005.
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August 9: The John Muir Birthplace on High Street, Dunbar, Scotland, re-opens to the public after a two-year renovation project.
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August 8: John Muir’s Mountain Days returned for its fourth season in Martinez, California.
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The John Muir Festival Center is formed as a nonprofit corporation.
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Michael Muir, a great-grandson, takes a 1,000 mile journey in a horse drawn cart, following the route taken by John Muir in his The Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf, from September 22 to December 11, 2003.
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September 2: BBC Radio in the UK broadcasts a program: “John of the Mountains: Following in the footsteps of John Muir”.
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November 18: The Indiana Historical Bureau approves the application for a state historical marker commemorating John Muir’s time in Indiana. A marker is dedicated July 2, 2004.
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Restore Hetch Hetchy publishes a documentary video Hetch Hetchy: Yosemite’s Lost Valley narrated by Shari Belafonte.
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2004
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March 29: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announces the selection of the John Muir-Yosemite design for the California State Quarter.
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April 21: John Muir’s birthday, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says Muir’s evocative reflections continue to inspire citizens.
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May: The Muir-Hanna Family Trust contributes a headstone for Muir’s father Daniel Muir at the historic Elmwood Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri.
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July 2: The Indiana Historical Bureau and the Hoosier Chapter of the Sierra Club dedicate a new State Historical Marker – John Muir in Indiana.
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August 4: Former President Bill Clinton quotes Muir with reference to a proposal to roll-back the Roadless Rule for National Forests, noting Muir inspired Theodore Roosevelt.
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November 8: California Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman announces the State review of the possibility of restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley.
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2005
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January 31: The U.S. Mint releases the John Muir-Yosemite design for its State Quarters program. A special program and reception is held at the University of the Pacific on February 9.
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April 1: Opening of “The Life and Legacy of John Muir” exhibit and film produced by the Clan Currie Society at the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island National Monument. The exhibit is reprised in 2016.
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April 23: John Muir Birthday/Earth Day Celebration at John Muir National Historic Site, Martinez.
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2006
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January 24, 2006: John Muir Selected for Induction in Hall of Great Westerners at National Cowboy Museum.
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March 31-April 1: University of the Pacific hosts their sixth John Muir conference, John Muir in Global Perspective.
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April 2: Donna and Peter Thomas begin their walk Retracing Muir’s 1868 Walk from San Francisco to Yosemite.
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April: Bonnie Johanna Gisel publishes Nature Journal with John Muir.
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June: Minor Planet Named for John Muir.
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July: John Muir Inducted in inaugural California Hall of Fame.
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2007
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May 3, 2007: Sierra Club Sues University of Wisconsin Over Coal-Fired Power Plant, citing the university failing to live up to its progressive tradition and Muir’s inspiration.
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A 2007 Time magazine special reports former CIA Director James Woolsey imagined a dialogue between John Muir and General George Patton on climate change, finding they reach the same “green conclusion” for different reasons.
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July 18, 2007: NEH awards grant for the documentary, “John Muir in the New World”.
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November 7, 2007: The play “Forces of Nature” by Stephen Most premieres, highlighting the Hetch Hetchy conflict.
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2008
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Muir Woods National Monument celebrates its 100th anniversary.
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Photographer Stephen Joseph and historian Bonnie Gisel publish a new website on John Muir’s Botany. They also publish their book, Nature’s Beloved Son: Rediscovering John Muir’s Botanical Legacy.
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April 6, 2008: Harold Wood is a featured guest on an Online Radio Show.
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Historian Donald Worster publishes A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir.
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2009
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Friends of John Muir’s Birthplace becomes new name for Dunbar’s John Muir Association.
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April 22, 2009: John Muir Inducted in the Extra Mile Volunteer Pathway.
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September: Ken Burn’s documentary The National Parks: America’s Best Idea and companion book feature John Muir.
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September, 2009: Scottish television station STV nominates John Muir for “Greatest Scot”; he loses to Robert Burns.
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The Episcopal Church of America adds John Muir in its liturgical resource, Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints, describing a minor annual “Feast Day” ceremony on April 22 for Muir.
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2010
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January: The Montello Historic Preservation Society begins “The Year of John Muir in Marquette County,” Muir’s boyhood home.
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Lee Stetson releases a new DVD/BluRay, the Voice of John Muir.
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April 5: Scotland’s Minister Michael Russell gives an editorial noting Muir’s idealism and advocacy.
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April 9: The Scottish Government and Sierra Club hold a special tree planting ceremony and presentation on John Muir’s Legacy in a Climate-Challenged World.
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April 21: Celebrating John Muir’s 172nd Birthday, Sierra Club unveils revamped John Muir Exhibit website.
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April 22-24: John Muir: Naturalist and Scientist Symposium at the University of the Pacific.
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June 5: Highway 132 from Coulterville to Highway 120 (route into Yosemite) is designated as the John Muir Highway.
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A musical play “The Wild Adventures of John Muir” premieres.
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2011
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Sculptor William Pettee creates two bronze sculptures of John Muir: Mountain Muir (UOP) and Nature’s Prophet (John Muir NHS).
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February: Bedford Gallery opens traveling exhibit of Nature’s Beloved Son: Rediscovering John Muir’s Botanical Legacy.
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August 6, 2011: Oakland Museum of California opens exhibit spotlighting Muir and eight Modern Day Muirs: A Walk in the Wild: Continuing John Muir’s Journey.
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Publication of My First Summer in the Sierra: 100th Anniversary Illustrated Edition.
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John Muir’s Literary Science is published by Terry Gifford.
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April 18: The film documentary John Muir in the New World premieres on PBS.
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Saturday, April 21: John Muir Birthday – Earth Day at John Muir National Historic Site celebrates John Muir’s 174th birthday and the 42nd Anniversary of Earth Day.
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2012
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The Contemplative John Muir: Spiritual Quotations by Stephen K. Hatch is published.
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Bruce Byers retraces John Muir’s visit to Chile.
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Scottish singer-songwriter Kathy Muir writes a song inspired by John Muir, Sweet and Easy.
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The new John Muir Geotourism Center in Coulterville, California, launches a geotourism project. The Third Annual John Muir Festival is held.
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A new children’s book For the Love of Trees by Debra A Fristek is published.
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The Wisdom of John Muir: 100+ Selections compiled by Anne Rowthorn is published.
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Restless Fires: Young John Muir’s Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf in 1867 by James B. Hunt is published.
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The Wisconsin Friends of John Muir is founded.
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2013
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January 14, 2013: Sierra Club publishes a quiz, How Muir Are You?.
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April 3 – June 3, 2013: John Muir Exhibit at Federal Hall, NYC, photographic exhibition “In The Footsteps of John Muir”.
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April 8, 2013: Project is launched to document in 3D digital format Muir’s homes in Dunbar and Martinez.
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May 17, 2013: Concert band piece “A Dauntless Soul” by William Camphouse premieres at John Swett High School in Martinez.
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June 7 & 8, 2013: Fourth Annual John Muir Festival in Coulterville, California.
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Stage play performed in Gaelic celebrates Muir’s 175th birthday: Seonaidh a’ Mhonaidh (John of the Moors).
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2014
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Scotland celebrates Muir’s 100th anniversary of death.
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April: Muir’s homeland unveils the John Muir Way, a trail from Dunbar to Helensburgh.
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Kim Heacox publishes John Muir and the Ice That Started a Fire.
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March 21-22: John Muir Symposium sponsored by University of the Pacific is held, marking anniversaries including Muir’s 100th death anniversary.
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April 13: “Chance” premieres John Muir – University of the Wilderness.
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May 31: 5th Annual John Muir Festival.
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Fountain Lake Farm is purchased for protection by a Wisconsin land trust. Sierra Club Vice-President Spencer Black notes that America’s mountains are not over-developed because “we had Muir”.
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November: Controversy arises at UCLA where academics assert “Muir’s a dead end.” Harold Wood writes rebuttal.
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December 24: John Muir fans around the world commemorate the 100th anniversary of Muir’s passing. Commemorative celebration at John Muir National Historic Site.
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2015
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The year 2015 is tagged as the “Year of Muir” by the Sierra Club Angeles Chapter to commemorate the 100 years since his death.
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Angeles Chapter publishes photo book Southern California Mountain Country.
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May 3: Bruce Hamilton, Sierra Club deputy executive director, gives presentation “John Muir: A man full of wonder and joy”.
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May 16: 6th Annual John Muir Festival.
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April 18: John Muir Birthday- Earth Day Celebration at John Muir National Historic Site.
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November 17: NPS and US Mint announce designs for commemorative coins honoring NPS 100th anniversary. One design, the $5.00 gold coin obverse, features John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt with Half Dome.
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November 21: Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune publishes essay All the Colors of Nature telling what Muir did on Thanksgiving/Black Friday (#optoutside).
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2016
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April 6 – September 5: “Life and Legacy of John Muir Exhibit” at Ellis Island National Monument.
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March 24: National Park Service Centennial $5 Dollar Commemorative Coin Featuring John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt go on sale.
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“Wisconsin’s John Muir – A Traveling Exhibit and Reading Program” runs during 2016. Wisconsin Historical Society provides exhibit and related materials to libraries and historical societies.
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IMAX film National Parks Adventure (original working title America Wild) takes moviegoers back to the Roosevelt/Muir camping trip, featuring Lee Stetson as Muir.
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Saturday, April 23: John Muir Birthday–Earth Day Celebration at John Muir National Historic Site.
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2016 Mountain Day Camp – A John Muir Immersion Experience for children.
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April-May: John Muir, portrayed by Lee Stetson, walks the John Muir Way in Scotland and revisits his boyhood home.
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April: A fire-fighting airplane, dubbed “The Spirit of John Muir” is announced.
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August 25: The U.S. National Park Service celebrates its Centennial.
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August 25: The John Muir Memorial Shelter is added to the National Register of Historic Places. A commemorative event is held. A new bronze plaque featuring Muir and William E. Colby is to be installed.
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August 25, 2017 (Note: Date seems out of place in 2016 context, possibly related to events marking the Centennial Year): California Legislature designates part of Hwy 41 as the “Buffalo Soldiers Memorial Highway,” commemorating the Army troops John Muir praised for protecting parks before NPS.
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November: The national organization Trout Unlimited established a new chapter in California’s East Bay named the “John Muir Chapter,” showing that Muir’s legacy extends well beyond that of just the Sierra Club.
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2017
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Bonnie Gisel publishes a new book, The Wilder Muir: The Curious Nature of John Muir.
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Wisconsin Friends of John Muir conduct numerous local activities, including a mobile app, birthday celebrations, clean ups, hikes, and restoration work.
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June – December: The traveling display “Wisconsin’s John Muir” continues to be hosted by UW-System libraries.
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July 9: Keith Fitch’s orchestral work, The Range of Light, composed using Muir texts, premieres at Rocky Ridge Music Center.
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Friends of John Muir’s Birthplace in Dunbar, Scotland host special exhibit featuring 125th anniversary of Sierra Club.
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March 13: Gesa Power House Theatre presents “John Muir: Watch, Pray, and Fight” – a one-man play with script entirely from Muir’s words.
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April 22: John Muir Birthday- Earth Day celebration at the John Muir National Historic Site. NPS Ranger Frank Helling portrays John Muir. The John Muir Association presents the 39th annual John Muir Conservation Awards.
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April 22: John Muir Birthday at John Muir County Park, Wisconsin.
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April 21: John Muir Garden Party at University of the Pacific.
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The Angeles Chapter celebrates John Muir’s birthday with annual Rendezvous Hikes and a commemorative hike.
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John Muir Events at the Yosemite Conservation Heritage Center are listed, including presentations by Tom Bopp on Muir/Roosevelt and Dr. Bonnie Gisel on The Wilder Muir, and a presentation on the Muir Ramble Route by Donna and Peter Thomas.
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November 13: “A visit with John Muir” at the Wilderness Center, Ohio, with John Kolar portraying Muir.
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November 30: “An Influential Life — John Muir” mini-lectures held at University of Wisconsin-Green Bay library.
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2018
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March 23 & 24: “The Practical John Muir” Symposium is hosted by the University off the Pacific. Features a field trip, reception, presentations, exhibits including Peter and Donna Thomas’ new book Anywhere That is Wild, and UOP’s virtual reality developments of a “John Muir Museum” and VR film.
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April 23: University of California, San Diego, sponsors a John Muir Symposium “After the West: Rethinking John Muir” as part of John Muir College 50th Anniversary Celebration, including a keynote by Donald Worster.
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May 15: Mark Adams publishes Tip of the Iceberg: My 3,000-Mile Journey Around Wild Alaska, retracing the 1899 Harriman Alaska Expedition.
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August 22: Film Ode to Muir by Teton Gravity tells about a winter expedition in California’s John Muir Wilderness.
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Film maker Michael M. Conti releases feature documentary film, The Unruly Mystic: John Muir, exploring the spiritual inspiration from nature and Muir’s life/works.
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2019
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January 23: Actor Steve Berg narrates a silly version of John Muir’s camping trip with Theodore Roosevelt on Comedy Central’s “Drunk History,” with Thomas Middleditch playing John Muir.
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April 20: John Muir Birthday–Earth Day Celebration at the John Muir National Historic Site in Martinez, California.