the american forests john muir summary

Visit the John Muir National Historic Site, located in Martinez, California. The outcries we hear against forest reservations come mostly from thieves who are wealthy and steal timber by wholesale. of John Muir and Gifford Pinchot Matthew E. Whitbeck Western Oregon University, wolfen.one79@gmail.com Follow this and additional works at:https://digitalcommons.wou.edu/his . This means that less than 50,000 acres have been planted with stunted, woebegone, almost hopeless sprouts of trees, while at the same time the government has allowed millions of acres of the grandest forest trees to be stolen, or destroyed, or sold for nothing. In his article "The American Forests", John Muir discusses the beauty of the American forests along with their being easy targets for unwise people destroying them for their egoistical purposes. The Arctic Refuge is a crucial refuge as it is one of the few left in the Arctic and around the world. Mere destroyers, however, tree-killers, spreading death and confusion in the fairest groves and gardens ever planted, let the government hasten to cast them out and make an end of them. He is best known for his work as a conservationist, particularly his role in the establishment of Yosemite National Park in California. Only the lower, perfectly clear, free-splitting portions of the giant pines are used, perhaps ten to twenty feet from a tree two hundred and fifty in height; all the rest is left a mass of ruins, to rot or to feed the forest fires, while thousands are hacked deeply and rejected in proving the grain. The plan was usually as follows: A mill company desirous of getting title to a large body of redwood or sugar-pine land first blurred the eyes and ears of the land agents, and then hired men to enter the land they wanted, and immediately deed it to the company after a nominal compliance with the law; false swearing in the wilderness against the government being held of no account. Muir constantly brings up the burning of the forests. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for JOHN MUIR : Nature Writings by The Library Of America (1997, HC/DJ) at the best online prices at eBay! Still, the species is not in danger of extinction. > University of Northern Iowa UNI ScholarWorks Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate College 2016 Three men in the wilderness: Ideas and concepts of The legitimate demands on the forests that have passed into private ownership, as well as those in the hands of the government, are increasing every year with the rapid settlement and upbuilding of the country, but the methods of lumbering are as yet grossly wasteful. He was a Scottish-American environmentalist, naturalist, and writer who is best known as the founder of the Sierra Club and one of the earliest promotors of the national parks. On the contrary, all the brains, religion, and superstition of the neighborhood are brought into play to prevent a new growth. The provisions of the code concerning private woodlands are substantially these: No private owner may clear his woodlands without giving notice to the government at least four months in advance, and the forest service may forbid the clearing on the following grounds: to maintain the soil on mountains, to defend the soil against erosion and flooding by rivers or torrents, to insure the existence of springs and watercourses, to protect the dunes and seashore, etc. There is none to say them nay. The volume is from the press of Houghton . John Muir (1838 - 1914) was a Scottish-American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. In India systematic forest management was begun about forty years ago, under difficulties presented by the character of the country, the prevalence of running fires, opposition from lumbermen, settlers, etc. The American Forests Appendix Index List of Illustrations Sequoias, Mariposa Grove [bigger] Like 0. The forests of America, however slighted. Its focus is the general geology and characteristics of the Sierra Nevada. Old grizzlies I despise, they want cannon to kill em; but the blacks and browns are beauties for grease, and when I get em just right, and draw a bead on em, I fetch em every time. Another said he was going to catch up a lot of mustangs as soon as the rains set in, hitch them to a gang-plough, and go to farming on the San Joaquin plains for wheat. His lifelong passion for hiking began when he hiked 1,000 miles from Indianapolis to the Gulf of Mexico in. Every place is made better by them. Thus, with abundance of fuel, shelter and comfort by his own fireside are secured. The redwood is the glory of the Coast Range. travel our way. The abstract is typically a short summary of the contents of the document. Then he goes to work sawing and splitting for the market, tying the shakes in bundles of fifty or a hundred. Each article originally printed in this magazine is available here, complete and unedited from the historical print. Muir Inlet and Muir Glacier are both named for him. Railroad tracks were just . The people will not always be deceived by selfish opposition, whether from lumber and mining corporations or from sheepmen and prospectors, however cunningly brought forward underneath fables and gold. Twenty-First Century Books, New York, New York. The cool shades of the forest give rise to moist beds and currents of air, and the sod of grasses and the various flowering plants and shrubs thus fostered, together with the network and sponge of tree roots, absorb and hold back the rain and the waters from melting snow, compelling them to ooze and percolate and flow gently through the soil in streams that never dry. While in Alaska, I saw the loveliest forests and scenery I've ever seen. To Muir, these forests are a true creation by God himself--everlasting, plentiful, and can feed every man and . Another of the company, a bushy-bearded fellow, with a trace of brag in his voice, drawled out: Bird business is well enough for some, but bear is my game, with a deer and a California lion thrown in now and then for change. (Boston, 1901), chapter 10, "The American Forests." Originally published as John Muir, "The American Forests," Atlantic Monthly 80 (August 1897): 145-57. Everywhere, everywhere over all the blessed continent, there were beauty, and melody, and kindly, wholesome, foodful abundance. Well, it didn't happen by accident or guesswork. After the Atlantic coast from Maine to Georgia had been mostly cleared and scorched into melancholy ruins, the overflowing multitude of bread and money seekers poured over the Alleghanies into the fertile middle West, spreading ruthless devastation ever wider and farther over the rich valley of the Mississippi and the vast shadowy pine region about the Great Lakes. During the course of his political term, Roosevelt set aside 148 million acres of forest reserves, created 50 regions for the protection of wildlife, founded 16 national monuments and established 5 new national parks. No place is too good for good men, and still there is room. He returned with the famous story. "Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. John Muir was one of the countrys most famous naturalist and conservationist and Muir Woods, part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area, is named in his honor. Muir is credited with both the creation of the National Park System and the establishment of the Sierra Club. With a cheap mustang or mule to carry a pair of blankets, a sack of flour, a few pounds of coffee, and an axe, a frow, and a cross-cut saw, the shake-maker ascends the mountains to the pine belt where it is most accessible, usually by some mine or mill road. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmb/234. In its calmer moments in the midst of bewildering hunger and war and restless over-industry, Prussia has learned that the forest plays an important part in human progress, and that the advance in civilization only makes it more indispensable. Its a mighty good business, and youre your own boss, and the whole things fun.. But when the steel axe of the white man rang out in the startled air their doom was sealed. So they appeared a few centuries ago when they were rejoicing in wildness. American forester, the first Chief of the US Forest Service and his family was the financial backer for the country's first forestry school (at Yale University), so there can be no doubt where the profession of forestry locates itself in the Muir-Pinchot debate. Through his book Travels in Alaska, I learned about the formation of Glacier Bay and Muir's exploration of that twinned body of water I called home for two summers. Publisher's Summary During the past twenty-five years, North American forestry has received increasingly vigorous scrutiny. . The closing chapter reviews American forests broadly, and utters an ardent plea for their preservation. Under the act of June 3, 1878, settlers in Colorado and the Territories were allowed to cut timber for mining and agricultural purposes from mineral land, which in the practical West means both cutting and burning anywhere and everywhere, for any purpose, on any sort of public land. But when the steel axe of the white man rang out in the startled air their doom was sealed. They cover an area of about 29,000,000 acres. Not a mountain is left in the landscape. It is the citizens of this country who are robbing from and destroying the beautiful forest. Even Japan is ahead of us in the management of her forests. They cannot run away; and if they could, they would still be destroyed, chased and hunted down as long as fun or a dollar could be got out of their bark hides, branching horns, or magnificent bole backbones. Emerson says that things refuse to be mismanaged long. The fact is, it was all started over 100 years ago by two men I like to refer to as the founding fathers of America's public lands. On the contrary, they are made to produce as much timber as is possible without spoiling them. The sempervirens is certainly the taller of the two. It grows sturdily on all kinds of soil and rocks, and, protected by a mail of . Muir fell in love with the immense beauty of the mountain landscape. Thence still westward the invading horde of destroyers called settlers made its fiery way over the broad Rocky Mountains, felling and burning more fiercely than ever, until at last it has reached the wild side of the continent, and entered the last of the great aboriginal forests on the shores of the Pacific. Ours is the blackest. In no other way than under some one of these laws can a citizen of the United States make any use of the public forests. This tree is one of the most variable and most widely distributed of American pines. On the other hand, about one half of the fifty million francs spent on forestry has been given to engineering works, to make the replanting of denuded areas possible. The Yellowstone National Park 3. The whole continent was a garden, and from the beginning it seemed to be favored above all the other wild parks and gardens of the globe These forests were composed of about five hundred species of trees, all of them in some way useful to man, ranging in size from twenty-five feet in height and less than one foot in diameter at the ground to four hundred feet in height and more than twenty feet in diameterlordly monarchs proclaiming the gospel of beauty like apostles. 14 minutes. Type the abstract of the document here. John Muir, in The American Forests, speaks fondly of the American forests, calling them the "glory of the world." He discusses the genera of each coast, and describes the vast diversity between species, size, and some wildlife. Besides his labor, only a few pounds of nails are required. Likewise many of natures five hundred kinds of wild trees had to make way for orchards and cornfields. the glory of the world! The axe is not yet at the root of every tree, but the sheep is, or was before the national parks were established and guarded by the military, the only effective and reliable arm of the government free from the blight of politics. "The forests of America, however slighted by man, must have been a great delight to God; for they were the best he ever planted." He described trees with a diameter of twenty feet as "lordly. . T he Mountains of California, published in 1894, is John Muir's first book. Most notably, this was John Muir's first published essay (1871). Any fool can destroy trees. Accessibility Statement, John Muir: A Reading Bibliography by Kimes, Holt-Atherton Special Collections homepage. Nevertheless the Andes and the South American forests continued to fascinate his imagination, as his letters show, for many years after he came to California. Accordingly, with no eye to the future, these pious destroyers waged interminable forest wars; chips flew thick and fast; trees in their beauty fell crashing by millions, smashed to confusion, and the smoke of their burning has been rising to heaven more than two hundred years. Conservation in the United States can be traced back to the 19th century with the formation of the first National Park. They cannot run away; and if they could, they would still be destroyedchased and hunted down as long as fun or a dollar could be got out of their bark hides, branching horns, or magnificent bole backbones It took more than three thousand years to make some of the trees in these Western woodstrees that are still standing in perfect strength and beauty, waving and singing in the mighty forests of the Sierra. The largest sawmills ever built are busy along its seaward border, with all the modern improvements, but so immense is the yield per acre it will be long ere the supply is exhausted. America is one of the wealthiest Continue reading Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged John Muir, The American Forests | 1 Comment Basically, Muir's essay is a moment by moment account of one of his outings in the California . 1) The Sierra Nevada. President Roosevelt's concern for the environment was influenced by American naturalists, such as John Muir, and by his own political appointees, including Gifford Pinchot, Chief of Forestry. To show the results of the timber-planting act, it need only be stated that of the 38,000,000 acres entered under it, less than 1,000,000 acres have been patented. He came to the San Francisco area in 1868 and there he discovered the Sierra Mountains. A Wind-Storm in the Forests. Wide-branching oak and elm in endless variety, walnut and maple, chestnut and beech, ilex and locust, touching limb to limb, spread a leafy translucent canopy along the coast of the Atlantic over the wrinkled folds and ridges of the Alleghanies, a green billowy sea in summer, golden and purple in autumn, pearly gray like a steadfast frozen mist of interlacing branches and sprays in leafless, restful winter. In any case, it will be hard to teach the pioneers that it is wrong to steal government timber. It extends along the western slope, in a nearly continuous belt about ten miles wide, from beyond the Oregon boundary to the south of Santa Cruz, a distance of nearly four hundred miles, and in massive, sustained grandeur and closeness of growth surpasses all the other timber woods of the world. The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest and most influential conservation organization in the United States. 1993. With such variety, harmony, and triumphant exuberance, even nature, it would seem, might have rested content with the forests of North America, and planted no more. To the northward, over Maine and the Ottawa, rose hosts of spiry, rosiny evergreens, white pine and spruce, hemlock and cedar, shoulder to shoulder, laden with purple cones, their myriad needles sparkling and shimmering, covering hills and swamps, rocky headlands and domes, ever bravely aspiring and seeking the sky; the ground in their shade now snow-clad and frozen, now mossy and flowery; beaver meadows here and there, full of lilies and grass; lakes gleaming like eyes, and a silvery embroidery of rivers and creeks watering and brightening all the vast glad wilderness. John Muir: A Reading Bibliography by Kimes Visit the parks associated with John Muir! By the act of June 3, 1878, timber can be taken from public lands not subject to entry under any existing laws except for minerals, by bona fide residents of the Rocky Mountain States and Territories and the Dakotas. It is not generally known that, notwithstanding the immense quantities of timber cut every year for foreign and home markets and mines, from five to ten times as much is destroyed as is used, chiefly by running forest fires that only the federal government can stop. This book deals with both of these key issues. 357-[393]. Armed with a plant-press and a blank notebook, Muir wandered for weeks at a time, through the mountains that would later be Yosemite National Park. No traveler, whether a tree lover or not, will ever forget his first walk in a sugar-pine forest. It is the citizens of this country who are robbing from and destroying the beautiful forest. At university, Muir focused his studies on chemistry, geology and botany. 2) Yosemite Glaciers. Many of the miners find that timber is already becoming scarce and dear on the denuded hills around their mills, and they too are asking for protection of forests, at least against fire. Muir, John, "The American Forests" (1897). -John Muir The forests of America, however slighted by man, must have been a great delight to God; for they were the best he ever planted. Let them be as free to pick gold and gems from the hills, to cut and hew, dig and plant, for homes and bread, as the birds are to pick berries from the wild bushes, and moss and leaves for nests. Carter argues that it is the duty of everyone to preserve the Arctic Refuge rather than dig holes in it to extract oil. John Muir founded the Sierra Club in 1892, whose main goal was to "do something for nature and make the mountains glad.". Carter argues that it is the general geology and characteristics of the contents of the few left in Arctic., the species is not in danger of extinction printed in this is! 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