1882. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



219 



Literature, Travels I Personal Notes, 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



JOHN MUIR, THE CALIFORNIA NATUR- 

 ALIST. 



BY PROF. JOSEPH WILLCOX, OF PEXXSYLVANIA GEO- 

 LOGICAL SURVEY. 



In your paper of October 7th, you published 

 some account of John Muir, the Naturalist. Al- 

 though this very agreeable and instructive writer 

 has contributed many articles, during the last 

 ten years, to the Overland Monthly and to Har- 

 per's and Scribner's magazines, which have at- 

 tracted much notice and favorable comment, I 

 have never seen any published account of his 

 history. I passed two or three days in his com- 

 pany in the Yosemite Valley, in the summer of 

 1875, and from him I learned the following facts 

 regarding his history: 



He formerly was the superintendent of a fac- 

 tory in Wisconsin. An accident to his eyes in- 

 capacitated him for a long time for the perform- 

 ance of his duties, and he finally abandoned his 

 profession or trade. He was originally a mill- 

 wright. Being an enthusiastic botanist, he start- 

 ed from his home to collect plants, and walked 

 to Florida. When his stock of plants became 

 burdensome, he sent them home by rail when- 

 ever an opportunity was afforded. 



When crossing the mountains of Western 

 North Carolina, he passed over some grounds fa- 

 miliar to me, and became acquainted with some 

 of my friends there. While in Florida he suf- 

 fered long and severely with fever. He finally 

 " gravitated" to San Francisco by way of Cuba 

 and Panama. 



In California a new world of plants was re- 

 vealed to him. Ascending to the top of the Sier- 

 ras, he was so much fascinated by the flora of 

 the mountains, that he determined to spend 

 many years there, solitary and alone, to study 

 the habits of the trees and ]>lants and their dis- 

 tribution. He is a close observer of the distrib- 

 ution of trees and plants, regulated by their al- 

 titude and corresponding conditions of cHmate ; 

 his barometer being his constant and frequently 



consulted companion. He told me that he had 

 studied this subject so thoroughly, that, when 

 travelling among the mountains, he could, even 

 at night, tell approximately his altitude above 

 the sea, by feeling the plants near him and as- 

 certaining the prevailing species andgenera. The 

 geological structure of the mountains, and the 

 sculpturing accomplished by the ancient gla- 

 ciers, upon a scale so grand as almost to surpass 

 comprehension, also excited his earnest atten- 

 tion, and inspired him to the conclusion to devote 

 many years of his life to their study. He fre- 

 quently returned to the Yosemite Valley from 

 his long and weary travels, to recruit his 

 strength, and to obtain stores for new expedi- 

 tions. His stock consists only of dried beef, 

 flour and tea, which he carries on his back, 

 as he always travels on foot. He never 

 carries fire-arms, either for protection or to kill 

 game. It is a source of great delight to him to 

 watch wild animals and observe their habits. 

 He frequently passes many weeks without see- 

 ing a living person, not even a hunter or an In- 

 dian. He has discovered more than fifty living 

 glaciers among the Sierras, small remnants only 

 of the vast sheets of ice that formerly swept over 

 the slopes of those granite mountains, cutting 

 out deep gorges, in the case of the Yosemite 

 nearly a mile deep. These glacial remnants are 

 now confined to the shady recesses of the moun- 

 tains, their lowest limit not being less than ten 

 thousand feet high. He has driven stakes in 

 these glaciers and recorded their position, and 

 he makes occasional visits to them, to observe 

 their progress. Their movements are usually 

 very slow, in many cases not more than an inch 

 per day, regulated in a great measure by the 

 steepness of the channel in which they slide. He 

 sometimes passes the winter in the Yosemite 

 Valley, and even there he is practically impris- 

 oned during several months, on account of snow, 

 which accumulates to such a depth as to make 

 travelling impossible. He invited me to make 

 an excursion with him for a couple of weeks and 

 visit some of his glaciers, but I was accompany- 

 ing a large party, and was reluctant to leave 



