SAVE THE REDWOODS* 



JOHN MUIR f 



NOTE: In his intimate acquaintance with nature John Muir recognized 1 //\ 

 and loved everything that was natural and honest, but his interest focused 

 upon the things which represented the most splendid expressions of creative 

 power. Not only did he instinctively select for close personal companionship 

 the elements of nature that had most to give for him but, as no other western 

 naturalist has done, he set forth their fullest meaning in the language of the 

 people. 



Of all Muir's special interests in nature it is probable that none made 

 to him a stronger appeal than the giant Sequoias of the Sierra and Coast 

 Eange forests. It was his firm conviction that they represented the supremest 

 examples of majesty among all living things, and his journey around the 

 earth to compare the Big Trees with the trees of the world left him with 

 settled conviction regarding the correctness of this view. For many years 

 he gave himself to the protection of these ''Kings of the forest, the noblest 

 of a noble race." At this time of national movement for the preservation of 

 these forests through the Save-the-Eedwoods League, it is particularly fitting 

 that we present the sentiments written years ago, in support of just such a 

 movement by the friend who fought so hard, so faithfully, and so long in this 

 good cause. JOHN CAMPBELL MERRIAM, Chairman, Executive Committee of 

 the Save-the-Eedwoods League. 



WE are often told that the world is going from bad to 

 worse, sacrificing everything to mammon. But this right- 

 eous uprising in defense of God's trees in the midst of exciting 

 politics and wars is telling a different story, and every Sequoia, 

 I fancy, has heard the good news and is waving its branches 

 for joy. The wrongs done to trees, wrongs of every sort, are 

 done in the darkness of ignorance and unbelief, for when light 

 comes the heart of the people is always right. Forty-seven 

 years ago one of these Calaveras King Sequoias was laboriously 

 cut down, that the stump might be had for a dancing-floor. 

 Another, one of the finest in the grove, more than three hundred 

 feet high, was skinned alive to a height of one hundred and 



* Found among Muir's papers after his death and now published for 

 the first time. 



415017 



