To the Memory of John Muir 



147 



One often hears Muir spoken of as an authority on the ani- 

 mal life of the mountains. This is an error. For while he liked 

 to see birds and mammals in the wilderness and about his camps, 

 he rarely troubled himself to learn their proper names and re- 

 lationships. Now and then a particular species impressed itself 

 sufficiently upon his attention to appear in his writings, and in a 

 few instances to form the subject of a special article or chap- 

 ter. His accounts of the water-ouzel and Sierra red squirrel — 

 which latter he confused with the Douglas squirrel of the coast 

 — are real contributions to natural history, abounding in origi- 

 nal observations, full of sympathy, and charmingly told. But 

 for scientific study of the great army of small birds and mam- 

 mals he cared little. Plants, on the other hand, were always dear 

 to him; he knew the names of hundreds of species and could 

 tell at what altitude and in what situation each was likely to 

 be found. 



He had a strong mechanical bent, was fond of machinery, 

 quick to grasp principles of mechanics, and was familiar with 

 the various applications of power. He loved to study the forces 

 of nature, and was one of the first to recognize the part played 

 by ice in sculpturing mountains, cafions, and valleys. 



In 1870 or 1 87 1 Muir took my father to Clouds Rest, from 

 which lofty outlook he pointed with enthusiasm and conviction 

 to the several channels through which deep rivers of ice had 

 found their way before uniting to form the glacier that had 

 plowed out and shaped Yosemite Valley. And later, when 

 traveling together in the upper Tuolumne and Mokelumne re- 

 gions, he often surprised me by the extent of his knowledge of 

 the depth of the former glaciers and the details of ice action in 

 those parts. It is a pity that his early studies of the ancient 

 glaciers of the Sierra were not recorded in permanent form, but 

 a matter of congratulation that his observations of those of 

 Alaska have finally been published.* 



Muir was a great talker, but not a loud talker. And although 

 he usually monopolized the conversation, he was listened to 



* See "On the Glaciation of the Arctic and Sub-Arctic Regions visited by the 

 United States Steamer 'Corwin' in the year 1881." In U. S. Senate documents, 48th 

 Congress, ist session. Vol. 8, No. 204, pp. 135-147. 



"Notes on the Pacific Coast Glaciers." In Harriman Alaska Expedition. Vol. i, 

 PP- 1 19-135- 1901. 



"Travels in Alaska." 1915. 



