The John Muir Newsletter, Winter 2004/2005

Newsletter UNiVfeftsnY or the Pacific, Stockton, cA Volume 15, Number 1 Winter 2004/2005 Black Sheep of the in Muir\u27s Motivations for Yosemite National hi] Jeimij Krone ERRA: GREAT! Park (he expansive 760,000-acre Yosemite National Park consists of meadows, forests, and mountains that presently awe over three million visitors annually.1 Yosemite Valley became the second national park in 1890 after an intense nationwide conflict that most tourists neglect to acknowledge when scaling the glacial-smoothened sides of Half Dome or navigating woodlands of sugar pines and giant sequoias. John Muir, a foremost figure in the early conservation movement, spearheaded the proposal and eventually succeeded against the powerful tourism and timber industries. Muir felt impassioned to save Yosemite from degradation by humans because he shared an affinity with the blessed dell, woods, gardens, streams, birds, squirrels, lizards and a thousand other inhabitants in the valley.2 Although Hetch Hetchy is recognized by historians as Muir\u27s most famous battle, the fight for Yosemite was the first significant dilemma he encountered.3 Muir\u27s motivations for the creation of Yosemite National Park were derived from his experiences and observations of the valley over the decades since his initial arrival in California in 1868. He voyaged to the west coast from New York and proceeded inland to the Sierra Nevada Mountains, reaching Yosemite to see the big trees he had heard of during his travels. Sheep in the Sierra.(Photo courtesy of the John Muir Papers, Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library. Copyright 1984 Muir-Hanna Trust) Muir\u27s experiences as a sheepherder in the Sierra in the summer of 1869 formed the foundation of his cause for preserving Yosemite in the late 1880s. As he resided in the valley for an extended period from 1868 to 1874 and visited numerous times over the next decades, he witnessed the evolution of capitalistic exploitation of the valley: the maniacal tourism industry that seemed to replicate exponentially over the valley floor, the harvesting of sequoias, pines, and redwoods that survived everything except man over hundreds of years, and the cattle and sheep that consumed every blade and bush in their destructive path. It was the latter of these evils that pushed Muir to preserve Yosemite by transferring management of this special place from state to federal guardianship. This study explores Muir\u27s thinking on Yosemite by assessing the articles that he published as well as his unpublished private journals and correspondence. Muir\u27s trip to Yosemite with Robert Underwood Johnson in June 1888 instigated his battle to protect Yosemite, which culminated in success with passage of the Vandever Bill in 1890 that created Yosemite National Park. The valley was previously protected under the Yosemite Grant from 1864 to 1890 as a reserve. A Board of Commissioners managed the small state park that was only fifteen miles in length and one (Continued on page 5) page 1 NeWs 4 Motes. California State Quarter Muir Event on University of the Pacific Campus California\u27s new quarter, featuring naturalist John Muir, Yosemite\u27s Half Dome and a soaring condor is now being minted as part of a 10-year, 50-state quarters program conducted by the U.S. Mint. On February 9, 2005, University of the Pacific\u27s John Muir Center, in conjunction with the Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections held a Muir Coin celebration with coin designer Garrett Burke and his family on campus. The festivities began with a most interesting presentation by the Burkes as they described how they came up with the quarter design. The presentation was followed by a reception complete with cakes decorated to look like the new quarter. Entertainment was provided by a 10-member Dixieland-style band directed by John Muir\u27s grandson, Ross Hanna. Clan Cijrrie Society Celebrates The Life and Legacy of John Muir on Ellis Island Clan Currie\u27s Annual Tartan Day Celebration this year focused on the Scots-bom father of America\u27s national parks . The Society has produced a new exhibit in honor of John Muir. In partnership with the National Park Service, Clan Currie, along with Scottish and American dignitaries had opening ceremonies on April 1, 2005 for the new Tartan Day exhibit, the first to be produced completely by the Clan Currie Society. Hilary Buchanan Boiler, a historian with the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, served as principal researcher and author. The Clan Currie Society also formed an advisory panel including participation from the John Muir National Historic Site in Martinez, CA, the John Muir Birthplace Trust in Dunbar, Scotland, the Sierra Club in San Francisco, CA and the John Muir Trust in Edinburgh, Scotland. The exhibit is free to all visitors of the Ellis Island Immigration Museum and will run into May. John Muir\u27s Birthday Celebration also Celebrates Earth Day After a three-year hiatus, Earth Day is returning to Contra Costa County with an added attraction: the celebration of the 167lh birthday anniversary of John Muir. The free event will be staged by the John Muir Association in Partnership with John Muir National Historic Site from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 23 at Muir\u27s picturesque estate, a unit of the National Park Service (4202 Alhambra Avenue just off Highway 4) in Martinez, CA. The Muir home will be open to visitors. More than 35 groups dedicated to conservation will participate in the festivities under the theme Celebrate the man who celebrated the earth. Were it not for John Muir\u27s passion for the natural wonders of his adopted country, it is likely many of them would not be here for us to enjoy, said Mary O\u27Hara-Zimmerman, chair of the celebration. Generations owe a debt of gratitude to John Muir and others like him whenever they visit Yosemite, hike through the Sierra Nevada, or visit a national park. He\u27s inspired every-day kind of people to take on monumental efforts for the sake of preservation, conservation and education. Earth Day visitors will be treated to music, a barbecue and other food while learning how to care for the earth from a variety of exhibits and demonstrations. Topics include conservation efforts, solar energy, alternative forms of transportation, recycling, and composting. Those attending the celebration will also have an opportunity to obtain the new California quarter depicting a likeness of Muir. Garrett Burke, who designed the coin, will be present to discuss his concept for the design. It\u27s hard to say if the quarter will translate into more visits, but it\u27s certainly translating into a higher profile and interest in Muir, said David Blackburn, chief of interpretation at the Muir site. It still surprises me when people come in here and say, \u27Who is this John Muir?\u27 We\u27re all hoping it serves as a catalyst for people as they put that quarter into a parking meter or a pinball machine or laundry machine. **************************************fc********* Mountain Days Mountain Days, the outdoor musical epic about the lives and loves of the great naturalist, John Muir, is going to play again this summer: Aug 3-7, 2005 at the Muir Amphitheatre in Martinez. There are new windscreens, fencing, box office, concessions building, picnic tables and a great show. At the amphitheatre, the Willow Theatre is also presenting an Independence Day weekend celebration featuring the companion piece to Muir, Sacagawea - symphonic suite and a production of The Sound of Music. It all starts July 1st and runs thru Aug 7. For more information, call (925) 798-1300 or visit www.willowstheatre.org **************************************************** The John Muir ILETTER Volume 15, Number 1 Winter 2004/2005 Published Quarterly by The John Muir Center for Environmental Studies University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA 95211 ♦ STAFF ♦ Director W.R. Swagerty Editor W.R. Swagerty Production assistant Marilyn Norton Unless otherwise noted, ail photographic reproductions are courtesy of the John Muir Papers, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections University of the Pacific Libraries. Copyright 19S4 Muir-Hanna Trust This Newsletter is printed on recycled paper « page 2 One Minute Mystery: Investigating John Muir\u27s Temperature Notation By Michael Wurtz Archivist, Holt-Atherton Special Collections University of the Pacific Library Archivists, like detectives, often find themselves unexpectedly on the trail of a mystery. Recently, a researcher called to ask about an unusual temperature-notation symbol in an essay called Alaska, torn John Muir\u27s Nature Writings (published by The Library of America, 1997). In this essay, Muir describes the climate of Alaska generally and the temperature specifically. He writes, July was the brightest month of the summer with fourteen days of sunshine, six of them in uninterrupted succession, with a temperature of about 60° Fah.; maximum at 12 M., 70°. The average 7 A.M. temperature for June was 54° 33\u27; 12 M., 57° 13\u27. The average 7 A.M. temperature for July was 55°93\u27; 12 M., 61° 75\u27. The average 7 A. M. temperature for August was 54° 20\u27: 12 M., 61° 83\u27. The average 7 A.M. temperature for September was 52° 23\u27 12 M., 56° 21\u27. The highest temperature observed here during the summer was 76°. The question was this: what unit of measurement was John Muir representing with the small tick mark he used after certain numbers? It looks much like a minute symbol, but temperature isn\u27t usually recorded in minutes. So, I set off in search of some answers. Rounding Up the Usual Suspects The obvious starting place for my search was to look at the original publication to see whether the book publisher might have inaccurately transcribed the passage. I checked John Muir: A Reading Bibliography by William and Maymie Kimes. I found that the passage in question first appeared in print in San Francisco\u27s Daily Evening Bulletin on November 8, 1879, in an article written from Fort Wrangel entitled Alaska Climate. Some Popular Errors Corrected - A Good Country to Live In. An Alaska Summer Day - Glorious Sunsets. Bright and Cloudy Weather - Rainfall - Temperature - Alaska Winters. The original article clearly showed those same tick marks, ruling out the possibility that they came from the book publisher. So, might the newspaper have introduced this notation? Did newspapers from that time typically record temperature to fractions of a degree? A quick check of the Stockton newspapers from that same era, and my recollections of other newspapers contemporary to Muir\u27s time, revealed that temperature information was generally not included - let alone fractions thereof. Therefore, we can probably conclude that the paper published the notation as Muir wrote it. So, I went to Muir\u27s notes and journals to seek clues as to how he measured or recorded temperature information on that trip, but I found no information about these observations. In fact, I found it quite odd that there appear to be no references to temperature observations in his journals and notebooks from Alaska. But hold that thought. Confronted with these dead ends, I decided it was time for some educated guesswork. Hunches and Speculations It never hurts to take a step back and question your basic assumptions at times like these. Might Muir have been indicating something other than fractions of temperature with his tick marks - maybe a different type of climatic observation, such as humidity? I gave some thought to this possibility, but soon realized that humidity averages would be unlikely to vary as much as the numbers Muir recorded (which range from 13\u27 to 93\u27) in the coastal areas where Muir spent most of his time. Back to temperature, then. Reminded that the temperature values were averages, I wondered whether the averaging process might explain the fractional portions of the numbers. Might Muir have recorded daily temperatures as whole numbers, but expressed the monthly averages with fractional remainders? I discussed this idea with Ron Wurtz, a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (who also happens to be my brother). After doing some calculations, he pointed out that Muir\u27s average temperature for September, 52° 23\u27, couldn\u27t be the result of averaging whole numbers: If you sum only whole numbers and divide by 30, you will never get a fractional remainder of 21. And, for the 31 -day months, there is no way to get 75 or 20 [the fractional portion of the averages for July and August, respectively] from whole numbers. So, his thermometer must have been precise to fractions of a degree. If the numbers preceding the tick marks were fractions, what fractional portion of a degree did they represent? Could they be read as minutes - that is, smaller increments of 1/60 \u27 of a degree - much as degrees of longitude and latitude are divided by 60 minutes? Well, no, since some of the recorded numbers are higher than 60. Therefore, these numbers cannot be considered minutes in the traditional sense, but we will continue to call them minutes for lack of a better term. The next obvious question is: did Muir\u27s minutes represent increments of 1/100* of a degree? Hundredths of a degree would be a logical size for smaller increments, and the fact that the highest recorded minute measurement is 93\u27 fits with this theory. Of course, if this interpretation is correct, it seems a little odd that Muir wouldn\u27t have used decimal notation instead (for example, writing 55.93° instead of 55° 93\u27), as it seems simpler and more practical. Might he have actually used decimal notation, but a typesetter at the newspaper opted for tick marks instead? Or might he have been predisposed to think in terms of minutes instead of decimals by the measurement system he was using? How did he measure temperature, anyway? Time for more research... Real-World Clues Having decided that the l/lOO 1 of a degree explanation was the most likely one for Muir\u27s minutes, I needed to consider whether a real-world scenario could support this explanation. What sort of instrument could Muir have carried into the wilds of Alaska to measure such accurate temperatures? My brother Ron suggested that if the minute marks were 1 mm apart, then for 100 degrees, Muir would have needed a mercury thermometer 10 meters long. It\u27s possible his thermometer was one of those coiled ones, but it would have had to be about 4 inches in page 3 diameter with 30 turns. However, I realized that Muir probably wouldn\u27t have used a glass thermometer, since so much of his work was in rugged terrain where such an instrument would need special handling. Needing further clues, I investigated Muir\u27s writings in greater depth and came across the following passage in Story of My Boyhood: One of my inventions was a large thermometer made of an iron rod, about three feet long and five eighths of an inch in diameter, that had formed part of a wagon-box. The expansion and contraction of this rod was multiplied by a series of levers made of strips of hoop iron. The pressure of the rod against the levers was kept constant by a small counterweight, so that the slightest change in the length of the rod was instantly shown on a dial about three feet wide multiplied about thirty-two thousand times. This combined thermometer, hygrometer, barometer, and pyrometer appears in The Stoiy Of My Boyhood And Youth. This too seems a bit too delicate to carry up a glacier, but it shows Muir\u27s ability to make instruments that are quite precise and perhaps puzzling to anyone but Muir. who posed the question to me suggested, these unusual notations simply confirm Muir\u27s independent nature. I had all but given up trying to understand what exactly this notation was until I found in a notebook where Muir had designated two and half miles with 2°5 miles. Perhaps due to his European ancestry, he recorded decimals with a degree-like signs — and the newspaper decided to add the minutes for lack of understanding Muir\u27s meaning. Serendipity Reveals an Answer Like most written history, much of the mystery was solved long after I completed this article. In a typical serendipitous moment, I found a reference to Climate of South Eastern Alaska in The Guide and Index to the Microform Edition of the John Muir Papers. Sure enough, I found Muir\u27s draft article to the Daily Evening Bulletin{x (Continued from page 1) mile in width. However, Muir desired an enlarged and federally- managed park. Muir\u27s attitudes toward domesticated sheep, informed by years of direct observation, ultimately motivated him to lobby for federal protection and enlargement of the Yosemite Grant in the late 1880s. Muir\u27s life in the decade prior to the Yosemite conflict countermarched from mountaineering to childrearing. Muir\u27s daily routine in the early 1880s was characterized by domesticity rather than rambling botanical excursions. He married in 1880 and settled into family life with his wife, Louie Wanda Strentzel. By 1885 he was fathering two young daughters, Annie Wanda and Helen Muir, on the rolling Martinez, California ranch. Muir successfully managed the family\u27s profitable fruit crops despite his outward appearance as an unsophisticated farmer with his long, unkempt beard and socially awkward mannerisms.4 Although Muir\u27s health regressed during this time, possibly due to his absence from wild places, settling into civilized society instead of granite boulders and pine groves exposed Muir to new political ideas. Muir gained political awareness as he read books in the sizeable Strentzel family library and controversial articles published in Bay Area newspapers. Muir examined political theories including nonsocialist alternatives to the free market and the ideas of political reformers such as Henry George and John Ruskin, but he rarely picked up ideas from these political models and individuals.5 As his political consciousness emerged, he realized that nature could not be adequately protected by the current economic system as private interests and profits would ultimately prevail in most cases, especially since industries such as the railroad tended to buy legislation in their favor. Devastation was occurring in many of his beloved mountains and forests, including Mount Shasta, Mount Rainier, and the Yosemite Valley, for which protective legislation was stalled or ignored, as in the case of Yosemite. Yosemite received some protection from private exploitation under the Yosemite Grant of 1864, but the Reserve was small and mismanaged. The Yosemite Grant was enacted for the same reasons Muir wanted federal protection of Yosemite almost thirty years later: preservation for protection of scenic values and the pleasure of the people as a whole.6 Private exploitation in the valley was threatening its trees, taking away scenic landscape that was supposed to be enjoyed by everyone. Passed in June of 1864, the Grant designated the valley as a natural preserve estimated to be fifteen miles in length and one mile in width.7 The Grant consisted of two parts, protecting the valley as well as the Mariposa Big Tree Grove upon the express conditions that the premises shall be held for public use ... and shall be inalienable for all time. 8 Rules and regulations were established for the government of the Yosemite Reserve, which was controlled by a Board of Commissioners that was appointed by the state government. Landscape architect Frederick Olmsted served as the functional head of the board in its early years, drawing up a comprehensive management plan for California\u27s first state park.9 Only the Commission could approve residence or privilege to transact business in the valley, but it experienced difficulty in eradicating already existing hotels, cabins, and private claims on the valley floor. The Commission controlled the valley for the next few decades, albeit in very poor manner, as evident by the degradation inside and outside the Yosemite Reserve that was apparent by the late 1880s. Muir entertained the idea of enacting legislation to protect natural wonders in the late 1880s as he became aware of the ravaging effects of tourism, logging, and overgrazing in the West. Muir was mostly absent from wilderness travel during the 1880s, although he managed a voyage to Alaska in 1881 before the birth of his first daughter, and in 1885 he took a brief excursion to Yellowstone. In 1888, after seven years of ranching and raising children, Muir decided to rejuvenate his soul on a trip to the Pacific Northwest with his friend and Alaska companion, Hall Young.10 Muir stopped at Mount Shasta on the way, a sizeable foe that attempted to take his life in 1875, and lamented at the clear-cutting of old growth forests by the industrial world he had abandoned some two decades earlier. Muir pondered protection of these threatened wilderness areas upon his return to Martinez and so decided to retrieve his pen and retire to his den to write on the environmental devastation occurring in the West. As Muir dabbled in the ink bottle to gain public awareness of the problem, he found a worthy ally - or rather he found Muir. Robert Underwood Johnson, editor of the Century Magazine from 1873 to 1909, became interested in Muir in the 1880s for his literary genius and his popularity among American readers. A bespectacled man with a short salt-and-pepper beard below a slightly curved nose, Johnson feared that Muir had abandoned literature altogether, so he proceeded to meet with the solitary Scot in 1889 upon a rare visit to California in an effort to coax Muir to hasten his pen.12 Acc