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John Muir (1968-12-01)
About this film
Many of Americas policies on conservation of parks and natural sites can be traced to the interest of John Muir, a Scottish born writer and conservationist whose family settled in Wisconsin when he was only a child. For John Muir nature was a religion and his worship of Americas sprawling beauty is reflected in his writings. In the summer of 1868 when he was in his thirties, Muir saw Yosemite Valley, and its grandeur moved him to write in rhythmic prose, The noble wallsculptured into endless variety of domes and gables, spires, and battlements and plain mural precipices all a-tremble with the thunder tones of falling water. But John Muir did more than just write about nature. In 1903, the threat that Yosemite National Park might be destroyed by powerful lumber industry became a national issue. President Theodore Roosevelt decided to go west and get the facts for himself. His first night in Yosemite, President Roosevelt camped out with John Muir. The following morning the President and Muir rode horseback up a trail to Glacier Point where, as Muir was to say later, I stuffed him pretty well regarding the timber thieves and the destructive work of the lumber men and other spoilers of…
Directors & creators
National Educational Television and Radio Center
Subjects
public broadcasting, AAPB, John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt, Frederick Gonsky, Yosemite National Park, University of Wisconsin, conservation movement, environmental protection, natural history, Sierra Nevada, forestry policy, wilderness preservation, American transcendentalism, nature writing, Wisconsin, Scotland
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