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JOHN
MUIR AND FRIENDS
by
Cliff
Anderson
It seems clear that the modest and reserved personality of John Muir was the complete opposite of Teddy Roosevelt, yet here they are in
1903, standing together atop Yosemite looking at Glacier Point.
Doesn't it seem likely
that TR stage managed that photo, making sure that he was the one next to the edge and posing fist on hip? Could Muir be chuckling to himself, biting
his tongue from making some caustic remark, or maybe just indulging the President, since he was assured of TR's tremendous influence and assistance
to the cause? Muir looks uncomfortable, as if he was dragooned into posing for anything, let alone
with the boisterous President. Muir might have been galled by the basic difference between their personalities. Muir captured animals on his
sketchpad, while the braggadocious big game hunting Roosevelt hung their trophy heads in his den (over 250 heads from his 1910 trip alone!).
Yet both Muir and Roosevelt were key factors in the national park initiative
and momentum, starting with Yosemite, and the resultant conservation and
wilderness preservation efforts.
The Sierra Club, which Muir founded in 1892, is a connection between other
giants of conservation, most especially classic photographer (especially of
Yosemite) Ansel Adams. Since he was born in 1902, Adams wouldn't have
known Muir or Teddy Roosevelt, but he connected with Roosevelt's relative and
later President FDR (or at least with his administration) in 1936 when pressing
for more conservation reforms. Though
nothing appears in any of his writings, Adams might have wondered what possible
connections he could have made if he had been born 20 years younger, maybe even
to have taken the photo of Roosevelt and Muir on Glacier Point.
Muir was honored in this 1998 32 cent commemorative stamp.
Coincidentally,
Teddy Roosevelt also was commemorated the same year in a separate stamp.
Note the striking difference in the manner and appearance of the two men.
As we 1956 Muir grads remember, one of our rivals was Glendale's Burroughs HS.
It turns out that Burroughs HS was named for another significant naturalist and
writer, John Burroughs. 
And
Burroughs knew and was friends with John Muir. Here's a photo of Muir and
Burroughs.
Look how much they resemble each other. Burroughs
described Muir as ìa poet and almost a Seerî.
John
Burroughs 1837-1921 and John Muir 1838-1912
Burroughs
also befriended Teddy Roosevelt and
actually camped in Yellowstone
together, and
Burroughs was Teddyís guest in the White House.
\Here's
Burroughs with other famous notables, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Harvey
Firestone.
With that kind of association, one canít help but believe that Burroughs
influenced Firestone for his support for preservation.
Muir must have
tried to do the same thing with Andrew Carnegie.
Here they are meeting at the Maryland Hotel in Pasadena and doesnít Muir
look like he made a coup? 
So
here are Muir and Burroughs, arguably the most significant naturalists on their
era, hobnobbing with at least these two archetype robber-barons.
(Firestone was called a ìrubber baronî since he made the tires).
Could another mogul, Henry Huntington, who lived near to that hotel in Pasadena,
in what became the Huntington Library, have also been approached by Muir?
Itís hard to imagine any starker contrasts in the lifestyles of these men: Carnegie looks like the super rich, living in five star hotels, dining on caviar and escargot, vs. Muirís preferring hard tack, campfire coffee and sleeping on the ground in the wild.
Itís interesting to learn of
these interconnections between our schoolís namesake and significant
historical figures.
John Muir, weíre proud of you!
Cliff Anderson can be reached at: cliff38@earthlink.net
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