History tv, sierra Club Volunteer discussing the legend of conservation os x naturalist john muir, often considered the father of the National Park system and had a large role in creating yosemite. This was hosted by the California Historical society as part of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the wilderness act. A huget of all, what pleasure it is for me tonight be able to play a really small role. I will keep my speech to less than two hours. We rarely want to hear harold tonight which will give us an incredible journey through his life, legacy, and that legacy lives on and is stronger now than ever. He will give us an incredible journey through john muirs life. That legacy is stronger than ever. Im looking forward to hearing you talk. I promise to be relatively brief here and just say a few words of welcome. And thank you all for coming. I want to say that i really am a huge fan of the two organizations that had us here tonight. The California Historical society, what a great place for great work that is preserving our cultural and historic heritage here in california. And the partner, the sierra club. For all of the great work it has been doing since 1892 to protect our Natural Landscapes here and throughout the nation. What a legacy. A couple of quick questions, how many of you have been to yosemite before . That is good. How about sequoia . Kings canyon . Lets not leave those guys out. Sequoia is our second National Park. Without his work we wouldnt have those places to celebrate and enjoy. I just want to say a few personal words. This is a big year of celebration. 50 years of the wilderness act and the leg he is incredible. My family on my moms side, they were a little lazier then john was. They waited until a Transcontinental Railroad was completed then bought a ticket and came out come of getting in as early as the 1870s. He came in a bit earlier than that. They lived, most of their time, in costa county. I fantasized they saw john frequently in route to yosemite and they went up to yosemite themselves in the late 19th century. It was only a few moments ago in the grand historic reach of time that he was keyer and making a huge difference in our lives then and now. It is appropriate we are gathered here tonight, just shy of the centennial of his passing, which was Christmas Eve of 1914. We have so much to talk about tonight and think about what john your john muir has given us since. My moment that gave me the gift and gift of an incredible childhood. My mom would be 105 years old tonight. I am dedicating whatever i have to say to my mom. My earliest memories are of being in the mountains on the ease side and west side and westside and upanddown and all around. I cant remember when i could not have passion for the outdoors and for nature. Fresno was pretty darn cool. Write to the east of us, a couple of hours was sequoia and teens canyon. To the north of us was yosemite. I truly believed that was my own personal National Park. I had to open up to the fact that in the 50s i trampled more medals than i care to remember, just being there. I felt i got to to grow up in the light of john muir. I o him personally a great debt of gratitude for all of the inspiration i oh him personally a great debt of gratitude for all his inspiration. As i was growing up i went on to live and work all over the country. For the last 45 years i have worked at the intersection of the media, mostly tv. Following him john muir following in john yours footsteps. He must have been one of the greatest athletes of the 19th century. His ability to saunter and climb glaciers and get into the backcountry of Southeast Alaska and all of these places he went all over the world, twitterverse interpret them and care about them and help protect them. I lived in alaska for a long time and was still deeply involved. John muir went into alaska in the late 1870s, 1880s, 1890s, the first anglo european to sort of get into the glaciers. Many of you read his stories of adventure and discovery in that landscape all those years ago. 1899 he was on board the harem expedition. How many of you saw Butch Cassidy and the sundance kid . The trains they kept robbing he was a railroad person. The writings of meurer and the advocacy of muir played an instrumental role to begin the protection of the national forest. It became the largest forest inside the United States, still at risk and still battles being fought. We have our own personal specific memories. It is extraordinary to think about where he traveled, what he did, and the sierra club. And those that followed him in spirit to build on those early years. Harold is going to cover so much of this, so i dont want to step on this. I do want to mention a couple of things. I do have a few notes i wanted to remind myself to say to you. When i look at the bay area i traveled and lived in alaska. 31 years ago this month my wife and i had our first baby child. We decided it was time to come back to california. For me it was this gift of coming back and rediscover a place i dealt i knew really well that i felt i knew very well. Rediscover a place i felt i knew really well with fresh eyes. It tied with my values and my interests to john muir and the sierra club. Was great to come back and see all of this and recognize in the year subsequent to his death people i had to meet people i got to meet like ansell adams and many others. They worked so hard, creating the wilderness act, pushing it forward. Becky evans played a special role in protecting the bay from utter destruction. The largest collection of protected public lands and open spaces, any major urban region on earth, 1. 2 million acres. Maybe 1. 3, i lose track. It is growing. That is an extraordinary legacy. It goes back to all of the decades of work and labor that so many people provided. We have all of these things we get to benefit from. The National Park service idea deeply rooted right here in california. John muir, at the center of that whole concept. We have william kent. In 1908 the National Monument which is now part of the golden gate recreation area, one of the first National Parks created right where people live. Now you can trace that dna back. The university of california deeply connected to the establishment of the National Park service is. All of these connections, these ideas that took root here and grew, it is an amazing legacy that we get to benefit from right here. And then especially the wilderness that we are focusing on here today. John muir, the great passionate voice and advocate for wilderness, far ahead of his time. Here er in 1964, the work of the sierra club and others. And california, right at the front of support of that. They have been at the center of innovation. A very long time. Vicki, back here so far. Lets see here. California has more wilderness areas than any other state in the nation. We have 149 of the 758 National Wilderness areas right here in california. Alaska, my old stomping grounds, has more acreage. It is a little larger. By the way, we have to thank the sierra club and some others for making that possible, when they worked throughout the 1970s. Late december, 1980, weeks before Ronald Reagan took on the job, they were able to get passed and signed by jimmy carter the National Alaska conservation act, the largest conservation act in human industry, protecting 104 million acres, the site the size of the state of california. Doubling our wildlife refuge system. An amazing thing. It roots back to the sierra club, roots back to john muir. We have 15 of our land mass in california as wilderness. We are only 1 behind alaska. That is not bad. California is very close. California is also one of the only states that has its own state designated wilderness areas that grew out of the federal designations of 1964. We have taken this idea, 50 years old, and put it to ground here in california. We have 12 wilderness areas officially designated as a california state park. And then in the region here, the Regional Park district, largest Regional Park district in the world, 100 14,000 acres, it has three designated wilderness areas. Right near where john muirs historic home is. Not just land but water, the wilderness area is now celebrating its aquatic its 40th anniversary this year. We have all that and a whole up more as a result of john muir and his gifts to us in california. Enough from me. I could go on for a long time but i am really looking forward to hearing harold wood. He has a great thing to tell us about. A great story to take us and tell us about john muir. He lives right here near fresno. He had that Great Outdoor backyard i used to have. He is chair of the meurer of the john muir education team. He also chairs the Educational Programs in you 70 in yosemite. He is also curator of the john muir exhibit and master of its website on the sierra club. He answers questions. Harold basically answers questions from young people of all ages constantly about john muir. He is a walking encyclopedia of his life and legacy. He doesnt just chronicle john beer, he is an environmental activist himself john muir, he is an environmental activist himself. He was very involved in helping to promote and create, through his efforts, wilderness areas in the state of washington, including clearwater. It turns out, parenthetically, washington is third behind alaska and california for division of land mass and wilderness areas it is 10 in washington. Harold, thanks for your efforts in helping you get to that number. Harold is going to take us on an incredible journey tonight here inside yosemite, down a virtual john muir trail. Harold, its all yours. [applause] good evening, everyone. As i have worked since 1994, maintaining the sierra clubs website, im constantly reminded how john muir is as relevant today as he was 100 years ago. Every day i am notified by google news of an article mentioning john beer. Every week i received a steady stream of emails with questions and requests about john muir. 100 years after his death, john muir is still well known for his ability to inspire many people from all over the world, all nationalities, to experience and care about the natural world. Imagine my surprise when someone sent me an article today from the los angeles times, questioning the relevance of john muir today. The author said we do not need wilderness because hispanics dont go to yosemite. Not my experience. A set john muir only expires only inspires wilderness areas. As we heard he inspired many local urban parks as well. They created a strawman vision of john muir that is historically inaccurate and failed to completely to complete and accurate per trail of his inspiration around the world today. Accurate portrayal of his inspiration around the world today. I think we will respond adequately to the misinformation of that article. In any case, the last few years provides many examples of the continuing inspiration of john muir. The categories i would like to cover include international inspiration, land protection, education, and the arts. 2014 is the anniversary of many events related to wilderness, National Parks, and force protection. To me and forest protection. To me, a key event, it is 100 years after john muir died after losing a battle to save hetch hetchy. We can celebrate the 50th anniversary of the wilderness act today only because the legacy of john muir and his followers. In many ways celebrating that wilderness the wilderness act is not about ager. It is more fundamentally about people. Even though john muir lived before organized efforts for legislative wilderness preservation systems, his own efficacy for wildlands laid the groundwork for public support for future wilderness legislation. Today we find that john muir is becoming more and more a global inspiration as his life is celebrated increasingly throughout the u. S. , his birthplace in scotland, and elsewhere. Of course, this is nothing new for the california historic society. The society came up with 50 nominees considered as the top 10 greatest californians. A committee of 17 historians selected these nominees. A poll was conducted of society members, and john muir was chosen as the overall number one greatest californian. Not to be outdone, the scots decided to be the sided to have a pulled about the greatest scott. They did decided to have a poll about the greatest scot. They included many patriots of scotland. Well, john muir did not win this exercise, but title went to his favorite poet. So he really won. Robert burns. John muir would have approved. He treasured burns all of his life. In writing about robert burns, john muir could wax elegantly when he was describing trees or glaciers. He wrote, his lessons of divine love and sympathy to humanity, which he preached in his poems and sent forth whitehot from his heart, has gone ringing and singing around the globe, stirring the hearts of every nation and race. So no wonder the appreciation for john muir in the land of his birth is increasing. This is part of scotlands homecoming celebration. The country celebrated a yearlong john muir festival, with a series of special events, programs, and enterprises, all focused on bringing john muir home to his birthplace in scotland. One of their major efforts was to establish a walking and cycling route in scotland named in john muirs honor. They were going to call it the john muir trail, but realized that could be confused with the wilderness route in sierra, california. Instead it goes across the middle of scotland, including many of the urban areas. The john muir way stretches 134 miles across scotlands heartland, running from the west to his birthplace in dunbar on the east coast. The walking and hiking trail is only one of the many efforts in scotland this year to bring home his legacy. Numerous publications sought to remind people that john muir so often taught of that john muir, so often thought of as american and californian, was born and raised in scotland. There was even a National Conference in scotland about parks and protected areas that was named the john muir conference. I am told all of the keynote speakers quoted john muir favorably in some way or another. It has taken some years of efforts in scotland to remind the scottish that john muir was born in a small seacoast fishing village of dunbar. After two decades, that reminder has become effective. The john muir birth placed birthplace trust, a citizens group, have worked hard to remind people of scotland and many visitors from the United States about john muir as a scottish environmental hero. Indeed john muirs first climbing experiences run the Dunbar Castle ruins. Was born in the small White Building on the left. Later he moved to the larger house on the right. The smaller building was renovated in 2003 to a Museum Dedicated to john muirs life and work. It has thousands of visitors every year. In 2012 they counted 100,000 visitors is the museum open. It includes many great exhibits on three stories, designed to inform visitors and young people about the importance of john muir, and through him the importance of protecting the Natural Environment of all sizes, large and small. The john muir replace hosts numerous programs with School Groups in the community. John muir birthplace hosts and was programs with School Groups in the community. When the new Scottish Parliament building, edinburgh, was dedicated in 2004, the spirit of john euro of john muir was included. Before quotations from preeminent writers and authors of scotland were inscribed. There is an inscription from john muir, reading, the battle for conservation will go on endlessly. It is part of the universal battle between right and wrong. The closest equivalent to that attributed in the United States is the extra mile volunteer pathway in washington dc. This is a new National Monument dedicated to the spirit of volunteering in america. John muir was given a plaque on the volunteer pathway in 2009 by the points of light organization. The extensive inscription is sort of like a hollywood walk of fame. The inscription called john muir and the worldwide influence of the sierra club. He raised awareness about the fragility of the wilderness and made us mindful that in preserving it we Say Something greater than ourselves we save something greater than ourselves. The trust was established as a Membership Organization in 1983 to conserve wild land and while places in the united kingdom. Although inspired by the americas sierra club, the strategy the John Muir Trust has to work through less legislation. The John Muir Trust actually purchases wild landscapes and now owns some of the finest wild land in the highlands, mountains, and islands of scotland. The john muir award is a large part of the trust Environmental Education program. The john muir award is awarded retrospectively at an annual dinner. It is more like a College Academic certificate or scout merit badge that both young people and adults can deliberately earned by completing a series of identified tasks. The goal is to encourage people to connect with, enjoy, and care for while places, large and small. His legacy has been around scotland quite a number of years before the homecoming celebration this year. Environmental education efforts especially have focused on john muir. Booklets and curriculum seek to remind children in scotland that he is one of their own, that they would do well to follow in his footsteps. There was even a graphic novel of john muirs life published this year. Free copies were sent to every secondary school in scotland, and teacher resources are available on the web, as well as free pdf downloads of this novel. Walter a graphic novel, the book rather closely follows john muirs life pretty accurately, while simplifying and paraphrasing for a young audience. John muir at age 11 emigrated to wisconsin with his family in 1849. He was soon put to work rooting out the forest to plant crops. He fell in love with the lake near their house, where he learned to swim by watching the frogs. He admired the flowers in the meadow by the lake. When he left the farm to attend the university of wisconsin, he asked his family put a fence around the flowery meadow to keep the wildness intact. This is one of the earliest efforts of wild life preservation in the United States. The good folks in wisconsin today formed a group called wisconsin friends of john muir, who seek to separate his life and legacy equally in wisconsin. Local efforts established john muir county park next to his boyhood home site. This year and it did additional parcel was required and will eventually be owned by the u. S. Fish and wildlife service. It will detect it early 200 additional acres of high quality woodlyn, prairie, and wetland ofitats, including 38 acres land originally settled by john years father daniel, adjacent to the existing wildlife refuge in your part. Spencer black gave the keynote speech at october 15 event this year in madison wisconsin. The speech recognized that no though mere failed to preserve the land in his lifetime, successful conservation efforts have finally protected much of the landscape that inspired john your to protect it. A note that the Wisconsin Chapter is called the john your chapter. Here in Northern California we have the home that john your lived in for much of his adult life. This year is not only the 50th anniversary of the wilderness act, but also of the establishment of the john mere National Historic site in martinez. This is the home that he lived in for many years with his wife and two daughters. I wonder how many you have visited this historic site. I am always amazed how few people in the bay area have gone to the john muir historic site, it is right across the day. Please go there and encourage your friends and neighbors. More visitors from outside the bay area it is one of the on song delights of the National Park system right here in the bay area. John muir called it his study, on the second floor. This is where he wrote many of his books and articles. If the Wilderness Movement has holy ground, this is surely one of its primary temples. The John Muir Association works with the National Park service to celebrate his legacy in the bay area. It holds numerous Public Events and Educational Programs, including a mountain the summer camp where children learn firsthand about john muir and the importance of protecting wild places. These efforts are particularly important, because unlike his birthplace in scotland, there is no Visitor Center and museum with more than a couple of displays and exhibits to provide detailed information about john muirs life, just his historic home with period furnishings. Near the National Historic site, his memory is often called upon for historic land space presentations. One of the local land trusts is called the John Muir Land trust, working in costa county. Just this summer a Housing Development was proposed for 44 acres, adjacent to the National Historic site. Instead a Conservation Group bought the land and is planning to add it to the historic site. It is not only grand wild landscapes that need protecting, but also bits and pieces of wildness in our cities and urban areas. Of course tributes focused on john muir is nothing new here in california. The famous john muir woods, named after the donor of the lands, became a National Monument proclaimed by theodore roosevelt, is the bestknown redwood park in the world, owing to its close proximity to san francisco. There is a mural in santa monica. It was a proposal to remove it, it has been there since the 1970s. A vigorous and noisy campaign ensued. It is attributed to him as an environmental hero. John muir is truly a statewide and national importance. In 1989 the california legislator at his birthday, april 21, as a commemorative day. Unfortunately i have to say with some embarrassment as a californian, despite this law and Educational Program about john muir has not been integrated into the Educational Program here in california as much as it has been in scotland. However john muir is a popular topic for students writing special reports and presentations, especially for the annual National History day contest. Students are required to not nearly Research Typical secondary sources, but to identify onsite primary historic and contemporary sources. Students quite quickly saw the length of his efforts in the National Parks. The granddaddy of grand landscape preservation is yosemite National Park, celebrating its 150th anniversary of the grant to the state. We all know john muirs role about writing about yosemite, which led to the establishment of the first set of National Parks outside of yellowstone efforts for Environmental Protection and education was slated for the next several years. The Petrified Forests in arizona is one of the first National Monuments claimed by president roosevelt at john muirs urging in 1906, the same year the Antiquities Act authorized president s to proclaim such National Monuments. Since then many president s have added units to the National Park system through monument designation. Recently as National Monuments under blm or forest jurisdictions as well. The Petrified Forest is now a National Park, enlarged and established by congress in 1962. It contains a 50,000 acre wilderness established in 1970. In fact the Petrified Forest National Park, where the first units of the National Park system National Park were the first units of the system to receive their boundaries. The movement to establish National Monuments has continued. President bill clinton proclaims a giant sequoia National Monument near where i live in april of 2000. He quoted to record from john muir, saying, these domestic these Majestic Trees will continue to promote god from heaven. This a company it was the result of citizen efforts. The most recent National Monument was just proclaimed last month by president obama here in california, just north of los angeles. Send Gabriel Mountains is one of the most recent in a series of National Monuments proclaimed that almost every president since theodore roosevelt. Pinnacles National Park is our most recent National Park noted note the quotes here. Everybody needs beauty as well as bread. Places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike. This ongoing legacy through his life reminds us of the important things that one person can do. The founder said if you think about all the games our society has made, from independence to now, it was not government. It was activism. People think Teddy Roosevelt established a National Park, what a great president. It was john muir who invited roosevelt out and convinced him to ditch his security and go camping. It was near, an activist and single person. We see the idea of wilderness as important in the legacy of john muir. His successors are those who actually created our National Wilderness reservation system. One of those leaders, you all know, when asked in an interview about how he was introduced to wilderness said, through the reading of john muir. John told you about the wilderness. John muir is one of the founders of the sierra club and launched a movement that lasted well beyond his lifetime. His successors would go on to found the National Park service, the california state parks, Conservation Groups ranging from save the Redwoods League to Wilderness Society, to local land trusts and local park districts. The Wilderness Society is wellknown as a principal author of the 1964 wilderness act. He was a follower of john muir. He quoted he said accordingly it was a foregone conclusion that a wilderness area be included in the 1964 wilderness act. Im sorry, i went forward. Today, much of what he called the range of light is wilderness , thanks to his influence and that of his successors. Ken burns called our National Parks americas best idea. But that idea is the a pity me of the essence of wilderness. But yet it is wilderness preservation that is among the most controversial of issues. Not all wilderness has been preserved and protected. Just as the river flows through the yosemite river valley, the to all of the river once flowed. This view is what it looked like in his time. The last years of his life was spent in a losing battle to try to preserve this valley. In this image the top photo was taken in 1911, and the bottom in 1999. One thing is the loss did that was good is inspire a movement to prevent the same thing from happening in other National Parks. And even the grand canyon in the 50s and 60s were defeated in part due to the reference to hetch hetchy. John muirs spirit lives on. The Advocacy Group restore hetch hetchy has been working for over a decade to restore the valley. They promised to keep working as long as it takes to prove that john muir was right. And john muir still lives on in his books. Every single one of his books is still in print, with new reprints and new forwards in the last several years. Even though First Published over 100 years ago. The 100th anniversary illustrated edition of his book, my first summer in sierra, was the outdoor book winner. It is a handsome Coffee Table Book with stunning photos by scott miller of the places john muir described in his environmental classic. Furthermore, his legacy is regularly celebrated as books are being published today. These range from scholarly tomes to botanical and geographical analysis. Wonderfully illustrated childrens books. Several more are coming out next year in 2015, as usual. Other tributes are common today. More seem to be added regularly. Many know the trail that crosses high country. Completed in 1938, the project had taken 46 years to complete. William colby, the first secretary of the sierra club, called the finish trail the most important memorial to john mealer, who spent many of the best years of his life exploring the region, which will make accessible. In 1998 the postoffice released postage stamps honoring john muir. This stimulated an outpouring from stamp collectors. The u. S. Mint began distributing millions of these quarters, the california state quarter, featuring john muir. John muir is also celebrated in song and music today. I found more than one dozen songs about john muir, many recorded in the past few years. There has even been a broadway style musical about his life performed in the bay area with a run for about seven years. There is an increasing number of orchestral arrangements inspired by john muir. There are at least three orchestral pieces. Her most recent is a narrative concert performed by a string quartet, called john muirs. Many buildings are named after him as well, in california and in scotland. There are many schools throughout the United States, named after john muir. Ranging from Elementary Schools like one right here in san francisco, and the John Muir College at you see san diego. There are even numerous scientific names honoring john muir. These include not only some of the plants he collected himself and sent to the harvard have area him, but even a kind of mineral. These were given in just the fast two years, showing that john muirs legacy is still alive. He has been featured in milk cartons. That they area joined a campaign to think john muir for encouraging National Parks and wilderness areas. He is often called the wilderness profit, the patron saint of the american wilderness. I guess you guys dont want to take that literally. The use of these terms are typically metaphorical, not religious. It actually appears that at least one religious denomination is actually positive and forms a sainthood. John has been added to the list of women and men celebrating the saints by the piscopo church of america. At saint gregorys episcopal church, it is a tribute to his spirit that he is also claimed by buddhists and pagans and people of other religious persuasions as well. In 2006 the International Astronomical union announce the naming of a newly discovered minor planets in honor of john muir. This is only a tiny one mile diameter celestial body, now named john muir. It was discovered in august 2000 four by an amateur astronomer, identified by an astronomer. I think this development seems appropriate for someone who gave his address as earth. He is widely present in the digital world. Two new ipad apps came out this month. The new app features highresolution scans of two of his homes, but extensive information about john muirs life and inspiration. Another new ipad app is called explore john muirs yosemite. This includes text selections, photographs, and audio media from john muir. You can even follow him on facebook and enjoy a steady stream of his quotes each day. A Facebook Page for john muir fans often has folks discussing issues relevant to him and his legacy. We are talking about places and education. I think one of his greatest legacies is not even wilderness preservation or National Parks, but helping societies understand the characteristic of the interrelatedness of all living things. Hes a saintly summarized the meaning of ecology by artfully saying, when you try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to Everything Else in the universe. John muir may have died in 1914, but his spirit lives on in so many ways. Perhaps the best no way of connecting john muir to the present is through the continuing activity of the sierra club. The sierra club expands beyond wilderness preservation alone, given the massive threat we face of climate change. The club is not forgotten. The club has the John Muir Society to recognize largest donors. The angeles this chapter is undertaking special events. There is also a growing recognition that wilderness preservation is actually an important part of responding to climate change. It works on the john muir exhibit website and other education efforts to remind people of the inspiration john muir can provide of the efforts to protect wilderness and a heritage. Please see our website, hosted by the sierra club. Thank you. [applause] thank you very much. I want to say in my introduction i fail to mention among many things i could have, you really lead that effort in 1989, 25 years ago. Thank you so much for that. Im sure we have time for questions, dont we go dont we . If you would like to come up to this microphone, we would appreciate it so cspan can get it and we all can hear it. Herald, you dont know me but i know you. I say i know you [feedback] testing. All right. I know you because i am president of the john muir Tourism Center in coulterville. I am a teacher first, i am a teacher in coulterville. On saturday some of my students will be coming here to exhibit a film they promoted they created for the yosemite youth contest. So i have been trying to round them up to see if i can get them to come and so forth and i went on to find you are going to be here tonight. And just out of sheer determination i left school at 3 00 this afternoon from coulterville. I dont know if john muir would approve of it, because i made it here by taking bart. I decided to run down to the center and bring you a gift. This is for you to pass on to others at your discretion that you think would be worthy. It has some artifacts about coulterville. It is a signed copy by scott miller, both of them. I appreciate you having this opportunity to do this. I do want to say the center in coulterville, where john muir walked in 1868, just four years after after Abraham Lincoln signed the grant, we have original copies of all of his original books on display there. That is all that i would want to say. Thank you so much. [applause] i was up in coulterville and couple of years ago for one of their programs one of the programs they do annually to celebrate johns memory. Unfortunately i heard the jeffrey hotel, where i stayed, had a fire in the past couple of days. Im hoping they will be able to restore that. [indiscernible] that part was actually protected and not burned down. John muir stayed there as well. Sometimes he did stay in hotels. Any other questions . We have john muir right here, as a matter of fact. What would be involved in restoring hetch hetchy . How many billions would it take to find in other place on the water . Good question. I will briefly say the reservoir is one of nine reservoirs along the quality the quality river. Its simple he talks about redistributing the location where it would be restored. A lot of people cried that the dollar amounts are huge. There is a price of maybe one bomber. A new tunnel was built in seattle. It was a little a little bit less than what the trade center cost to build. We just have to to have the will to do it. I think that will become increasingly important. The valley has assembled the need for restoration. Wilson is now calling for greatly expanded wilderness areas, saying we are too timid in our proposals and we should allocate half of planet earth to the wildlife. His strategy is to build Wildlife Corridors that could include private lands that would run north and south, east and west. Lets not be timid. Lets care for the earth like john muir did. [applause] anybody else . Yes. A few years ago i looked up john muir i looked up his papers. I think they are at pepperdine. The university of pacific, where his papers are. You can go online and see all of his drawings and read his stuff. You will be there for hours. It is a love the collection. Thank you. A lovely collection. Some of you interested in history may help out with that collection. They have it you ties most of his journals and letters. They are now working on trans they have digitized most of his journals and letters. They are now working on transcribing. It takes a while to learn to read his handwriting, it is not totally easy. It is exciting to decipher his actual words on the paper he wrote. You can then submit that to them on the Online System and help out their efforts. They are doing a lot of great work in connecting students at the university pacific. They have a required freshman class where you learn about john muir. They take trips to yosemite and learn about the importance of conservation. Educational efforts and historic efforts are really meshed together there. Other questions . Dont hesitate. If you do want to do it, why dont you get off in line here. I have read a election of some of his stories and adventures. He had some amazing adventures. I read a collection of some of his stories, some of his adventures. He had amazing adventures. You have any favorites of yours . I know one where a couple people he was traveling with ran out of water. They almost died climbing mount whitney. A bunch of bracing stuff. I am curious if you had a favorite. Stetson has a great book, a collection of these kind of stories of muirs adventures. I think it is for sale here. Lee stetsons criteria was that john muir had to almost die in the incident in order to be included in the book. And there is over a dozen stories. So, you know, there is many of them. I think one of my favorites is how he rode on avalanche in Yosemite Valley. The snow started going and he realized if he started tumbling, he would die. He spreadout spreadeagled and glided down. One of the first extreme sports, you know, ever seen. [laughter] his other adventures climbing mount ritter and feeling like he was going to fall because he could not move anyplace up or down. He took a he just did not know what to do. A second presence took over him, and he magically started climbing again. I think that shows the importance of the subconscious mind. You can learn more from psychological traits like that. Come over here, if you do have a question. We ask you to come to this microphone. We are actually pretty early. I was pretty fast. You guys have got 45 minutes. If you have a question or comment, come right to that spot. I wanted to touch a little bit on the value the artist played in the 19th century, in terms of conveying the picked oral beauty pictoral beauty of these wonderful landscapes. I am familiar with william keith, the artist. William and john muir would hike into the sierras together for weeks at a time. Are you familiar with that artist, william keith, at all . William keith was a good friend of john muir. They had an interesting friendship. I understand that near muir would come to keiths studio, and they would argue over the art. Muir believed art should be accurate, inspire people about nature. The artist, william keith, his idea was more, i want to express my feelings and myself into this. It is a natural landscape, but some are dark and brooding. Some of his later work, i do not like much, because they are dark and brooding, whereas earlier work often did have beautiful scenes of the sierra and helped inspire some of the preservation efforts. But despite their arguments over some of these things, muir and keith were friends, lifelong friends. Muir is a scot. Like a lawyer, he liked to argue a little bit. He argued with his other friends as well. The noted ses essayist john burroughs, from new york, was widely read, as john muir was in their time. They argued all the time, because muir would wax eloquently about nature and burroughs would want to stay in his little home town and go birding around the fields and meadows, the local farms. They were constantly in a tugofwar about how best to appreciate nature. They went on the harriman expedition together and had a number of little arguments. But they were friends. You see pictures in pasadena, sitting together. They had a jovial time. Muir did have some famous friends. In thinking about the Yosemite Valley today, and the meadows being trampled, do you have any thoughts on how we go about preserving wilderness and enabling people to enjoy or experience it, and also protect it from overuse or degradation . In john muirs time, he did not foresee there would be 4 million visitors a year to Yosemite Valley. When it was first proposed to have automobiles in the valley, he was not press the end enough to see that would create a big problem. He was not prescient enough to see that would create a big problem. He said, let those mechanical beetles then, as long as people can enjoy the wilderness. Some parts of it are very urban, very over crowded, noisy, loud. I think there needs to be a mode of Public Transit to substitute for the automobile, and it is sort of a big problem, because where are you going to park, and whatever . We have barked in bart in the bay area. There ought to be a way to have a monorail system through Yosemite Valley someday to accommodate the visitors. I think that that is another reason to advocate for protecting hetch hetchy. Make that a counterpart that would not be developed the same way Yosemite Valley was developed. Say, you have to backpack him, backpack in, like aunt abby would have said. John muir, precalifornia, he walked from indiana through the old confederacy, down to savannah and along the gulf coast. And a lot of that was, he kept notes on the floor of the south. The flora of the south. He also talked about the people and the postcivil war era, the destruction and so on. Did he write at any length about that beyond those notes or a diary of that hike . His book published after his death, a thousand mile walk to the gulf, is largely taken from those journals he kept on that thousand mile walk from indianapolis down to cedar key, florida. He wrote about both people he met and the flora and fauna. And the time was right after the civil war. There were marauding bandits around still a little bit. People tried to rob him, he would still say, here is my botanical press kit. Are you interested in that . He got away with it. He did actually that journey was supposed to be the first part of a trick to sell a trip to south america. He wanted to go to the amazon like alexander von humboldt. His idea was to go to florida and catch a ship that would go down. He made it as far as havana, cuba. Apparently, when he was sleeping in savannah, georgia, a famous cemetery there, he got mosquito bites, and he got malaria. So by the time he arrived in cuba, he was so ill with that, he realized he was not going to make it on this trip to amazon. He changed to another boat that would come across to california, because he heard about yosemite. It was supposed to be a side trip on the way to the amazon, and it was, because in 1911, a few years before his death, he finally did make it to the amazon. At that point, a 76yearold man. Not quite as rugged. But he took a haute trip as far as the upper reaches of the amazon. Took canoeing out to see some of the flora, the special plants that lived in that area. He did fulfill a lifelong dream to get down to that area eventually. Can you talk a little bit about how john muir and differed pinchot Gifford Pinchot met, and the ideological split . There was a commission gifford had been chosen on to survey the forests of the United States and make a report to roosevelt for recommendations. And muir was invited to not be an official commission member, but kind of a guest on it, to kind of provide some balance for all the people who had degrees. He did not have a degree, although they often call him dr. Muir. But it was an honorific. He did receive honorary doctorates, but he did not even graduate from college. He was a college dropout. People like pinchot and others would dismiss muir as just a sheepherder who did not know anything. But i think a lot of it was not only knowledge, but attitude. There is a really telling story. When Gifford Pinchot and john muir were visiting the rain canyon together, can show pinchot saw a rattlesnake and his first instinct was to kill it. John muir said, that rattlesnake belongs here. You are not right to kill it just because it is living in its native had it habitat. There was an attitude difference. That is what i think happened with Gifford Pinchot. He felt nature was to be exploited, to be utilized for mankind, for the greatest good of the greatest number was his hallmark. I cannot criticize that too much, you know . Given the time, that was a wise idea, and a way to protect the forest with Sustainable Forest rate. Forestry. Muir is sometimes thought of as being against that. If you study him, you find he wanted wilderness areas on top of the managed forests. He wanted some forest. He said he was ok with having some logging and whatever, but he wanted fire protection, Wildlife Protection in those areas. He just did not want to stop with that. Remember, muir was a farmer as well. And as a farmer, he knew sometimes you have to work with the land and that kind of a basis. But he had the foresight that we also need wilderness areas that we leave alone. To me, that is the greatness of muir. He could see we should have both, and Gifford Pinchot could never see that. So there is a difference. I have a question this time. You mentioned that you can learn a lot psychologically from muir as well, and i have done some reading, and both muir and lincoln, who were somewhat contemporaries lincoln older, but both geniuses i think in their own way. And both had similar backgrounds growing up. And have you given any thought to their background, their relationships with their dad, for example, each of them, and how that might have affected their education and their drive and motivation and so forth . Thank you. Well, it is often spoken of about the difficult relationship john muir had with his father, daniel. Daniel was one of these kind of born again people, who would change the religious sect that he wanted his family to belong to on a monthly basis. And, you know, each had to be a little more rigorous than the last. There were times when muir and his brothers and sisters were on the farm, doing lots of hard work, and daniel, his father, would say, you should just eat oatmeal and graham crackers, not meet, the cause he decided you needed to be a good christian. When the father was burning the forest, he would tell muir, if you were wicked, you will get thrown into that fire just like the eternal damnation of hell. That is what it would be like. Muir today would be considered and abused child an abused child. He was beaten by his father because muir was selfwilled and wanted to take at least sundays off to go swimming in the lake. That was the only time they were able to do it. The rest of the time was backbreaking, dawn to dusk work. It is interesting. Muir in his adulthood, with his two daughters, he was there he careful. The schools he would send them to, he would make sure they did not believe in corporal punishment. He wanted to oppose that in any form. It did have some influence on his makeup. Luckily, he survived that and came out pretty well. How are we doing on time . It is 7 30. That is about our time, more or less. Do we have time . I am looking around for authority. I guess we have seized authority here. Which may be a dangerous thing. But if we get a cue from some people who are more authoritative than we are, we could wrap this up. I want to say a couple quick things. First of all, this is toward the end unless we have another question. I rolled, thank you so much. You have been fantastic. Could listen to you all night long. I want to add to something that harold mentioned earlier. I want to encourage everyone to go out and visit the john muir historic site. It really is it is up the block from where the martini was invented and joe dimaggio grew up. But actually, the muir home it is great, and the land has been protected. You mentioned the land trust, an organization i support a lot. Though out and enjoy it. Find out what they are up to. They are working in john muirs backyard, on his legacy. Take a hike up mount wanda. Saunter in the place john muir walked. We talked about restoration. You have all been to muir beach, i suppose, and the headlands. Go up to the lower watershed of Redwood Creek. That flows through the muir woods out to the sea, an iconic stream. The National Park service over the past five years have done an extra ordinary job in restoring the lower watershed of Redwood Creek from a lot of damage it experienced since the gold rush, to bring it back to its more natural landscape. Hills have been reconfigured. A new path for the river has been established. 30,000 plus native plants have been planted. It is a transformation of an ecological universe, as well as a visitor experience. If you have not been lately, go out there. It is restoration. The goal in initially was to preserve habitat for coho and steelhead. Coho still spawn there in small numbers, but the restoration will be a big help. The restoration is something john muir would love. And you are just below muir woods. Wandering around the neighborhood and finding where john muir lit used to hang out occasionally, go to the sweden borja church, a fascinating place, and see when he was not worshiping nature, he would be at the sweden borja and swe denborian church. John muir is in the landscapes we love and the places we care about. The ideas hopefully are going to be advancing, and growing, and more relevant in the future even than they are today. Any other questions or comments . If not, thank you so much for coming. Enjoy this wonderful place. And see you soon. [applause] heres a look at some of the programs youll find Christmas Day on the cspan networks. Holiday festivities start at 10 a. M. Eastern is a lighting of the National Christmas tree, followed by the White House Christmas decorations with first Lady Michelle obama, and the lighting of the capitol christmas tree. Select word he celebrity activist talked about her causes. On the bill of rights and the founding fathers. Eastern, the art of good writing, 12 30, see the feminist side of a superhero with the secret history of wonder woman. Authors talk about their reading habits, and on American History tv on cspan three at 8 a. M. Eastern, the fall of the berlin mall with cspan footage of president george bush and bob dole, with speeches from president s john f. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. Ladys experts on first fashion choices in how they represented the styles of the times in which they live. Then tom brokaw and more than 50 years of reporting on world events. Thes Christmas Day on cspan networks. For complete schedule, go to www. Cspan. Org. All we can, American History tv is featuring laffey yet and west laugh yet, indiana. Oh um nine from Purdue University alumni include Neil Armstrong and eugene saarinen. Armstrong was the first man on the when on the moon. Its the cspan city tour staff recently visited many sites showcasing the citys history. Learn more about lafayette and West Lafayette all began here on American History tv. Grip the side of the battle of tippecanoe, which was followed november 7, eight and 11. Thats over 200 years ago. , and one of the events sector the way for indiana statehood. In when henniversary 16. The treaty of greenville brought an end to what has been called in old northwest indian wars 1790, the beginning of the United States being able to take control of the northwest iiritory which again title by the treaty of paris in 1783. Ofbrought about a generation uneasy peace along the front ofrs, but in the early years the 19th century it saw the beginnings of a native Revivalist Movement under the leadership of a shawnee holy man. To him as referred the shawnee prophet. His movements were not successful and attract a lot of followers. , he moved the headquarters to the confluence movement. Begin new it was to become the new headquarters, Training Ground of an alliance that was formed that arege. Coming rather lor created any International Boundary between u. S. Lands and native homelands. In 1800, the indiana territory had been created out of the old northwest territory, and William Henry harrison have been appointed governor. In 1809, the year after the founding of profits town, harrison on behalf of the government negotiated a treaty with tribes in this area, which turned over about 3 million acres of Southern Indiana to the u. S. Government. This is the event that really set the two sides on a collision course. The doctrine at prophetstown was all native peoples are one people, and no land can be sold or turned over without unanimous consent. The 1809 treaty was negotiated with people who had longstanding claims to residents in this area. Prophetstown was a direct challenge to the United States. The 1809 treaty was a direct challenge to the influence of the alliance at prophetstown, which by this time was increasingly coming under the influence of the profits brother whose name was tecumseh. In 1810, tecumseh and 300400 warriors made a trip to the territorial capital to demand that the 1809 treaty be rescinded. This meeting became extremely acrimonious, almost devolved into Armed Conflict at least once. The two met for several days and finally parted, but nothing was really well resolved. From that time on, the frontier was basically in a state of guerrilla warfare. Harrison asked the secretary of war for troops. In july of 1811, the secretary sent the fourth u. S. Regiment down the ohio river on flat boats, hoping to avoid conflict. Harrison learned that tecumseh who now had come to see his major opponent in this mill you tecumseh was going to be out of town. He said, im leaving for the south on recruiting drive, i will be back, and then maybe we will talk to the president or something about this treaty. The troops got incensed. They almost immediately undertook their expedition to prophetstown. They got here on the afternoon of november 6. The orders from the secretary of war word to effect the dispersal and abandonment of prophetstown by peaceful means if possible but by force if necessary. Looking around at the surrounding terrain, the army came over to this timber ridge that we are standing on now and set up camp on this spot now known as the tippecanoe battlefield. The weather was cold and rainy. It was early november. The troops were tired. They were low on provisions. They had limited manpower and limited equipment. They had a shortage of axes. He had the troops build bonfires. He had them sleep in battle positions fully dressed on their weapons. In the predawn hours, about 4 00, one of the soldiers heard a noise in the dark in the darkness and fired a shot. The indian who was hit yelled out in pain, which to some degree spoiled the surprise, but once that happened, the attack proceeded immediately. The majority of fighting took place on two flanks. The first attack on the lines came at this corner of the camp. Pretty much from the direction that this large perforated arrow points. Spread around the two flanks, first around the sleigh, pretty heavy fighting on this corner, and shortly thereafter, a lot of fighting on the right flank. The right flank is narrow enough that the troops down there were under fire from three sides all at the same time. A lot of the fighting was hand to hand. The bonfires that the troops had said to keep warm that night proved to be a severe disadvantage until they were able to be extinguished. The whole battle lasted about two hours, and it all took place in the dark. At daylight, the native forces broke off the attack and went back across the marsh and eve accu it at prophetstown evacuated prophetstown. The army spent the rest of the day taking care of the wounded and burying their dead. When they went to prophetstown the following day, they found britishmade weapons and gunpowder, which gave evidence to the hardliners in congress and other places in this country who had been agitating for war for a long time. They would have been telling you , the british are behind our indian problems, and this proves it. The battle here was one of the Tipping Point events that led to the declaration of war about seven months later, which started the war of 1812. The battle here was a blow to the credibility and influence to tecumseh and the profit. Tecumseh returned to wabash in january of 1812 and was killed a year later in october of 1813. The profit stayed in canada prophet stayed in canada for a long time, even after some of his followers came back. He did eventually make his way to the shawnee reservation in kansas in the 1830s and died in 1836 and is buried somewhere under the streets of kansas city. He lived to be quite an old man. Harrison was having political problems before the battle, and when they returned to van sends after the battle, a lot of prominent indiana and kentucky families suddenly found themselves with dead sons. There was a lot of criticism because of that. It was uncertain whether the battle was really a victory or not because of the heavy losses. Harrison ran for president for the first time in 1836 against martin van buren. He had in the intervening years
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