John Muir facts for kids

John Muir
John Muir
	John Muir, 1912
Born	April 21, 1838; Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland
Died	December 24, 1914 (aged 76); Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Pneumonia
Occupation	Engineer, naturalist, writer, botanist, geologist
Known for	Founder of Sierra Club
Spouse(s)	Louisa Wanda Strentzel (1847-1905) (m. 1880–1905)
Children	Wanda Muir Hanna (25 March 1881 – 29 July 1942),; Helen Muir Funk (23 January 1886 – 7 June 1964)
Parent(s)	Daniel Muir and Ann Gilrye
Signature

John Muir (21 April 1838 – 24 December 1914) was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, writer, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States.

His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions of people. John Muir walked from the Midwest to the Gulf of Mexico and kept a journal of his travels called A Thousand-Mile Walk. Muir felt that the national parks and forests needed to be preserved and some resources which should be off-limits to industrial use. His activism helped to preserve the Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park and other wilderness areas all over the United States. The Sierra Club, which he founded, is now one of the most important conservation organizations in the United States.

One of the most well-known hiking trails in the U.S., the 211-mile (340 km) John Muir Trail, was named in his honor. Other places named in his honor are Muir Woods National Monument, Muir Beach, John Muir College, Mount Muir, Camp Muir and Muir Glacier. For his outstanding accomplishments in preserving America's environment, he is known to many as the "Father of the National Parks".

In 1867, when he was 29, he was blinded in a factory accident when his right eye was pierced by a file.

Images for kids

Muir was born in the small house at left. His father bought the adjacent building in 1842, and made it the family home.
Photo of Muir by Carleton Watkins, circa 1875
Yosemite Valley and the Merced River
Hetch Hetchy Valley
Yosemite scene
Muir and family circa 1888.
John Muir featured on the California state quarter.
Entrance to Fountain Lake Farm near Portage, Wisconsin
John Muir in 1907
Theodore Roosevelt and Muir, 1906
Lake Tenaya, Yosemite
The Muirs' home in Martinez, California, is a National Historic Site.
Posthumous portrait by Orlando Rouland (1917)
A portrait of Muir, circa 1910.
Mount Muir located one mile south of Mount Whitney in the High Sierra of California.
John Muir on a 1964 U.S. commemorative stamp