The Story of My Boyhood and Youth: Volume 10

John Muir

ian. 1913 · Binker North

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The Story of My Boyhood and Youth is a stirring autobiography by the great American naturalist, John Muir."When I was a boy in Scotland I was fond of everything that was wild, and all my life I've been growing fonder and fonder of wild places and wild creatures. Fortunately around my native town of Dunbar, by the stormy North Sea, there was no lack of wildness, though most of the land lay in smooth cultivation."John Muir (April 21, 1838 - December 24, 1914) also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, glaciologist and early advocate for the preservation of wilderness in the United States.

His letters, essays, and books describing his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada, have been read by millions. His activism has helped to preserve the Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park and many other wilderness areas. The Sierra Club, which he co-founded, is a prominent American conservation organization. The 211-mile (340 km) John Muir Trail, a hiking trail in the Sierra Nevada, was named in his honor. Other such places include Muir Woods National Monument, Muir Beach, John Muir College, Mount Muir, Camp Muir, Muir Grove, and Muir Glacier. In Scotland, the John Muir Way, a 130-mile-long route, was named in honor of him.In his later life, Muir devoted most of his time to the preservation of the Western forests. As part of the campaign to make Yosemite a national park, Muir published two landmark articles on wilderness preservation in The Century Magazine, "The Treasures of the Yosemite" and "Features of the Proposed Yosemite National Park"; this helped support the push for U.S. Congress to pass a bill in 1890 establishing Yosemite National Park.

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John Muir, the founder of the Sierra Club and instrumental int the establishment of Yosemite National Park, was a self-taught and tireless naturalist, conservationist, horticulturalist and traveller. Born in Dunbar, Scotland, he came to Wisconsin at the age of 11 with his father and two older sisters. In 1863 Muir became a wandering student and naturalist, taking jobs where he could and traveling into Canada, the southern United States, and eventually to the Yosemite Valley of California, where he found his vocation, the conservation and protection of the forests. At his urging, the U.S. Forestry Commission was formed, and in 1891 Congress empowered the President to create forest reserves. Muir devoted the rest of his life to travel and study, journeying to Australia, Africa, South America and Alaska.