John Muir's Thoughts on Yosemite Park—Quotation
A quotation is something that someone said or wrote. Quotations help us learn more about a person, a place, or a time in history. In the quotation below, John Muir described what Yosemite Park in California was like around a hundred years ago.
John Muir contemplating the great outdoors in 1902. Source: Library of Congress.
Primary Source
Yosemite Park is a place of rest, a refuge from the roar and dust…of the lowlands, in which one gains the advantages of both solitude and society. Nowhere will you find more company of a soothing peace-be-still kind. Your animal fellow-beings, so seldom regarded in civilization, and every rock-brow and mountain, stream, and lake, and every plant soon come to be regarded as brothers; even one learns to like the storms and clouds and tireless winds.
This one noble park is big enough and rich enough for a whole life of study and aesthetic enjoyment. It is good for everybody, no matter how benumbed with care.… None can escape its charms. Its natural beauty cleans and warms like a fire, and you will be willing to stay forever in one place like a tree.
Excerpt from “Quotations from John Muir,” an online Sierra Club exhibit.
Background
Today many people in the United States work to protect the country's natural resources. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, John Muir worked hard to protect and create national parks for future generations. Throughout his life, he explored the land in California, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Canada. One of Muir's favorite places was Yosemite Valley in California. He wrote about the beauty of this region and how to take care of it. His writings helped convince lawmakers to create parks and conserve nature. In 1890, United States leaders made Yosemite a national park. His writings helped convince President Theodore Roosevelt to create many other national parks and monuments.
