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Fall 8-1-2011 The ohnJ Muir Newsletter, Fall/Winter 2011/2012 The ohnJ Muir Center
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Recommended Citation The oJ hn Muir Center, "The oJ hn Muir Newsletter, Fall/Winter 2011/2012" (2011). John Muir Newsletters. 93. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmn/93
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THE J 0 H N M U I R CENTER
SPECIAL AN ESSAY ON JOHN MUIR'S POINTS OF PHENOMENAL SCIENCE INTEREST : mensely older than the thousands of years • The present is the key to By Bonnie Johanna Gisel allowed by the chronology of the Old Testa the past. Curator, LeConte Memorial Lodge, ment.l • Muir wou ld apply geologi Yosemite National Park Then , too, up from the sod of science, a ca l formation and specifi Author, Nature's Beloved Son: Scotsman, uniformitarian, and friend of ca lly the action of glacial Rediscovering John Muir's Botanical Charles Darwin, Charles Lyell , who parented ice to the handiwork of God . Legacy modern geology, examined an inorganic Earth in perpetual change, eroding, and reforming. • Muir chose to live "to He explained the former ch anges of the Earth's entice people to look at I. Origins of Muir's Scientific Self surface by reference to causes now in opera Nature's loveliness." tion. The present, he would say, is the key to The world John Muir sauntered through was • In the beginn ing and to the past. one in which the distribution of erratics was the end botany was the While a student at the University of Wiscon attributed to a diluvial theory, a wave of sea ice foundation upon wh ich sin , Muir was introduced to Lyell's Principles , Muir's work as a preser due to catastrophic sudden and violent floods perhaps the 1853 ninth edition which created vation ist grew and glacial released from the interior of the Earth or quite a sensation. Lyell banished any doubts studies were seamlessly caused by the about a glacial epoch, fully supporting the work connected to his study of upheaval of plants. of Louis Agassiz, an expert on fossil fish and mountains. the preeminent glaciologist, who happened to This diluvial be an unabashed catastrophist. Disagree theory gave ment would erupt over the rate of environ way to a the mental change between those who supported ory that pro IN THIS ISSUE change gradual and uniform, uniformitarians, vided a more of which Muir was one, and those who sup An Essay on John Muir's rational expla ported intermittent cataclysm, catastrophists. Phenomenal Science by 1 nation to ac There was also Lyell 's Elements of Geology, Bonnie J. Gisel cou nt for the published in 1838- the first modern textbook appearance of of geology, a systematic treatment based on 59th California Histol)' erratic boul the assumption that all the phenomena of Institute to focus on ders, and that 2 geology can be explained naturally and dis "Women as Histoi)' theory was cussed scientifically. In Yosemite, in 1872, Makers in California " that erratics had been James Hutton Muir would request that Jeanne Carr send a copy of Lyell 's work. He would have opened John Muir Class Visits "A moved by vast From http:/ jetc.usf.edu/ Walk in the Wild" and 2 sheets of mov- clipart/60973/60973_james the familiar volume to the frontispiece--a dia the Muir House ing glaciers. A _hutton.htm gram of a vertical section through a volcanic island surrounded by sea and showing dia debate-sea ice vs. land ice--remained a fea grammatically how the fou r great classes of ture of geological discussion until about 1902. rocks were produced.2 Muir would apply geo As well Muir found himself inquiring into the logical formation and specifically the action of inner workings of science when fossil rem glacial ice to the handiwork of God . nants-relicts of a world of unusual and excep An exaggerated theory of a single polar cap, tional creatures and plants, and the study of an Ice Age traveling from the North Pole over strata, continued to expand upon what James the northern hemisphere, was the brain-child Hutton of Edinburgh regarded as an Earth im-
(continued on page 3) PAGE 2
59TH CALIFORNIA HISTORY INSTITUTE TO FOCUS ON "WOMEN AS HISTORY-MAKERS IN CALIFORNIA"
On March 23, 24, stu- Women in California His- women and environ- and (with Erika Lee) Angel dents, faculty and guests tory," the latter featuring mental justice and activ- Island: Immigrant Gateway of the University will 120 individuals. ism. The luncheon key- to America (2010). gather for the 591h Cali- note will be delivered by fornia History Institute. Papers and panels on Judy Yung, Professor This year's theme fo- March 24 will focus on Emerita, U. C. Santa Cruz, cuses on women who the historiography of whose publications in- For more information and to continue to be "history- women's history in the elude: register for the symposium makers." Highlights in- Golden State; the role of Unbound Feet: A Social please contact Juliann Hil- elude a field trip to the Latina, Filipina, Asian, History of Chinese ton j [email protected] California State Museum and Native American Women in San Francisco or call Muir Center and by coach from Stockton women; women of note in (1995); leave a message at on March 23 to two ex- Stockton's own history; Chinese American Voices; 209 946-2527. hibits: "Women and the women's organizations at From the Gold Rush to Vote," and "Notable Pacific; and a panel on the Present (2006);
J 0 H N Mu R CLASS VISITS "A WALK IN THE w LD" AND THE MUIR H 0 UsE
On January 19, twenty artist who reports he has number of William Keith This trip was made possible one students in Pacific's painted with the great landscapes in the through a generous grant "John Muir and the Rise grandson of Muir's close house, as well as archi from Holt-Atherton Special of the Conservation friend and fellow Scots tectural features incor Collections. Movement" class visited man, William Keith. His porated by Muir into the the Oakland Museum of watercolors focus on house after it was re California and John Muir landscapes of the Delta, modeled, post-1906 San National Historic Site in Sierra, and Bay, as well Francisco earthquake. Martinez. In Oakland as Yosemite, scenes that These include the large the class toured the would be familiar to John modified central fire exhibit, "A Walk in the Muir. place where he could Wild: Continuing John burn logs instead of Muir's Journey." Cu In Martinez, Park Guide coal. rated by Dorris Welch, Daniel Prial gave the the exhibit focused on group an inspired talk Each student is re John Muir and science, and a memorable tour of searching one aspect of using original materials the Muir House. Prial Muir's life from the Muir from the John Muir Pa focused on Muir's inter Papers and all are fol pers as well as furniture est in bringing Nature lowing one major con and artifacts from vari into his residence, rather temporary environ ous institutions and than keeping Nature out. mental issue keeping family members. While The interpretation helped the class up-to-date on there the class met all to understand the current events that re John Muir Reid, the rationale for planting late to Muir's legacy. great-grandson of Mar trees exotic to the Alham garet Muir-Reid, one of bra Valley (including the John Muir Class, 2012, in front of the Muir House, Martinez, CA Muir's older sisters. famous redwood in front Reid is a professional of the house), the large Photo by Bob Dash PAGE 3
(continued from page 1) nature with the love of God . He reminded stu dents to "touch with something of reverence, the hem of that marvelous robe of living green, the Forests." Muir spoke of Carr as having been the first to place before him the Book of Nature. Later, Agassiz would speak of Muir as the first ~ · · :ut:N1'S to have an adequate concept of glacial action. A world not for the faint of heart, Muir was G £ 0 T. 0 G Y. resilient. Struggle and change were every where. A Civil War (that Muir referred to as un Christian), was followed by tense, ambitious, and controversial mending of a nation that l\IU.F.S. L\'bl.t.. t:SO t·.tt.~ _.._ ...... __ ,.. __ .. .-.-.. drove Joseph and John LeConte, respectively, 01 1 ... -R .._...... geologist and physicist, from Georgia and South Carolina to California and the burgeoning Uni ....:;:....~-::. :.:.::-..:::.:-.. ;.;:; versity of California. There was a quickening ...... ------. - professionalization of science and competition Elements of Geology between scientists on the east and west coasts I,QI"UON From: library.sc.edujspcolljnathistj .MU' .H l'••·u ·, , l,t&lf\f"••-~' ~1: 10r. of America. Muir was drawn into the fray over darwinjdarwinS.html the fair apostles--Fiora.3 Muir's floristic journey began on High Street of Louis Agassiz; and, in 1840, he published his in Dunbar, Scotland in a garden "as much like definitive work on glaciers, Etude sur les Gla Eden as possible," and blossomed into an en ciers. Agassiz believed that not books but ex thusiasm for botany during the nineteenth cen perience was wherein the answers to scientific tury's flurry of amateur plant collecting and as inquiry resided . To this end and to his credit, he botany took on the mantle of a professional undertook the empirical study of glaciers, estab science. With the aid of Alphonso Wood's Class lishing a camp on a glacier of the Aar. "God's Book of Botany, in which Wood suggested that great plough," he called them. The glacial per the study of plants held higher purpose expand iod was for Agassiz, a magnificent demonstra ing the soul through beauty, purity, and wisdom, tion of the power of God in causing catastrophic Muir became skilled at identifying plants and their habitats. He would agree with Wood, to study plants was to see God's plans unfold. Through plants Muir gained an inordinate sense of the complexity of life and found that when he picked out anything by itself, it was hitched to everything else in the universe. Were not, he ~·tb ~ thought, "all plants beautiful? Or in some way useful? Would not the world suffer by the ban ishment of a single weed?" ~~on We encounter a faithful Muir drafted like so ~ ~twe%m many others-among them his colleague and friend Joseph LeConte--into the "Age" of Dar en~.~~ win 's Origin of Species by Natural Selection, published in 1859. Darwin had not intended to argue either for or against God; nonetheless, he concluded there was no need for divine crea tion, and there was no divine goal--natural selec tion took care of everything--was responsible for ~, ... '' the gradual but steady emergence of organ isms. His theory destroyed for some, dampened Louis Agassiz or attempted to awash the sea of Christian faith From : www.eoearth.orgjarticle/ Agassiz_ louis for others, and crippled natural theology, pro voking a major philosophical and theological events that wiped out life and replaced it with debate that outlived the century. Muir read new flora and fauna-in this he disagreed with Darwin while in Yosemite. Darwin's theory of natural selection. At the University of Wisconsin Muir studied Agassiz's work with Ezra Carr. Carr ventured with students out into what he called "Nature's basement rooms, " out over the glaciated land scape around Madison, equating the love of PAGE 4
degree), that Yosemite Valley had been formed by glaciers. While Whitney initially published King's findings in the first volume of the Geologi cal Survey in 1865, he retracted when he pub lished The Yosemite Guide-Book in 1869- noting there was insufficient evidence that the Valley had been formed by glacial action. King publicly supported Whitney. A catastrophist, like Whitney, King, like Agassiz, disagreed with natu ~~
he would stress the role of glaciers in the forma J, D. \'i" 11:>;1'\", Snh 10'-'tl.llol ... tion of the Sierra and Yosemite Valley. Muir found deposits of glacial silt and striations
etched into the granite walls and outlined the T I H~ routes that carried the glaciers that shaped and scoured the Valley. It was not long before he professed to anyone who would listen that the YOS MITE GUIDE-BOOK : Valley had been formed by glaciers and that there were living glaciers in the High Sierra.5 Whitney, a graduate of Yale, spoke of Muir as .\ m~'RT('T(I):O.: (tP 'rUG \'t~k:!I.HT't-: \ .\t.U:~ .\SD "tJU.: .\DlACJ-;~"i.' IU:;{Yito~ tW 'til~ i'iJLlH~ \. ;.;'fo:\'.\D.\.,.
uneducated, called him "that shepherd," an A .•~D OF THE ~11..; Tlit;ES UY (",\JJYORXl.\, ignoramus, and of Muir's findings, considered Whitney's Yosemite Guide-Book them a personal affront-given that his conven From: tional geological wisdom held that the floor of openlibrary.orgjworks/OL7026039W/ Yosemite Valley had subsided during a series of The-Yosemite_Guide-book cataclysmic events-a view he would never change. Muir's disclosure of living glaciers, as well, struck scorn with both Whitney and Cla rence King, who regarded the fields Muir saw as nothing more than snow. Upon graduation from Yale 's Sheffield Scien l'l"RJJS.[IE:f) \,\. ,\t"T'lii,'I'KITY ()): Tht: Ll:t.'lll;J ...A 'ttt ln~ tific School, King joined the Whitney Survey as a ISU!..I. volunteer geologist in 1863. He soon found evidence in 1864, like Muir's, (differing only in PAGE 5
The California Geological Survey, December 1863. From left: Chester Averill, assistant; William M. Gabb, paleontologist; William Ashburner, field assistant; Josiah D. Whitney, State Geologist; Charles F. Hoffmann, topographer, Clarence King, geologist, and William H. Brewer, botanist. (Bancroft Library)
From www.yosemite.ca.usjlibraryjthe..Jo semite-book/
King failed, and he was not above reprisal, pub did, remaining winter and summer "to arrive at licly lashing out with his pen at King in an at the truths which were graven " upon them, tempt to embarrass. "I am sure," scoffed Muir, aware there was virtually no documentation to in an article for The Overland Monthly, that the substantiate his theories.9 Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne "may be entered Whitney and King found Muir and his ideas at more than fifty different points along the unkempt, and it is true that he lacked advanced walls by mountaineers of ordinary nerve and academic scientific training, however, these skill." On reading King's account of his Mount were not barriers to scientific truth. Muir's theo Tyndall climb, Muir wrote: "He must have given ries-the glacial formation of Yosemite Valley himself a lot of trouble. When I climbed Tyndall , and the living glaciers in the High Sierra were I ran up and back before breakfast."s more nearly correct than any geologist of his time. 10 Ill. Does Ice A Scientist Make? Punctuating a Leap of Faith
Clarence King Whitney, who had been in Yosemite Valley From: and Tuolumne in 1863, knew that glaciers had www.yosemite.ca.usjlibraryjup played a significant role in the formation of the _and_ down_ High Sierra. There was no disagreement with california/5.1.html Muir on this. Whitney wrote to a colleague, G. J. Brush, July 10, 1863:
We are in the midst of what was once a great glacier region, the valleys all about being most su perbly polished and grooved by glaciers, which once existed here in a stupendous scale having a thickness, in the Tuolumne Valley, of a thousand feet. 11 In a climate brimming with scientific elitism and academic arrogance, Muir went about be Members of the Whitney Survey, however, holding to his stories of beloved glacial ice. He were seemingly unaware that the snow bank may not have kept to the conventions of scien upon which they climbed on Mount Lyell was tific writing, but he observed geological proc actually a modern glacier. It was noted that esses at work, and interpreted a complex pat there were no living glaciers in the Sierra Ne tern of phenomena with insight that emerged as vada. In 1872, Joseph LeConte observed the characteristically his own . His method of study, Lyell Glacier with Muir, but from a distance. He patient observation and constant brooding reported that such a glacier was neither true nor "above the rocks, lying upon them " as the ice typical-but in "some sense a glacier." Muir PAGE 6 thought LeConte had made no effort to acquire before evolution was, was an Intelligence that adequate data-he had not seen glacial ice be laid out the plan, and evolution is the process, cause he had not gone into the depths of the not the origin of the harmony. You may call that glacier.12 Intelligence what you please. I cannot see why Muir poured his soul into the writing of a so many people object to call it God ." For Muir series of articles entitled "Studies in the Sierra " Darwin's evolutionary theory reduced mystery, for The Overland Monthly that appeared in yet, did not destroy the idea of God 's designing 187 4-abridged for the national scientific com presence in Nature. What remained was one munity. Illustrated with his own drawings, the infinite mystery of existence, of every phenom articles were intended to win converts to his ena of Nature, and that Muir left to God . theory on the glacial action at work in the forma In the world view Muir endowed, scientific tion of the Sierra and Yosemite Valley. inquiry was ignited by faith, culture, and imagi "Ll)itft_ ~ ~to For all the scientific truth borne of Muir's nation from which it was birthed as well as by empirical studies, the thread that held his gla the truth that it sought. For him the journey was §aa'~~ ENDNOTES 11. See Edwin Tenney Brewster, Life and Let ters of Josiah Whitney (Boston: Houghton Mif 1. James Hutton, first read Theory of the Earth flin), 1909. ,------, before the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1788. See James Hutton, Theory of the Earth with LIFE AN D LETTERS Proofs and Illustrations (Edinburgh, 1795). JOS IAH DWIGHT WHITNEY EDW IN 1·EI"NEY .,I,IREWSTER 2. The four great classes of rocks: aqueous, volcanic, plutonic, metamorphic. 3. See Richard G. Beidleman, California's Fron tier Naturalists (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 2006). Barbara Ertter, 'The Changing l Face of California Botany," Madrono (1995), OO$TO~ AIID I 4. Whitney's refusal to endorse a wave of oil 12. See John Muir, "The Ancient Glaciers of the speculation placed the survey in doubt. The Sierra," The Californian (December 1880), 550- survey that began in 1860 ended in 1874 with 557. a breach between Whitney and the California Legislature, coupled with the antagonism of 13. See John Muir, "Living Glaciers of Califor Governor Newton Booth. nia, " Harper's New Monthly Magazine (November 1875), 769-776. A shrund is the 5. Muir located living glaciers on Red Mountain, surest sign of a living glacier. A glacier's point Mount Lyell, and Mount McClure. of origin, it is a crevasse that lies close to the head of the amphitheatre against the mountain, 6. See Clarence King, "Catastrophismal Evolu and indicates that the ice has been moving tion," The American Naturalist (August 1877), down and away from the mountain wall. Mi 449-470. chael Cohen, The Pathless Way: John Muir and the American Wilderness (Madison: Univ. of 7. See Clarence King, Mountaineering in the Wisconsin Press, 1984), 58. Sierra Nevada (Boston, 1872). 14. See Paul D. Sheats, "John Muir's Glacial 8. John Muir, "Exploration in the Great Tuo Gospel," The Pacific Historian (Summer-Fall lumne Canyon, " The Overland Monthly (August 1985): 42-53. 1873), 139-147. Regarding the defense of Clarence King, see Robert E. C. Stearns, 15. Among pre-Darwinian evolutionary theorists "Defense of Clarence King, " Proceedings of the [Lamarck, Chambers, Spencer and the German From California Academy of Science (vol. 5), 156. natural philosophers], the idea of human beings Thedarwinpapers.com and contemporary flora and fauna was thought 9. See Dennis R. Dean, "Muir and to have been present from the first creation of Geology, " in John Muir: Life and Work life, perhaps in the mind of God-each stage of (Albuquerque: Univ. of New Mexico evolutionary development yet a more perfect Press, 1990), 175. realization of a plan present from the beginning. 10. See Francois E. Matthes, "John 16. 'Three Days with John Muir. Conversations Muir and the Glacial Theory of with the man who has a most intimate knowl Yosemite, " Sierra Club Bulletin (April edge of Nature, " The World's Work (March 1938), 9-10. 1909), 11355-11358. SICN L'P H)R THE ELECTRONIC VERSION BY CONT\CTINC: [email protected] T H E J 0 H N MUIR C E N T E R University of the Pacific 3601 Pacific Avenue Stockton, California 95211 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED THE JOHN MUIR CENTER The John Muir Center promotes the Center was established in 1989 with study of John Muir and environmental the following objectives: ism at the University of the Pacific and beyond. • To foster a closer academic rela tionship between Pacific and the Center Objectives larger community of scholars, students and citizens interested As one of California's most important in regional and environmental historical figures, John Muir (1838- studies. 1914) was a regional naturalist with • To provide greater opportunities global impact. His papers, housed in for research and publication by the library's Holt-Atherton Special Col Pacific faculty and students. lections, are among the University's most important resources for scholarly • To offer opportunities for out-of research. classroom learning experiences. • To promote multi-disciplinary Recognizing the need both to encour curricular development. age greater utilization of the John Muir Papers by the scholarly community, Phone: 209.946.2527 and the need to promote the study of Fax: 209.946.2318 California and its impact upon the E-mail: [email protected] global community, the John Muir