Yosemite Trip with Theodore Roosevelt
In 1903, John Muir took Theodore Roosevelt on a camping trip through Yosemite that has been considered the most important camping trip in conservation history. Through Muir’s persuasive and well-timed talks, he convinced Roosevelt of the importance of setting aside areas in the U.S. for park purposes. Roosevelt fell in love with the scenery and nature around him, and through Muir’s influence, Roosevelt felt Yosemite was worthy, and in 1905 it was officially made a National Park.
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"There can be nothing in the world more beautiful than the Yosemite, the groves of the giant sequoias and redwoods, the Canyon of the Colorado, the Canyon of the Yellowstone, the Three Tetons; and our people should see to it that they are preserved for their children and their children's children forever with their majestic beauty all unmarred."
-Theodore Roosevelt (Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter, pg 317, 1905.)
“I am anxious that the Yosemite National Park may be saved from all sorts of commercialism and marks of man's work other than the roads, hotels etc., required to make its wonders and blessings available. For as far as I have seen there is not in all the wonderful Sierra, or indeed in the world another so grand and wonderful and useful a block of Nature's mountain handiwork.”
-John Muir (Letter from John Muir to Theodore Roosevelt, Sept. 9, 1907.)
“My dear Mr. Muir: Through the courtesy of President Wheeler I have already been in communication with you, but I wish to write you personally to express the hope that you will be able to take me through the Yosemite. I do not want anyone with me but you, and I want to drop politics absolutely for four days and just be out in the open with you. John Burroughs is probably going through the Yellowstone Park with me, and I want to go with you through the Yosemite."
-Letter to John Muir from Theodore Roosevelt, March 14, 1903
“I am still more pleased that you should say that our brief trip through Yosemite together was as pleasant as any part of your subsequent travels. It is a memory I shall always cherish.”
-Letter to John Muir from Theodore Roosevelt, Nov. 3, 1904
-Theodore Roosevelt (Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter, pg 317, 1905.)
“I am anxious that the Yosemite National Park may be saved from all sorts of commercialism and marks of man's work other than the roads, hotels etc., required to make its wonders and blessings available. For as far as I have seen there is not in all the wonderful Sierra, or indeed in the world another so grand and wonderful and useful a block of Nature's mountain handiwork.”
-John Muir (Letter from John Muir to Theodore Roosevelt, Sept. 9, 1907.)
“My dear Mr. Muir: Through the courtesy of President Wheeler I have already been in communication with you, but I wish to write you personally to express the hope that you will be able to take me through the Yosemite. I do not want anyone with me but you, and I want to drop politics absolutely for four days and just be out in the open with you. John Burroughs is probably going through the Yellowstone Park with me, and I want to go with you through the Yosemite."
-Letter to John Muir from Theodore Roosevelt, March 14, 1903
“I am still more pleased that you should say that our brief trip through Yosemite together was as pleasant as any part of your subsequent travels. It is a memory I shall always cherish.”
-Letter to John Muir from Theodore Roosevelt, Nov. 3, 1904