“No man was more influential than John Muir in preserving the Sierra's integrity. If I were to choose a single Californian to occupy the Hall of Fame, it would be this tenacious Scot who became a Californian during the final forty-six years of his life. It was John Muir whose knowledge wedded to zeal led men and governments to establish the National Park Service. Yosemite and Sequoia in California, the Petrified forest and the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and the glacier wilderness of Alaska are what they are today largely because of this one man, in whom learning and love were co-equal. More than any other, he was the answer to that call which appears on the Courts Building in Sacramento: Give me men to match my mountains.”
-Lawrence Clark Powell (1971) |
"The world will look back to the time we live in and remember the voice of one crying in the wilderness and bless the name of John Muir... He sung the glory of nature like another Psalmist, and, as a true artist, was unashamed of his emotions. His countrymen owe him gratitude as the pioneer of our system of National Parks... Muir's writings and enthusiasm were the chief forces that inspired the movement. All the other torches were lighted from his."
-Robert Underwood Johnson (The Sierra Club Bulletin: John Muir Memorial- January 1916)
-Robert Underwood Johnson (The Sierra Club Bulletin: John Muir Memorial- January 1916)