Our National Parks

· Cosimo, Inc.
Ebook
408
Pages
Eligible
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About this ebook

A key founder of the modern conservation movement, John Muir was a champion of the preservation of the unspoiled wilderness and of the careful guardianship of the environment. This 1901 work, a collection of essays first published in the Atlantic Monthly, is Muir's valentine to the national parks of the American West. He introduces us to: . the glacier meadows and wild geysers of Yellowstone . the "magnificent mirror for the woods and mountains and sky" that is Yellowstone Lake . the coniferous forests of the Sierra Nevada, including the beautiful giant sequoia . the grizzly bears of the mountain ranges . and much more. Scottish-American naturalist, explorer, and writer JOHN MUIR (1838-1914) helped found the Sierra Club in 1892, and served as its first president. He wrote numerous articles for such publications as Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, and the New York Tribune; among his many books are The Mountains of California (1894), The Yosemite (1912), and Travels in Alaska (1915). __________________________________ ALSO FROM COSIMO: Muir's Steep Trails, Letters to a Friend, and Studies in the Sierra

About the author

The naturalist John Muir was born in Dunbar, Scotland. When he was 11 years old, he moved to the United States with his family and lived on a Wisconsin farm, where he had to work hard for long hours. He would rise as early as one o'clock in the morning in order to have time to study. At the urging of friends, he took some inventions he had made to a fair in Madison, Wisconsin. This trip resulted in his attending the University of Wisconsin. After four years in school, he began the travels that eventually took him around the world. Muir's inventing career came to an abrupt end in 1867, when he lost an eye in an accident while working on one of his mechanical inventions. Thereafter, he focused his attention on natural history, exploring the American West, especially the Yosemite region of California. Muir traveled primarily on foot carrying only a minimum amount of food and a bedroll. In 1880 Muir married Louie Strentzel, the daughter of an Austrian who began the fruit and wine industry in California. One of the first explorers to postulate the role of glaciers in forming the Yosemite Valley, Muir also discovered a glacier in Alaska that later was named for him. His lively descriptions of many of the natural areas of the United States contributed to the founding of Yosemite National Park in 1890. His urge to preserve these areas for posterity led to his founding of the Sierra Club in 1892.

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