The Three Days that Saved the World (part two)

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john muir, john muir tartan

John Muir was born in Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland in 1838 and emigrated with his family to the United States of America in 1848. Throughout his life he developed an ever-growing fondness for wild places and wild creatures. Largely self-taught this son of East Lothian became a poet, philosopher, preacher, inventor and mountaineer, as well as an expert in the fields of botany and geology.

His journeys into the vast wilderness of 19^th.Century America brought him to discover the oneness and order of the natural world in which ‘every rock, plant and animal is a golden thread in the infinite fabric of life, and from which no fibre can be pulled without spoiling the whole.’

‘When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with all the other stars, all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty. This show is eternal.’

This extraordinary man, regarded today as the ‘Father of Conservation’, was truly ahead of his time. His passionate concern for the future of our planet, allied to a unique clarity of thought and expression, enabled him to influence the world’s most powerful men through his writing. It seems extraordinary by today’s standards but he persuaded the then President of the United States, Teddy Roosevelt, to join him on a three-day excursion into the wilderness of Yosemite. It’s believed to be the only time in US history that a President has been without his Secret Service bodyguard. Together they explored the, mountains, forests and rivers of the Sierra Nevada; they hugged trees in a lightning storm and slept under the stars. Roosevelt left Yosemite a convert to the idea of conservation.

‘Conservation is a great moral issue, for it involves the patriotic duty of the safety and continuance of the nation.’

America must have seemed like a bounty of infinite resource to the early settlers, but 19^th C industrialisation and exploitation were already beginning to take their toll on the natural environment. It was to be several years before the National Parks Service Bill was signed and passed into law “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations”, but one can only imagine with horror how America, and perhaps the rest of the planet, might look today had the exploitation of its resources continued unabated throughout the 20^th C. John Muir’s legacy in the form of America’s sixty-two National Parks is there for all to see and enjoy, and his thoughts and writings have encouraged conservation worldwide thanks to those three days in the wilderness.

The US Congress passed legislation on June 8, 1872 that approved government production of postal cards, and the first government-produced postcard was issued on May 1, 1873.

Although not on this format, the following words were written by President Roosevelt to John Muir a few weeks after he returned to Washington.

The John Muir tartan was created in 1998 by David McGill for the 150th anniversary of John Muir’s arrival in the United States and was launched at a reception in the San Francisco Bay area City of Pleasanton in 2002 when Muir’s grand-son accepted an inscribed tartan clock and picture frame on behalf of the Muir family. It is registered on the Scottish Tartan Register No.2682

 

The John Muir exhibition

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‘In the footsteps of John Muir, john muir, john muir exhibiton, john muir tartan

The work of internationally renowned Scottish photographer Ken Paterson was recognised in exhibitions on both sides of the USA this summer. ‘In the footsteps of John Muir’, organised by the American-Scottish Foundation and the US National Parks Service featured original images from Muir’s boyhood home in Dunbar, East Lothian and the eponymous John Muir Way across Scotland, along with iconic scenes from his spiritual home in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. The exhibitions were displayed in the Federal Hall in New York from 25^th May to 25^th July and in the John Muir National Historic Site in Martinez, California from 15^th May until 15^th October this year.

Now at last Ken is being recognised in his own country, and his exhibition will be staged in the Members Gallery of the Scottish Parliament in January.

THREE DAYS THAT SAVED THE WORLD

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john muir, john muir tartan, scottish

Thoughts on the death of John Muir, Christmas Eve, 1914

John Muir’s Earth

One of the most poignant of the stories that have emerged from the commemorations marking the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War is the one about German and British troops laying down their arms and emerging from their trenches to exchange greetings and share rations on the Western Front on Christmas Eve 1914. Some even say that a football match took place though the evidence is scant. If it did, what a pity it wasn’t a game played for two years each way. Football could then truly have justified its claim to be ‘the beautiful game’. The sad irony is that this spontaneous outburst of goodwill lasted for only a few hours and foresaw four years of senseless slaughter and destruction resulting in the deaths of tens of millions, leaving much of central Europe as a vast wasteland.

Against this background the peaceful death of one man some 6000 miles away seems relatively insignificant, but John Muir was no ordinary human being, for his legacy was the prevention of even more senseless destruction in the name of so-called ‘progress’. Although much of what he preached about the conservation of our natural heritage only came into being after his passing, nevertheless his influence is felt to this day. And we can be thankful for that.

It is said that ‘history teaches fools’ and ‘those who forget it (history) are doomed to repeat it’. And doomed we might have been if not for this eccentric genius and a remarkable three days spent by two men in the wilderness of North America.

John Muir was born in Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland in 1838 and emigrated with his family to the United States of America in 1848. Throughout his life he developed an ever-growing fondness wild places and wild creatures. Largely self-taught this son of East Lothian became a poet, philosopher, preacher, inventor and mountaineer, as well as an expert in the fields of botany and geology.

His journeys into the vast wilderness of 19^th.Century America brought him to discover the oneness and order of the natural world in which ‘every rock, plant and animal is a golden thread in the infinite fabric of life, and from which no fibre can be pulled without spoiling the whole.’

‘When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with all the other stars, all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty. This show is eternal.

This extraordinary man, regarded today as the ‘Father of Conservation’, was truly ahead of his time. His passionate concern for the future of our planet, allied to a unique clarity of thought and expression, enabled him to influence the world’s most powerful men. His legacy in the form of America’s National Parks is there for all to see and enjoy. There is no actual record of their conversations, but perhaps by sprinkling a little Muir-esque imagination into what we do know, we can glean how they might have felt and corresponded.

Scenes from Yosemite – Photographs courtesy of Ken Paterson

The following postcard was written by John Muir to his wife Louisa at their family home in Martinez, California. Muir was spending two nights in the wilderness of Yosemite with President Teddy Roosevelt.

It is generally understood that it was this ‘adventure’ that persuaded Roosevelt to introduce the concept of ‘National Parks’ in the USA.

The following postcard was written by President Roosevelt to John Muir a few weeks after he returned to Washington.

The John Muir tartan was created in 1998 by David McGill for the 150th anniversary of John Muir’s arrival in the United States and was launched at a reception in the San Francisco Bay area City of Pleasanton in 2002 when Muir’s grand-son accepted an inscribed tartan clock and the picture frame on behalf of the Muir family. It is registered on the Scottish Tartan Register No.2682

The colours in the John Muir Tartan were chosen to represent what Muir first saw, and invited us all to see, long before man walked on the moon: the earth spinning silently through infinite space.” The postcards to his wife Louisa, depicted above were distributed at the exhibition – “In the Footsteps of John Muir” –  by Scottish photographer Ken Paterson at Federal Hall in New York City in April 2013. Framed copies of Ken Paterson’s photographs are available and can be seen at www.kenpaterson.co.uk. The exhibition “In the Footsteps of John Muir” will be on display in the Scottish Parliament this January.

The JOHN MUIR Tartan

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david mcgill, International Tartans, john muir

The JOHN MUIR  tartan was created in 1998 for the 150th anniversary of John Muir’s arrival in the United States and launched at a reception in the San Francisco Bay area City of Pleasanton in 2002, when Muir’s grandson accepted an inscribed tartan clock and a picture frame on behalf of the Muir family.

The colours in the John Muir Tartan were chosen to represent what Muir first saw, and invited us all to see, long before man walked on the moon: the fragile earth spinning silently through infinite space.”

The designer, David McGill, likes to refer to Muir as the “First Citizen of the Universe.” A postcard of the Tartan and an imaginary letter from Muir to his wife Louie were distributed at the photographic exhibition of the photographer Ken Paterson “In the Footsteps of John Muir” at Federal Hall in New York City in April 2013.

 

John Muir- Three Days That Saved The World

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david mcgill, earth preservation, International Tartans, john muir, Roosevelt, scotland, Yosemite

THREE DAYS THAT SAVED THE WORLD

Thoughts on the death of John Muir, Christmas Eve, 1914

John Muir’s earth

One of the most poignant of the stories that have emerged from the commemorations marking the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War is the one about German and British troops laying down their arms and emerging from their trenches to exchange greetings and share rations on the Western Front on Christmas Eve 1914. Some even say that a football match took place though evidence is scant. If it did, what a pity it wasn’t a game played for two years each way. Football could then truly have justified its claim to be ‘the beautiful game’. The sad irony is that this spontaneous outburst of goodwill lasted for only a few hours and foresaw four years of senseless slaughter and destruction resulting in the deaths of tens of millions, leaving much of central Europe as a vast wasteland.

Against this background the peaceful death of one man some 6000 miles away seems relatively insignificant, but John Muir was no ordinary human being, for his legacy was the prevention of even more senseless destruction in the name of so-called ‘progress’. Although much of what he preached about the conservation of our natural heritage only came into being after his passing, nevertheless his influence is felt to this day. And we can be thankful for that.

It is said that ‘history teaches fools’ and ‘those who forget it (history) are doomed to repeat it’. And doomed we might have been if not for this eccentric genius and a remarkable three days spent by two men in the wilderness of North America.

John Muir was born in Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland in 1838 and emigrated with his family to the United States of America in 1848. Throughout his life he developed an ever-growing fondness wild places and wild creatures. Largely self-taught this son of East Lothian became a poet, philosopher, preacher, inventor and mountaineer, as well as an expert in the fields of botany and geology.

His journeys into the vast wilderness of 19^th.Century America brought him to discover the oneness and order of the natural world in which ‘every rock, plant and animal is a golden thread in the infinite fabric of life, and from which no fibre can be pulled without spoiling the whole.’

‘When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with all the other stars, all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty. This show is eternal.’

This extraordinary man, regarded today as the ‘Father of Conservation’, was truly ahead of his time. His passionate concern for the future of our planet, allied to a unique clarity of thought and expression, enabled him to influence the world’s most powerful men. His legacy in the form of America’s National Parks is there for all to see and enjoy. There is no actual record of their conversations, but perhaps by sprinkling a little Muir-esque imagination into what we do know, we can glean how they might have felt and corresponded.

        Scenes from Yosemite

The following postcard was written by John Muir to his wife Louisa at their family home in Martinez, California. Muir was spending two nights in the wilderness of Yosemite with President Teddy Roosevelt.

 

It is generally understood that it was this ‘adventure’ that persuaded Roosevelt to introduce the concept of ‘National Parks’ in the USA.

The following postcard was written by President Roosevelt to John Muir a few weeks after he returned to Washington:

The John Muir tartan was created in 1998 by David McGill for the 150th anniversary of John Muir’s arrival in the United States and was launched at a reception in the San Francisco Bay area City of Pleasanton in 2002 when Muir’s grand-son accepted an inscribed tartan clock and picture frame on behalf of the Muir family. It is registered on the Scottish Tartan Register No.2682.

The colours in the John Muir Tartan were chosen to represent what Muir first saw, and invited us all to see, long before man walked on the moon: the earth spinning silently through infinite space.” The postcards to his wife Lousia, depicted above were distributed at the exhibition – “In the Footsteps of John Muir” –  by Scottish photographer Ken Paterson at Federal Hall in New York City in April 2013. Framed copies of Ken Paterson’s photographs are available and can be seen at www.kenpaterson.co.uk. The latest exhibition in his ‘Famous Scots’ series is on Thomas Blake Glover and is currently on display in the Scottish Parliament.

 

 

 

John Muir and his way

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david mcgill, International Tartans, john muir

Would John Muir be a fan of the John Muir Way, the pathway across Scotland from his birthplace of Dunbar to Helensburgh on the west coast, which opened this year to commemorate the centenary of his death? On reflection, I’m sure he wouldn’t be. I think he would have preferred that the John Muir Trust had been given the funds to extend their control over the wild lands of Scotland. But he might have been flattered by the recognition. Perhaps the title John Muir Path would have been more appropriate than John Muir Way, because it certainly wouldn’t have been his way

As a preservationist rather than a conservationist Muir spoke of the ‘wilderness’ as something of intrinsic value in its self; ‘the sublimity of nature’. An artificial trail that smacks suspiciously of ‘tourism’ and requires a bicycle, would not have been the John Muir way.

When in 1998 his grandson Ross Hanna accepted the John Muir tartan on behalf of the family he was very complimentary about the background notes to the design which he said ‘ captured the essence of his grandfather’s philosophy’.

John Muir was born in Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland in 1838 and emigrated with his family to the United States of America in 1848. Throughout his life he developed an ever-growing fondness wild places and wild creatures. Largely self-taught this son of East Lothian became a poet, philosopher, preacher, inventor and mountaineer, as well as an expert in the fields of botany and geology.

His journeys into the vast wilderness of 19^th. Century America brought him to discover the oneness and order of the natural world in which ‘every rock, plant and animal is a golden thread in the infinite fabric of life, and from which no fibre can be pulled without spoiling the whole.’

                                                                                        

‘When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with all the other stars, all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty. This show is eternal.’

 

This extraordinary man, regarded today as the ‘Father of Conservation’, was truly ahead of his time. His passionate concern for the future of our planet, allied to a unique clarity of thought and expression, enabled him to influence the world’s most powerful men. His legacy in the form of America’s National Parks is there for all to see and enjoy.

 

The JOHN MUIR tartan was woven to celebrate the 150^th. Anniversary of his arrival in America, and the colours chosen to represent what he first saw, and invited us all to see, long before man walked on the moon: “…the fragile earth spinning silently through infinite space.”

 

To mark the centenary of his death this year the American Scottish Foundation are staging an exhibition in the HQ of the US National Park service in Washington of twenty-five  stunning photographs  taken in Yosemite by Scottish photographer Ken Paterson.  In support International tartans have produced two pieces of creative writing both done in postcard form; one from John Muir to his wife Louisa describing his night in the wilderness of Yosemite alone with President Teddy Roosevelt, and the other from Roosevelt to John Muir as he sat in the Oval Office reflecting on that same experience.