[Statement from John Muir.]

Authors

John Muir

Files

Kimes Entry Number

203A

Original Date

4-1-1896

William and Maymie Kimes Annotation

Under the title of "Plain Words to Californians" in the magazine's "Topics of the Time" department, the editor urges support for the recession of Yosemite Valley to the federal government. He quotes John Muir, who states: "The only downtrodden, dusty, frowsy-looking part of the Sierra within the boundaries of the National Park ... is the Yosemite, which ought to be the gem of the whole, the garden of all the gardens of the park." Muir compares the Valley as he first saw it to its state of deterioration, saying, "This beauty, so easily injured, has in great part vanished through lack of appreciative care, through making the finest meadows into hay-fields, and giving up all the rest of the floor of the valley to pastures for the saddle-animals kept for the use of tourists .... "He concludes that "management on the Government basis would be better than one ever fluctuating with the political pulse" referring, of course, to the state commission.

Publication

The Century Magazine, v. 51, no. 6

Page/Column

pp. 950-951

Recommended Citation

Muir, John, "[Statement from John Muir.]" (1896). John Muir: A Reading Bibliography by Kimes (Muir articles 1866-1986). 228.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmb/228