John Thomas. The John Muir Trust.

Our speaker was John Thomas from the John Muir Trust.

He told us that John Muir was born in Dunbar in 1838 and moved to the US at the age of 12. His father only told him they were moving the night before! The youngster was quite pleased at this realising he would not have to go to school the next day!

They settled in Wisconsin to work on the land and were very religious people. The only book allowed in the house was the bible. At 22 John left home to go to university. He walked to the Gulf of Mexico exploring the land as he went. He then went to New York and on by train to San Francisco. He decided he did not like cities and went to Yosemite. He loved the forests and studied glaciation. He was able to show where glaciers had been in the past.

Later he married and ran his father-in-law’s fruit farm for 10 years. Following that he explored Alaska.  As he got older he did a great deal of writing and was the founder of The National Park Service. These parks now exist in most countries of the world. He met US President Theodore Roosevelt in Yosemite and spent 3 Days with him. The president was a strong supporter of the National Parks movement.

John Muir died in 1914

The club’s vote of thanks was given by Jim West