1838
John Muir born April 21, Dunbar, Scotland
1849
Family emigrates to Wisconsin farm
1860
Leaves home; inventions win state fair prize; meets mentor Jeanne Carr
1860
Enters University of Wisconsin; Civil War begins
1862
Postpones studies to teach school; Thoreau, author of Walden, dies
1864
Moves to Canada; botanizes; works in sawmill. Man and Nature by George Perkins Marsh published
1866
Civil War ends; moves to Indiana; works in carriage factory
1867
Factory accident damages eye; takes 1,000-mile walk, Kentucky to Gulf of Mexico; writes first journal en route. His journal of the trip was published after his death
1868
Moves to California; first sight of Yosemite
1871
Finds glacier in Yosemite; meets Ralph Waldo Emerson there
1872
Begins writing for Overland Monthly magazine; Yellowstone National Park established
1874-76
Begins study of trees; advocates federal control of forests
1879
Travels to Alaska
1880
Second Alaska trip
1881
Alaska travels on the ship Corwin
1888
Health poor; climbs Mount Rainier; wife urges taking up conservation writing again
1889
Campaigns for a Yosemite National Park
1890
Writes Century magazine articles; Yosemite National Park established (without Yosemite Valley); explores what is now Muir Glacier in Glacier Bay, Alaska; U.S. census notes end of frontier
1892
Helps found Sierra Club; elected as its first president; forest reserves established in three western states
1893-94
Visits Europe; first book published, The Mountains of California
1896
Serves on Forestry Commission; honorary degree from Harvard
1898
Honorary degree from University of Wisconsin
1899
With scientific Harriman Expedition in Alaska
1901
Our National Parks published
1903-04
Camps in Yosemite with President Theodore Roosevelt; makes world tour; the first federal wildlife reserve established
1905
California cedes Yosemite Valley back to the federal government
1906
Explores Arizona and Petrified Forest
1908
Muir Woods National Monument established; begins fight against damming Yosemite National Park’s Hetch Hetchy Valley
1909
Stickeen published
1911
My First Summer in the Sierra published; travels to South American and Africa; honorary degree from Yale
1912
The Yosemite published
1913
The Story of My Boyhood and Youth published; Hetch Hetchy battle lost; honorary degree from University of California
1914
Dies December 24, age 76
2000
Creation of Sequoia National Monument continues Muir’s conservation agenda