John Muir's Walk Through the South

John Muir, Father of National Parks, and His Walk through the South

By Marilyn Turk

 It's vacation time and thousands of people are flocking to our national parks. We are blessed in this country to have so many wonderful parks to visit, but have you ever wondered who was responsible for these parks? You might think the government, the Congress, or the President, but most of the credit can go to one man whose passion influenced the aforementioned entities.
 

His name was John Muir, and you might recognize him as founder of the Sierra Club or the namesake of Muir Woods - California Redwood Forest. He is also credited with being the father of our national parks. So how did that happen?

In 1867, 29-year-old John Muir lived in Indiana and worked in a factory that made wagon wheels. When a tool he was using slipped and hit his eye, he was blind for several months. Yet, he regained his sight six months later and with it, a desire to follow his dream of studying botany, a subject he’d enjoyed in college. During his months without sight, Muir feared being “closed forever to God’s beauty,” called the healing “a resurrection,” and planned to “devote the rest of my life to the study of the inventions of God.”

 

Setting out in September 1867, the young man embarked on a trip to Florida, writing about it in his book A Thousand Miles to the Gulf. Without a particular route to follow, he wandered through the war-torn states of the South. Such a trip in today’s times seems risky, but in post-Civil War, it was especially dangerous.

 

With no GPS, no car, and no place to stay, Muir walked through woods and fields recording the flora and fauna he saw along the way. In a light rucksack, he carried a plant press, a leather-bound journal, pencils, and a New Testament. He walked 15 to 20 miles a day, as he described “led by the Spirit,” enjoying the variety of plant life, often sketching it in his journal.

 

Muir saw first-hand the ravages of war on the countryside, resulting in a wariness of Southerners to Northern strangers like himself. He was often refused food and lodging, warned about murderous “mountain men,” and had to rely on the mercy of poor farmers for simple rations and a place to stay.

 

Through the mountains of Tennessee across Georgia, Muir traveled, avoiding people as necessary, spending many nights on the ground. From Savannah he boarded a steamship to Fernandina, Florida and from there he walked across the state through pine forests, spiky palmetto, and swamps, ending up at Cedar Keys on the Gulf of Mexico. Muir desired to continue on to South America, but had to wait until a ship headed that way came into port. To pay for his passage, he took a job at a lumber mill, but days later, collapsed with malaria and was taken in by the mill manager's family while he recuperated.

 

It took three months for him to recover and leave for Cuba, but after his trip to Havana, he decided to change his course and head west for a drier climate. And that’s where he spent the rest of his life, discovering Yosemite and writing about the need to conserve the wilderness. His letters to Congress encouraged them to pass the National Park bill in 1890. He founded the Sierra Club in 1892, an organization devoted to protecting the environment. A prolific writer, Muir wrote over 300 articles and 12 books. Thanks to his passion for preservation, we can now enjoy parts of our world still unspoiled by the encroachment of civilization.

 

 
 
So, what are your favorite parks? Are you planning to visit them this summer?

Where Would We Be Without Electricity by Debbie Lynne Costello

Giveaways everyday in March and a drawing for a Kindle and a $25 Amazon gift card at the end of March

So when was the discovery of electricity? Care to take a guess?  I bet a lot of you said 1752 when Benjamin Franklin flew his kite and key. What would you say if I told you it was actually 600 BC? A man name Thales of Miletus wrote about rubbing two amber rods together and them becoming charged. What he was describing was static electricity. Then in 1600 William Gilbert, an English scientist coined the word electricity. 1660 brought the invention of a machine that made static electricity and things just snowballed from there. Europe and America were making discoveries about this new power source by leaps and bounds.

But when did we actually start really using electricity. Although they were learning it wasn’t until the 1870’s that all their work started coming to fruition. In 1879 electric lights were first used for lighting street lamps in Cleveland, Ohio. That same year in San Francisco a power company began selling electricity to customers. But they could power less than 2 dozen arc lights.

1881 brought the electric street cars and as most know in 1882 Edison opened the Pearl Street Power Station of New York City. Edison was able to light 5000 bulbs! I find that amazing when just 2 years earlier another company could only light 21.

And from then on the inventions and improvements were coming yearly.

Electric power houses had to be built in cities in the 1880’s where they could get power to the street lights and in to very select homes. People of power and wealth were the fortunate ones to receive electricity. So technically it was the 1879 that homes got power but that was such a minute amount of the population even into the 80’s it could hardly be counted. And remember you had to live in the city for that to be a possibility.

Even as electricity progressed into the 1890’s there still was not that many homes with power, mostly the affluent. Restaurants, hotels, industry, and street lights used most of the power. But things were progressing and by the mid 90’s several power companies had laid 20 miles of wire! I think oh my goodness. I drive that far to go to the store but 20 miles was really a big deal back then and they were quite proud of those 20 miles of wire. 

The thing is most homes were already built. Can you imagine wiring a house that never had electricity? None of those holes or wires are anywhere. It’s not like today when a house needs to be rewired you just pull them through as you tug the old ones out. Nope, didn’t have that luxury. So that was a factor. But as the 19^th century turned to the 20^th century the new houses being built had electricity. Life was about to change forever.

                                             By Sergei Prokudin-Gorskii - This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs divisionunder the digital ID ppmsc.04414.This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing for more information., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2823428

By the 1920’s almost every major city across the nation had power stations to supply their cities with electricity and by 1930 most large city or town residents were blessed with light bulbs instead of gas lamps.

 However, if you were a rural farmer you might still be running by batteries and crude stoves as you awaited the lines to be run out to remote places. Only 10% of farmers had electricity in the 30’s.  Power companies were privately owned and they were there to make money. Running miles of wires out to a farm didn’t seem economically sound. Not to mention they didn’t believe the poor farmers would pay them. By 1939 the number of farmers with electricity had risen to 25%.

So now onto the place I love. Charleston, SC. Just a few quick tidbits of information. Okay I can’t make anything about Charleston short…but I can try..

In 1881 The Charleston Company was organized by a group of local businessmen. In the summer of 1882 they purchased land on Queen Street and by September they had completed their central-station building. Within one year the company had gained private customers, strung wires along two streets, provided electricity to two textile mills, and the Agricultural Hall. In 1883 they told the city how they could light a city street in Charleston and even demonstrated it. But alas, City Council voted to stick with the tried and true gas lamps (you don’t suppose they had lobbyists back then do you?)

A year later the company went out of business. Yikes! What happens when the only power company in town goes out of business? Yep, that’s right you don’t get power. So all those people who were relying on their electricity to run their business or light their home suddenly found themselves in the dark. ;o)  It took two years before the enlightened city of Charleston would have electricity again. A contract was given that all the principle streets would be lit by electricity and the side streets by gas.

And now for the answer you’ve all been wondering your whole life—Who invented the Christmas tree lights? The answer is—Edward Johnson an inventor and business associate of Thomas Edison was the first person to come up with the electric Christmas tree lights in 1882. J

I'm giving away a bath basket to one lucky winner and a 19th century hand made bracelet to another. Leave a comment to be entered. Follow this blog for a second entry. Tweet it and Facebook today's post for another 1 point each. Be sure and let me know if you are following, tweeted or FB so I can give you the extra entries. Four entries possible!

And don't forget we are giving away a Kindle and a $25 Amazon gift card
For each day you comment on CFHS you receive one entry in the kindle and $25 Amazon gift card giveaway. Comment on every post in the month of March and earn 31 entries!

Southern Coastal History and the Lighthouse Lady

                                  Writing to Inspire, Encourage and Enlighten



The Early Bird gets the fish?

Hi. I’m Marilyn Turk, and I’d love to tell you about all the published books I have for you to read. I’d really love to, however, I can’t. Yet. My books are still waiting to find just the right home so that my future readers will have the exciting opportunity to read them. So let me just say I am very honored to be part of this esteemed group of writers!

Unlike many of the writers on this blog, I have not spent my whole life wanting to write a book, but I wrote – in my diary mostly. English was always easy for me, and I thought it was for everyone, so I chose a career in sales, which seemed more exciting. Shame on me, I didn’t appreciate the gift God had given me to write until much, much later. Meanwhile, the books I loved to read were historical fiction, allowing me to travel backwards through time. I pictured myself in the settings, imagining what it was like to live during those periods.

Sunrise on the Bayou

I’m a southern gal, having lived in Louisiana, Georgia and Florida, so I know Southern. I know boys too, having birthed three and now have three grandsons. My husband and I live near the Gulf of Mexico where we enjoy the beauty of the coastal environment and its fish and fowl, whether boating, kayaking or fishing. I also love to play tennis, even though I’m a very late bloomer to the sport.

 

 At first I had no plans to write a book. But my interest in the Civil War fueled my exploration of history about the places where I’ve lived, and soon, my mind started asking “What if…?” So my research collided with my creativity and the seed of a book idea was planted. While working on my first book, more book ideas took root, so I now have two novels finished, with more to follow. Naturally, I write Southern coastal historical fiction. So far, each book features a lighthouse, which represents another of my passions. My website, http://pathwayheart.com, based on Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet, a light to my path,” has a lighthouse blog where each week I post a story about a lighthouse and relate it to a scripture.

St. Marks Lighthouse, Florida

My short stories and devotionals have been published in a variety of magazines including Guideposts, as well as, books. One of them, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Devotional Stories for Tough Times, will be given away in a March drawing.







                                                 


Sunset on the Bayou

                         I am thankful to be represented by Joyce Hart, Hartline Literary Agency.