John Muir

John Muir, Mirror Lake

My hero John Muir was born on April 12, 1836. In his life he did many amazing things that most people wouldn’t do. Unfortunately he died on Christmas Eve, 1914. His grave is in Martinez, CA, where he lived his last 24 years.

He also liked to invent things. He didn’t go to college and he was still able to make a desk that would set out a book and put it back every fifteen minutes. Too bad they didn’t make more of them.

He was the man that helped make Yosemite a national park. If he didn’t make Yosemite a park there might not be as much wild life, or it might be turned into a reservoir like HechHechy. He also founded the Sierra Club. The Sierra Club is an organization that helps and protects the Sierra Nevada Mountain range. He also fought to keep places like Yosemite in their natural state. He argued to keep HechHechy a valley like Yosemite, but lost because San Francisco needed more water.

All of these things didn’t just happen on their own though. He wrote articles in the newspaper trying to persuade people to respect the Sierra mountain range. He also wrote to the government saying to save the Sierras from mining and logging. He even took the president Teddy Roosevelt camping in the Sierras. He also had many wild adventures. Like when he survived a snow avalanche or when he almost got crushed by a glacier.

All in all I think that John Muir is a great man because he helped keep places to stay as close as they were before people came. He was also a very dedicated man because most of his life he was trying to save something natural and worth seeing.

That is why John Muir is my hero…