The world famous American naturalist and conservationist, John Muir, was born on April 21, 1838 in the town of Dunbar, Scotland. He was the son of Daniel and Anne Muir. At an early age of three Muir began to show his love for nature and in his later years as a teen he got into a habit of taking strolls through nearby forests and hills. When he was eight years old, his family emigrated from Scotland to a farm near Portage, Wisconsin. From the age of eleven till twenty-one, John Muir worked on his father's farm as an un-paid worker. At twenty-two he left home to exhibit his mechanical inventions at the State Fair in Madison, Wisconsin. There he received his first public recognition for his inventions by Wisconsin State Journal. His most well known invention was the study desk that retrieved a book, held it in place for the given period of time, and then automatically replaced it with another book. While at the fair, he met Jeanne Carr, the judge of the exhibits, and wife of Ezra Carr, a professor at University of Wisconsin. After attending the University of Wisconsin, Madison, for two and a half years he worked on mechanical inventions, but in 1867, when an industrial accident nearly cost him an eye-sight, he abandoned that career and devoted himself completely to nature. When John Muir began his career as a conservationist in the late 1880's, America was determined to a total consumption of the environment for commercial purposes, although, after Muir's death in 1914, the Nation was committed to a wise use of its natural resources. John Muir had many personal contacts with a variety of writers and philosophers of the time, as well as with President Cleveland and President Roosevelt. .
President Cleveland was moved into action after reading John Muir's publications. John Muir was an extraordinary writer because the words he put on paper came straight from the heart and placed an great effect on anyone who read it.