After a friend told Muir that Emerson was visiting the Yosemite area in May 1871, Muir wrote to the Sage at a nearby hotel. James Bradley Thayer, who accompanied Emerson on the trip to Yosemite, published a memoir, A Western Journey with Mr. Emerson (1884) in which he recalls Emerson received “an admiring, enthusiastic letter” from Muir on May 8. Muir invited Emerson to Yosemite to explore the forests and mountains. Emerson and his travelling companions met the outdoorsman the following day at Muir’s saw-mill in the valley. Thayer recalled Muir “was an interesting young fellow, of real intelligence and character” and recounted their time together.
Their conversation varied from literature to the various trees Muir pointed out, including the Sequoia. On horseback, the group rode through areas with fallen, burned out tree trunks. At one point, they rode through the charred remains of a tree, through a large hole in the trunk of a living tree, and estimated the largest of trunk remains they saw had a 33 foot diameter. By the end of their time together, the visitors could differentiate between sugar pines, yellow pines, and silver firs, and did not want to part with their new friend. Muir attempted to persuade Emerson to stay longer, however, Emerson’s health began declining around that time and he was unable to extend his visit. The Concordian invited Muir to New England, though it was declined because Muir did not want to step away from his study of California’s natural wonders.
Before departing Mariposa Grove, Emerson named a Sequoia after the Abenaki sagamore who met the Pilgrims, “Samoset,” and a sign was erected to commemorate the occasion. As of August 2024, following clues in Emerson’s writings and Muir’s drawings, some visitors believe they located Emerson’s “Samoset” tree, still standing although the original metal sign is gone.
In Muir’s copy of The Prose Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1869), annotations and flyleaf notes show how deeply Muir considered the Sage of Concord’s writings. Some Emerson passages are marked with Muir’s questions or disagreements. On the flyleaf, pages are noted with a word or phrase such as “8 in the woods is perpetual youth” and “139 opening of the spiritual senses” (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library).
Although Muir and Emerson became friendly, they are more often connected to Thoreau than each other. For example, in a posthumous tribute to Muir, Henry Fairfield Osborn reflects on his friend, writing:
This view was reiterated by one of Muir’s admirers, Alden Sampson, wrote “The Creating of Game Refuges” in a 1904 book of the Boone and Crockett club, American Big Game in its Haunts, contrasting Thoreau with Muir, wrote of Muir:
Just as Thoreau is forever linked to Walden Pond and Walden Woods, Muir is inseparable from the Yosemite Valley, Sierra Nevada, Alaskan glaciers, and other natural places that now bear his name. Yet Muir’s philosophical slant is imbued with Emerson’s tones, too. Near the back of the Dec. 1894 issue of Scribner’s Magazine, in an advertisement for Muir’s The Mountains of California (1894), Emerson is quoted as saying, “He is more wonderful than Thoreau.” However, the original context of this quote is hard to trace.
Continued: Comparisons to Thoreau
