Submitted by Robert Burcher, author of “My Summer of Glorious Freedom: John Muir Saunters Around Southern Ontario in the Summer of 1864”.
There is a very special historical plaque on County Road #7 north of Kimberley, at the John Muir Epping Lookout. This Scottish immigrant, honoured as America’s first environmentalist, sauntered through the Beaver Valley in the 1800s.
Later in life, John Muir was the founder of the Sierra Club in the USA and formed the concept of a National Park with President Teddy Roosevelt.
During the American Civil War, Muir came to Canada as a draft dodger and found work at a sawmill in Trout Hollow. He lived with five other workers for two years in a primitive log cabin on the Big Head river upstream from Meaford. Muir was an incredible inventor and during his short time at the mill he was able to double the production of wooden agricultural implements.
A trained university botanist, Muir spent his free time collecting the wild flowers of the region. His collected and preserved botanical specimens indicate that he travelled throughout southern Ontario on his wanders. There is no doubt that he would have come to the Beaver Valley to witness Eugenia Falls and the cliffs of Old Baldy.
His time in Canada was abruptly terminated by a fire that burnt down the sawmill in Trout Hollow. On his return to the USA he helped to save the famous Yosemite Valley in California from destruction and continued to work tirelessly to advocate for the wilderness.
Related posts:
The Wickens Family in Kimberley, 1857 and on
Old Baldy Does Not Exist
The Geology of the Beaver Valley
Eugenia Historic Walking Tour
E. C. Carr Observatory
Growing a Resilient Future Using Local Seeds
Late Winter/Early Spring birds
Ramping Up for Spring
Citizen Scientists Monitor Plant Sales and Trails for Invasive Species
From Beaver Valley to the Oyamel Peaks: A Journey to the Heart of the Monarch Migration