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Show 444. that it was not important who got credit for good works. What was important was that good works were done, in California and in Washington. It was unimportant whether the public ever credited Muir with the idea of Yosemite, just as it was unimportant whether the public entertained a "true" image of him. If they wanted him to be John-O-Mountains, Kenmuir, Saint Francis, a western Thoreau, or John the Baptist, that was fine. If they wanted to hear the "life and adventures," he could on occasion provide a thrilling narrative of a ride on an avalanche. He needed all the friends he could get, since protecting the woods was the important goal. So he learned to live his own mythical role when in public. That artificial role became as real to the public, and to the Sierra Club, as his picturesque descriptions had seemed when printed in Scribner's and Century, because Muir took a pose and spoke a language his audience wanted to hear. So many still believe that Muir was in the end crucified by his defeat at Hetch Hetchy and died of a broken heart. Well, perhaps we should not destroy that fiction; history ought to remember the damming of Hetch Hetchy as a crime, ought to be reminded that such a scheme could break hearts. After all, building the Hetch Hetchy dam was a step toward death. And so there is nothing fanciful or vulgar about Muir's artifice, in his writing or in his public demeanor. The California he described was constructed increasingly as a mirror for an America which wanted to believe it had a future. And the persona he established might be a useful kind of model. |