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Show 397. the Sequoia and Redwood. He committed h i s f i n a l crime when he asserted: "There i s n o t h i n g in C a l i f o r n i a t h a t i s more picturesque than one of t h e s e redwood logging camps." Apparently the t r e e w a s n ' t p i c t u r e s q u e , but the k i l l i n g of it was. This s o r t of t h i n g from the pen of a w r i t e r whom Muir no doubt helped. Shinn r e f e r r e d to Muir's a r t i c l e on Sequoia forests, as well as one w r i t t e n by Asa Gray in 1872, and I have l i t t l e doubt t h a t t h i s m a t e r i a l was supplied to him by Muir. But then, what could one expect from a San Francisco journalist who thought the gold rush was a " c l a s s i c a l and heroic background for modern l i f e ? " It i s t r u e t h a t Muir was so far ahead of h i s fellow C a l i f o r n i a n s , so far removed from the s e l f - c e n t e r e d view of the r i s i n g c i v i l i z a t i o n they thought they were producing, t h a t he simply could not depend on a group e f f o r t when i t came t o w r i t i n g about the s t a t e of the West. PICTURES AND PARKS But he t r i e d . He proposed, in b r i e f paragraphs, that Shasta and i t s environment be made i n t o a National Park, that the f o r e s t s in Oregon be " p r o t e c t e d for public use forever" as Parks. He continued to complain about the "improvements" in Yosemite, r a i l i n g a g a i n s t the s o - c a l l e d "mending" of Nevada Palls. He p o i n t e d to the d i s a s t r o u s e f f e c t s of predator extermination in Oregon which l e d to the e x t i n c t i o n of many |