John Muir, Wisconsin, and the Pelton Family 1860-1861

Abstract

The years of 1860-1863 planted fundamental spiritual seeds in the mental soil bed for a young man named John Muir which led to multi-dimensional growth in his later years. In Portage, Wisconsin, Muir grew into manhood alongside the expansion of the American frontier. While he plowed the lands and worked on his father's Fountain Lake farm his already strong appreciation for the natural wilderness grew and he invented time-saving devices so that he could have more time to toil among the crooks and crevices of the farm. He set out to display his inventions at the Wisconsin State Agriculture Fair in 1860, a path that would lead him to Prairie Du Chien and a hotel called the Mondell House where he met a family named the Peltons. He also formed a life-long relationship with Emily Pelton, their niece. This paper analyzes Muir's formative years between 1860-1861 using letters as the primary source. It also uses secondary sources to provide a background context to the events that defined these important years. The examination of these years is important to the understanding of Muir's inner development as a spiritual and environmental thinker and contributes to the understanding of Muir's youth and early manhood in Wisconsin.