John Miur and the Fight for Hetch Hetchy

John Miur and the Fight for Hetch Hetchy

In the late nineteenth century, John Miur, a famous American Conservationist, even at an old age was still very involved in American conservationism. In the Hetch Hetchy arguments, the people of San Francisco and John Muir both argue over whether or not to build a damn in a valley in the Sierra Mountains known as the Hetch Hetchy Valley. The people of San Francisco argue that it was essential to build a reservoir to give San Francisco a stable water supply and that such a sight would be easily acquired because it was public land. They even claimed that building a dam wouldn't detriment the Hetch Hetchy Valleys beauty at all, but rather compliment it even more.

However, John Miur retorts by saying that although people may have physical needs such as thirst, people also have a spiritual need. Miur argues that people fulfill such a need by being surrounded by nature and basking in it. He also argues that there are many other suitable places to construct a dam and claims that such needs to demolish such a divine place such as Hetch Hetchy Valley is purely of commercial interest. Finally he criticized the idea of adding beauty to the valley by building such a dam by retorting that covering the valleys floor completely demolishes all beauty to the valley for it destroys nature itself.

Muir fought the Hetch Hetchy battle to its very end, writing and publishing his articles in newspapers and magazines and millions saw, but in December 1913 Miur lost the battle when congress passed the notion to begin construction on the dam. Miur fought long and hard to conserve the valley, however he did make a tremendous contribution to the conservationist movement by causing the majority of America to be aware of the beautiful wilderness around them and how slowly but surely, it is fading away.