The Trip to California

Yosemite National Park. Photo by M. Gordinier.

In 1871, Ralph Waldo Emerson was invited to join John Murray Forbes—his daughter Edith’s father-in-law—and family on a train trip to California. Encouraged by his wife Lidian, daughter Ellen, and son Edward to make the journey, Emerson left Boston on April 11, 1871. His plan was to combine the trip with some lectures. 

The first stop of significance was Salt Lake City, Utah, where Emerson met Brigham Young—the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The meeting was brief but Young’s secretary recognized Emerson and remarked, “is this the justly celebrated Ralph Waldo Emerson?” From there the journey continued, and they arrived in San Francisco on April 21. Emerson gave four lectures in San Francisco, after which the party moved on to Yosemite Valley. 

Emerson was enthusiastic about California’s beauty, writing home, “if we were all young, -- as some of us are not – we might each of us claim his quarter-section of the Government, & plant grapes & oranges, & and never come back to your east winds & cold summers.” He spent ten days in the Yosemite and Mariposa regions and was filled with admiration of the beautiful mountains and trees. 

A young—and as yet relatively unknown—John Muir heard that Emerson was in Yosemite. Muir, a naturalist and champion of the creation of national parks, would later found the Sierra Club. He had read Emerson extensively, was greatly influenced by his writing, and requested a meeting, which was held on May 9. Muir then traveled with the Emerson party through Yosemite, giving him more time with the man he so admired. 

Muir later wrote of Emerson:

Emerson was the most serene, majestic, sequoia-like soul I ever met. His smile was as sweet and calm as morning light on Mountains. There was a wonderful charm in his presence; his smile, serene eye, his voice, his manner, were all sensed at once by everybody. I felt here was a man I had been seeking. The Sierra, I was sure, wanted to see him, and he must not go before gathering them an interview! A tremendous sincerity was his. He was as sincere as the trees, his eye sincere as the sun. 

Upon returning to San Francisco, Emerson gave two more lectures before heading home. He arrived back in Concord on May 30. That year, Emerson wrote a list of names in his journal headed “My Men;” it started with Thomas Carlyle and ended with John Muir. 

— B. Ewen, Emerson House guide