Forest and Industry John Muir in Indianapolis

Abstract

Indianapolis, Indiana, played a central part in John Muir’s turn from mechanical inventions—which he never completely left behind—towards the wilderness. Evidence for the significance of the Hoosier capital is found in Muir’s correspondence from the city, in the social connections he forged, and even in the botanical specimens he gathered there. Muir’s Indianapolis experience may appear to have been what ultimately cemented the binary of wilderness wandering and industrial development for him, but the synthesis that he originally went looking for leaves much more open for investigation. What can Muir’s vacillation
between the two say to us today, when the relationship between industrial production and romantic environmentalism
is as complex as ever?