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This is the study, or “scribble den,” where John Muir worked from 1890 until his death in 1914, producing some of the classics of American nature writing.

Why should man value himself as more than a small part of the one great unit of creation?
 
 
 

The metal cup on the desk, easily hung on a belt, was a badge of membership in the Sierra Club, which Muir co-founded in 1892.

In the bowl on the mantle were balls of dried bread; Muir’s snack food.

I never saw a discontented tree. They grip the ground as though they liked it …

Martha Jane Canary was born on this date in 1851 or 1852 or 1856.

In June of 1876 Calamity Jane returned to Laramie from the second Crook expedition. She celebrated with the soldiers and was jailed for drunkenness. Colorado Charlie Utter’s wagon train stopped at Laramie on the way to the Black Hills, and it was suggested they take Calamity Jane with them. Her most illustrious fellow traveler on the train was Wild Bill Hickok. It was perhaps their first meeting. It is likely that Wild Bill and Calamity Jane were acquainted but they were not romantically involved. Hickok was a recently married man, and Calamity Jane’s companion on the trip was Charlie’s brother, Steve Utter.

Upon arriving in Deadwood in July of 1876, Hickok and others set up camp, but Calamity Jane went downtown and became a dance hall celebrity, frequenting E.A. Swearengen’s Gem Theater. She worked as a prostitute and dance hall girl in Deadwood and briefly managed a house of her own. Despite the fact that she was a coarse woman, adept at profanity, and drunk a great deal of the time, Calamity Jane was also known for her kindness. Deadwood’s Dr. Babcock referred to her as “brave” because she helped nurse the ill during the 1878 smallpox epidemic. She was reported to donate food to the needy as well.

Calamity Jane stayed in the Black Hills for three years following Wild Bill’s death. After 1880 she spent most of her time in Wyoming and Montana, visiting the Black Hills again briefly in 1885-86 and finally returning in 1903. She died in Terry, a small mining town near Deadwood, from complications due to alcohol poisoning on August 1, 1903. She is buried in Mount Moriah Cemetery next to Wild Bill Hickok.

Adams Museum & House – Calamity Jane

Ah, the importance of worshipful friends or family in building a legend.

John Luther Jones from Cayce (pronounced Cay-see), Kentucky, famous to us through song as a brave engineer who romantically died trying to make up time. In truth, he crashed his locomotive at high speed into a freight train that was attempting to get out of the way on a siding. According to reports he failed to heed warning signals that were out. The accident took place early in the morning of April 30, 1900. Jones was the only fatality.

Jones was known for his affability and his skill in blowing a train whistle. His engine wiper, Wallace Saunders, reportedly idolized the engineer. Saunders wrote the original song.

All you might want to know can be found in this 1928 article.

George Washington took office as the first President of the United States on this date in 1789. Because neither the House nor Senate achieved a quorum until April, Washington’s unanimous election on February 4, wasn’t made official until April 14. Washington immediately departed Mount Vernon for New York to take the oath and was met along the way with parades and dinners in every little town.

As Madison noted, Washington was about the only aspect of the new government that really appealed to people.

Louisiana was admitted to the Union as the 18th state on April 30, 1812.

The Louisiana state tree is the bald cypress, the state flower the magnolia and the state bird the eastern brown pelican. It’s the only state without counties, having 64 parishes instead. It’s lowest point is 8 feet below sea level (only California has a lower point); the highest elevation is 535 feet (only two states have a lower high point, Delaware and Florida).

Leader of the Union forces, eighteenth President of the United States, and memoir writer par excellence, Ulysses S. Grant was born on this date in 1822.

The Library of Congress has a worthwhile profile of the person they call a “quiet, unassuming, and keenly intelligent man.”

The White House biography is here.