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John Muir's View (2026)
There roadside marker in Poynette that describes the undulating driftless as "John Muir View" reminding passers-by of the naturalist's hikes from his family homestead in Marquette County to the University in Madison. The marker sits at a spot where evolution of the region is still visible through its buildings: dilapidated small farms (like Muir's family homesteads in Fountain Lake and Hickory Hill) were first cut into the wilderness, forested before Muir's parents arrived.
The homesteads were connected by grain elevators and rail roads. Parallel paths and wagon trails were paved. Muir's hike to the University was shortened in time by this development, it is also cheapened. Signs have to be erected to remind us to look around at our natural surroundings.
Muir's view also changed as the forest which became homesteads consolidated from family farms to agricultural business. Another consolidation happened in the market towns, as places like Montello become incorporated communities with full time townspeople. The surrounding farmland consolidated and some was parceled into green energy and transmission lines.
From Muir's View a fourth regional development is in progress after homesteading, agribusiness and energy. This concerns expansion of Wisconsin Idea's administrative city. Madison absorbs many state wide resources and the resulting glut of capital and labor has caused suburban and exurban development along Muir's hike. It hasn't quite arrived at the monotonous ripples of monocrops, dairy farms, whirring turbines and reflecting monocrystalline that replaced the generation of homesteaders. Approaching are town homes, shopping complexes and parking lots radiating from Madison's Beltline.
Of course, Muir saw this change approaching in his walks to and from campus. One purpose of the National Parks movement was supposed to preserve beautiful places from the insatiable scourge of development. Two other, more cynical, purposes are federalizing the indigenous commons and nationalizing resource deposits.
photo credit:
"Muir at age 73 March 29, 1912" LOC catalog 91784654. public domain via date.
sources:
Wisconsin Historical Society (Marker #29) "John Muir View" 43° 22.778′ N, 89° 23.735′ W (Poynette, WI), 1955. via [hmdb.org].