John Muir

Explore Palm Springs: Naturalist John Muir Visits the Desert

Brings youngest daughter in hopes of relieving her severe respiratory condition

Renee Brown History

John Muir
Naturalist and preservationist John Muir came to Palm Valley (later known as Palm Springs) in 1905.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE PALM SPRINGS HISTORICAL SOCIETY

In an article published in the October 1948 Palm Springs Villager Magazine, Helen Lukens Gaut wrote a firsthand account of the 1905 visit to Palm Springs by John Muir, the naturalist, author and early advocate of wilderness preservation.

She recalled that Muir came to the desert in the hopes that his youngest daughter Helen, who suffered from a severe respiratory condition, would benefit from the hot, dry weather and the bubbling hot springs found in the tiny settlement of Palm Valley, which later became the city of Palm Springs.

She recalled that Dr. Welwood Murray, proprietor of the Palm Springs Hotel, received a telegram announcing that Muir would be arriving on the afternoon train. Muir requested that transportation be provided from the train station and that accommodations be provided at the hotel.

Murray, she recalled, went into action readying one of the cottages for Muir’s arrival. The hotel had been closed for the summer and a recent sandstorm had left a layer of sand that covered every inch of the grounds.

According to Gaut, Murray announced to his wife, “the Muirs are coming, three of them. They’re coming today.”

Elizabeth Murray, dismayed at the prospect of housecleaning, cooking and serving meals on such short notice, reluctantly shook her head and replied, “But we can’t get ready by this afternoon!”

Dr. Murray ran across the road to the Cahuilla reservation and returned with a young couple, Ramon and Amada, who Murray had hired to help get the hotel ready for these most important guests. She recalled that brooms, mops, buckets and soap appeared and everyone began getting rid of the dirt and the sand in the guest cottages.

Marcus Pete, a young Cahuilla man, was also summoned to take the stage, which Gaut described as a rickety, heat-shrunken uncovered wagon pulled by two shabby looking horses, to the train station to pick up the honored guests.

There are a multitude of ways to Explore Palm Springs, which turned 75 in 2013.

One of the more intriguing methods is by exploring Palm Springs history.

The Palm Springs Historical Society will share a weekly story whose time and place corresponds with today.

The Palm Springs Historical Society is located at 221 S. Palm Canyon Drive.

Visit www.pshistoricalsociety.org for more information.