The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1911-06-15

"a the poet of the Serras,' so
N far recovered from recent
A. Illness which threatened TO
prove fatal that he was able
to return with his wife and daughter
to his home on the heights overlook
ing Oakland and San Francisco bay,
yet his friends entertain little hope
that he will ever be fully restored to
health. lie is now in his SEVENTEEN
year Previous TO his last Illness he
had been separated from his wife for
thirty years, but the danger of his
death happily reunited them, and now
the aged poet is spending the re-
mainder of his days amid his well be-
loved hills. on the spot where he has
created n characteristic home, called
The Heights. His massive frame has
weakened, his once keen eyes are
dim, his flowing hair and beard are
white, and the physicians who have
climbed the wooded hills to minister
to him declare there is little If any
hope-that 1t is merely a matter OF
a few weeks when Joaquin Miller will
have been gathered 10 his fathers.
His ashes, according to his wish, will
be scattered to the winds from the
pyre In the hills back of The Heights,
which marks the last resting place OF
/ his daughter, Maud, who died several
/ years ago. The reunion with his wife
! may prolong his days. and the care
that his other daughter, Juanita. be-
stows upon him may build up his with
cred strength a little, but there Is
hardly more than a shell for them to
I nurse.
Perhaps nc more picturesque figure
is extant in the literary history of
California and the west than Joaquin
Miller He Is a distinct type. seem
ingly inseparable from the environ
b. ment in which he has lived these
twenty years or more. He has gath
cred inspiration from the rolling
green hills, from the ruddy sunsets,
from the blue Pacific waters, from the
fog banks that roll In with the night
fall, from the vista OF land and sea as
seen from his eyrie on The Heights,
from the Golden Gate and the shadowy
ships that sail through It into the rim
of the horizon and are lost in the
vapor's pail.
He has been, perhaps. too familiar
TO the residents of Oakland and
neighboring suburbs to create the In
terest that he would If he should sud
denly appear In some eastern city
clad in his high top boots. buckskin
clothing and wide brimmed sombrero
with his curly hair flowing from be
meath it's brim.
Even to this day, or perhaps II
should be said up to the time of his
Illness, Joaquin Miller retained his
grace and commanding aspect. He
has lived much out of doors and has
been Drowned by suns. With his owl
hands he has planted the hundreds o.
trees that surround the little collec
ton of houses, the chapel and the
funeral pyre, which constitute TIL,
Heights
few years ago the poets mothe
died at the age OF ninety. There wa
strikingly beautiful attachment be
tween the two. and since her dealt
the decline has set in which Is tn,
basis of his present illness.
More than twenty years ago." Nil
Ter wrote In an article published SOM
time ago, Il sat down here on noun
tain side with mother and began Il
plant trees Men and women came Il
work and to rest with us, men anC
women from colleges and universl
ties No one was asked to come-n,
one was ever asked to go.
More than twenty years ago. Will,
feeling my way along here and try
ing to use what little common sens
then had, ! wrote a small book, 'Th,
Building Of the City Beautiful
you want 10 see San Francisco
Well, you musC come 10 Oakland; ant
do you want to see Oakland and San
Francisco and the bay of all bays oil
the globe, and the Golden Gate, at
glance and all together? Then yol
must go two miles to the northeas
and then half mile perpendicular
In short, you must come TO Tn
Heights. TO the camp where Fremon
tented half century ago, and to tn
spot from which he viewed and nance
the now famous Golden Gate, long be
fore gold was found "
The real name OF the poet is Cir
cinnatus Heine Miller. The pseudonyn
Joaquin" was derived from his de
tense of the Mexican bandit. Joaquin
Murietta. many years ago.
Miller was born in the Wabash dis
trlct Of Indiana on November 10, 1S4l
and in 1854 was taken TO oregon b