Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1911-05-17

yet E1S AI4GuuS cuISIld4u Alt10 uOpe
that he will ever be fully restored to
health. He 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 b.
loved hills, on the spot where he has
created characteristic home. called
The Heights. His massive frame has
weakened, his once keen eyes ara
dim, his flowing hair and beard arc
white, and the physicians who have
climbed the wooded hills to minister
to him declare there is little if any
hope-that it is merely a matter Of
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-
slows upon him may build ur his with
cred strength little, but there is
hardly more than a shell for them to
nurse.
Perhaps no 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
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 eyre on The Heights
from the Golden Gate and the shadowy
ships that sail through it into the rim
of the horizon and sye 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 its brim.
Even to this day, or perhaps it
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 own
hands he has planted the hundreds OF
trees that surround the little collec
ton Of houses. the chapel and the
| funeral pyre, which constitute The
Heights.
A few years ago the poets mother
died at the age of ninety. There va.
strikingly beautiful attachment be
tween the two, and since her dealt
the decline has set in which is thu
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 a noun
tain side with mother and began t,
plant trees. Men and women came t,
work and to rest with us, men ant
women from colleges and universe
ties. No one was asked to come-n,
one was ever asked to 60.
more than twenty years ago. Will,
feeling my way along here and try
ing to use what little common sens
then had, wrote small book. TIL
Building Of the City Beautiful
you want to see San Francisco
Well, you must come to Oakland; an
do you want to SEQ Oakland and Sal
Francisco and the bay Of all bays O.
the globe. and the Golden Gate, at
glance and all together? Then 70
must go two miles to the northeas
and then half mile perpendicular
In short. you must come to Til
Heights, to the camp where Fremon
tented half century ago. and to th
spot from which he viewed and name
the now famous Golden Gate, long b,
fore gold was found"
The real name Of the poet Is CT,
cinnatus Heine Miller. The pseudony,
Joaquin was derived from his d
Tense of the Mexican bandit, Joaqui
Murietta. many years ago.
Miller was born In the Wabash li
trict of Indiana on November 10, 1874
and In 1854 was taken to Oregon b
his father. He had little schoalin
and early ran away from home. goin
to the California gold fields. He a
companied Walker on the Nicaragu
expedition. lived among the Indian
and Spaniards on the coast Of Califo
MIA and became familiar with the
customs. He studied law, being gra
lated from Columbia college, In Or
son. In 1858. He practiced unsucces
fully In Idaho and turned expre'
messenger. In 1863 he settled in Or
gon and became editor Of ''The E
gene City Democratic Register" whis
was suppressed in the same year. ]
1864 Miller returned to the law al
practined IN Canyon City. Ore. He
he became popular, OWING TO his scr
- 9eaipst The .,xarlike SNAKE !