Laura Lyon White (April 12, 1839 – January 18, 1916) was an American activist, best known for founding the California Club, working to preserve groves of redwoods in California, and promoting the City Beautiful movement. She wrote several pieces for the Overland Monthly in the later years of the 19th-century and was an ardent suffragist. White brought pragmatism to the causes that she championed. Working in an era when women had not yet secured the right to vote, she used her affluence and social status to accomplish her goals and to promote the protection of nature and the improvement of life for city dwellers. Unlike John Muir, White did not draw a sharp distinction between natural and urban beauty, and she saw a place for economic development, so long as its excesses were moderated. She "was willing to abide by the social norms of her time while nevertheless using those norms to further her own aims," and hence moved forward the responsibility and influence of women in public life. Early life and family Laura Lyon was born on April 12, 1839, near French Lick, Indiana. Her father was Jonathan Lyon, a prosperous flour mill owner. Shortly after her birth, the family moved to Fort Des Moines in Iowa. White was an unruly, adventurous, independent teenager. She persuaded her family to enable her to attend college, and she enrolled in the literature program of Ohio's Oberlin College in 1856. White did not graduate, but rather returned to Des Moines in 1858 and became active in town society. She helped plan celebrations to mark the town's selection as the state capital. She met Lovell White, a banker, in 1857, and the couple were soon engaged to be married. Shortly after their marriage, the financial panic of 1857 forced Lovell into bankruptcy in March 1858. Seeking better opportunities, the couple moved to California in the fall of 1859. They began their new life in the rough-and-tumble California Gold Rush mining camp of French Corral, California in the Sierra Nevada foothills. The Whites went on to operate a general store there for five years. The gold deposits in this area were not accessible by conventional techniques. However, the newly-developed method of hydraulic mining was successfully used here. This mining practice had severe adverse effects on the surrounding forests and watershed. Her first two children were born in French Corral, but both died early in