Many believe that London not only uses the setting to paint a pretty background picture, but also uses it as the building blocks for his theme and an outlet for his thoughts and ideas. When London first describes the canyon he paints a picture of a beautiful place where the leaves and flowers were fresh and virginal. This passage implies that the beauty of the flowers is pure and untouched by any blemish. This idea can also be found at the heart of .

             many philosophies of environmental groups. The whole first couple of pages of this story are filled with descriptions such as the one above. These descriptions of the early setting set a mood of tranquility, which again coincides with the ideas of the modern radicals. Later London describes the setting as actually being alive and having human attributes :.

             the drifting sound and the drifting color seemed to weave together in the making of a delicate and intangible fabric which was the spirit of the place. It was a spirit of peace that was no death, but of smooth pulsing life. .

             Just as Green Peace or Earth First, London portrays a feeling that the environment which people take for granted is alive. London goes as far as to convey that nature actually has a spirit or a soul. It is through the details like these that one can pick up the core ideas of radical preservation groups, which existed even before their time.

             Another way the reader can see the similarities in the views is through the contrast of the canyon in the beginning and when the miner is present. The once tranquil and pure atmosphere is tainted by the clash of steel-shod soles against the rocks. When the miner entered the canyon the spirit of the place fled away on the heels of the red-coated buck. Just from those two small passages one could determine that London probably believed that it was humanity that ruined the innocence of nature, just as the radical groups believe.