Modoc Memories. A Visit to the Lava Beds by Muir the Geologist and Explorer - The Spot where Gen. Canby Fell - Sad Relics of the War. (From Our Special Correspondent.)

Authors

John Muir

Files

Kimes Entry Number

038

Original Date

12-28-1874

William and Maymie Kimes Annotation

Of the lava beds made famous by the Modoc War, Muir writes: ""They are about as destitute of soil as a glacial pavement, and though the surface is generally level, it is dotted with hillocks and rough craterlike pits and traversed in every direction by a net-work of yawning fissures ... ""In this famous battleground, Muir describes the caves used as fortresses by the Indians in their skillful method of fighting. Returning at sunset to base camp, Muir comments, ""The countenance of the lava beds became beautiful. Tufts of pale grasses, relieved on the jet-rocks, looked like bouquets on a mantel.... Beautiful Nature gives all this 'beauty for ashes' in the somber region of volcanic fire.""

Publication

San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin

Page/Column

p. 1, col. 4

Reprint/Offprint

Reprint no. 505

Recommended Citation

Muir, John, "Modoc Memories. A Visit to the Lava Beds by Muir the Geologist and Explorer - The Spot where Gen. Canby Fell - Sad Relics of the War. (From Our Special Correspondent.)" (1874). John Muir: A Reading Bibliography by Kimes (Muir articles 1866-1986). 25.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmb/25