Creator
P. B. Van Trump
Recipient
John Muir
Preview
Transcription
[4] 01334on their heels and indignantly retrace their steps, if that be possible to mortals after once passing the celestial threshold. Can not you as an established writer and an acknowledged authority on the subject of mountains, lift your pen in influential protest against this outrage on history and geography, and dispresect to the rights and memory of the brave and distinguished Vancouver? I believe it was Winthrop who stated the idea of calling the mountain Tacoma. When the "City of Destiny" was yet in the swadling clothes [illegible] of a village its designers "caught on" to Winthrop's innovation, and, reinforced by the N.P.R.R. Co. with its cops of advertisers and writers, have persistently endeavored to fix the name of Tacoma upon the mountain Has an original and time-honored discoverer no rights that a modern[51?](Tacoma) name-destroyer is bound to respect? The Tacomaite argues that Tacoma is the original Indian name of the mt., and that it is more euphonious. Can they show that the Indians had a name for the mountain (distincitve) before Vancouver beheld it from the Pacific, or in its greater glory from the nearer waters of the [illegible] Sound? Granting the force of the Indian argument, the name Tacoma as pronounced by the inhabitants of the "City of Destiny" does not resemble with proper exactitude the name of the mountain as it is uttered in the peculiar guttural intonation of the aborigines. The book to my boy Hal and the one to little Miss Kernahan came safely to hand. I will send Miss Ruth's to her at the earliest opportunity. My boy returns. Thanks.
Location
Yelm, W[ashington] T[erritory]
Date Original
1889 Jan 23
Source
Original letter dimensions: 22.5 x 14 cm.
Resource Identifier
muir06_0031-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 06, Image 0031
Copyright Status
Copyright status unknown
Copyright Statement
Some letters written to John Muir may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Owning Institution
University of the Pacific Library Holt-Atherton Special Collections. Please contact this institution directly to obtain copies of the images or permission to publish or use them beyond educational purposes.
Page Number
Page 3
Keywords
John Muir, correspondence, letters, author, writing, naturalist, California, correspondent, mail, message, post, exchange of letters, missive, notes, epistle
