Preview
Circa Date
circa 1887
Transcription
[section cut out]
Therefore I c…
though still
bouncing one
the home cor…
[leaving the]
[of them] wou…
June 4th [After due]
Blankets g…
The flock headed for
on two horses
two thousand
[beasts] outspread
[wool-bundles]
sharply hach…
the pack horses [kind, well bred Irishman & fairly well educated, [man] though heavily worn & abraded by early pioneer experiences in the gold mines both of California & British Columbia.] Sheep-knowing Billy [Bawsely] the shepherd proud of his sheep [meanish & muttony, whose better qualities had all been [smoothed under] smeared over & well nigh obliterated from his character alltogether by the degrading influences of his solitary unbalanced employment acting through many years.] A chinaman and Digger Indian to assist in driving for the first [a] few days in the brushy foothill, & myself with notebook tied to my belt, the mountains in my heart [burdened with many cares like Bunyan's pilgrim, but with a find terrestrial heaven ever visible before me.]
The home-ranch [camp] from which we set out is
5
[sketch]
[situated near French Bar,] [or] [L…] on the south side of the Tuolumne River Near French Bar
[near the boundary between the mountains & the plains,] where the foothills of metamorphic gold bearing slates [gradually] dip below the stratified deposits of the Great Valley
[& our way was [along] by wagon road to Coulterville a brisk mining town 25 miles [distant] from French Bar, Trans ahead & thus far [the hills [ ] were as dry & hot] as hot & dusty & pastureless as the plains, over which the soiled disorderly horde of bleating complaining sheep & lambs dragged themselves under a cloud of dust raised by the dibbling of 8000 feet.]
We had not gone [proceeded] more than a mile before some of the old leaders of the flock
showed by the eager restless way they ran and looked ahead that they were on the way back to the high pastures where they had grown fat last summer. [plainly by the way they pushed on that they were aware of the fact that they were going to the mountain pastures frequently running eagerly a few rods & [suddenly stopping] turning their heads] to [look back] listen to the voice of [the shepherd to make sure they were]
Date Occurred
1869
Resource Identifier
MuirReel31 Notebook05 Img005.jpg
Contributing Institution
Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library
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