Creator
John Muir
Recipient
[James Davie] Butler
Transcription
[4]
bend over & move in the wind Thirty or forty plants are in flower the [illegible] & [illegible] have been in flower more than a month For a week or more the weather has been very warm - the thermom' averaging about 85° in shade the upper snows upon all of the exposed slopes has of course melted very fast & the falls are in glorious array & utter their sublimest harmonies There is at least ten times the amount of water in the valley that there was when you were here. - for a week we have been sailing across the meadow in a boat Remember me to your wife & to all your little ones with special love to Henry I am ever most cordially yours John Muir
[1] [1870] Muir May
Yosemite Valley May 15th
Prof' Butler, Dear friend Your letter of Apr 29th reached me two days ago You seem to have the power of compelling even your letters to travel at double speed , Railroads & telegraphs were invented for men constructed in mind & body as you are. You are to be en- [illegible] Professor in thus having able to enjoy a double portion of existence as composed with mortals of average activity , We set out on our travels at the same time but how much more you have observed & how much more of work you have accomplished I thank you most devoutly for your kind letters
[in margin: Snow fell here all day. This must have been a very stormy day in the higher mtns. Thermom about 36° a very sudden change]
[2]
I read your [Sandwitch?] island wanderings" & [illegible] teach- ers with a great deal of pleasure Henrys letter I have read over & over & am delighted to observe so great & as beautiful an increase in his [mental?] stature - The whole letter has from end to end the unmistakable ring of Butler metal & I am sure that he will exaclly fill your place. I am very glad to see that his physical strength is so great I wish he could accomp any me in my rock excursions I had a letter from Mrs [Moores?] in which she mentioned your short visit to them Visitors to the valley are coming earlier this spring than usual There is about fifty here at present. Mr Hutchings has not yet returned from Washington
[3]
& now I shall be here all summer Perhaps I may take a ramble of a few weeks among the summits south of Mono lake I have enjoyed exceedingly my stay here this winter - The power & the beauty & the wondrous works of the sky which the Lord laid over this mountain [illegible] are far be- yound description. A great many of our winter days were full of the most tangable wide open of natural phenomena which were intensely interesting. Climates in these mountains are piled upon each other they are stratified Spring came to us with the most joyous & impressive of sights & sounds & moved slowly up the rocks to the higher climates like a shadow. Spring is just opening upon the rim of the Valley. - here at the bottom the oaks are in full leaf & have young shoots long enough to
Location
Yosemite Valley
Circa Date
[1870] May 15
Source
Original letter dimensions unknown.
Recommended Citation
Muir, John, "Letter from John Muir to [James Davie] Butler, [1870] May 15." (1870). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 1337.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/1337
Resource Identifier
muir02_0263-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 02, Image 0263
Collection Identifier
Online finding aid for the microform version of the John Muir Correspondence http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt0w1031nc
Copyright Status
Copyrighted
Copyright Statement
The unpublished works of John Muir are copyrighted by the Muir-Hanna Trust. To purchase copies of images and/or obtain permission to publish or exhibit them, see http://www.pacific.edu/Library/Find/Holt-Atherton-Special-Collections/Fees-and-Forms-.html
Owning Institution
The Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley. Please contact this institution directly to obtain copies of the images or permission to publish or use them beyond educational purposes.
Copyright Holder
Muir-Hanna Trust
Copyright Date
1984
Pages
2 pages
Keywords
Environmentalist, naturalist, travel, conservation, national parks, John Muir, Yosemite, California, history, correspondence, letters
