Creator
John Muir
Recipient
Mrs. [Jeanne C.] Carr
Transcription
Yosemite Aug 20th [1870]
Dear friend Mrs Carr, I have just returned from a ten days ramble with Prof Le Conte & his students in the beyond & Oh we have had a most glorious season of terrestrial grace I do wish I could ramble ten days of equal size in very heaven that I could compare its scenery with that of Bloody Canon & the Tuolumne Meadows & Lake T[illegible] & that Dana Our first camp after leaving the valley was at Eagle Point overlooking the valley on the north side from which a much better general view of the valley & the high crest of the Sierra beyond is obtained than from Inspiration Point There we watched the long shadows of sunset upon the living map at our feet & in the later darkness half silvered by the moon went far out of human cares & human civilization, Our next camp was at Lake T[illegible] one of the countless multitudes of starry gems that make this topmost mountain land to sparkle like a sky, After moonrise Le Conte & I walked to the lakeshore & climbed upon a big sofa shaped rock that stood [illegible]let like a little way out in the shallow water & here we found another bounteous throne of
00519
Aug 20. 1870.
earthly grace & I doubt if John in Patmos saw greater seasons than we & you were remembered there & we cordially wished you with us , Our next sweet home was upon the velvet gentian meadows of the South Tuolumne Here we feasted upon soda & burnt ashy cakes & stood an hour in a frigid rain with our limbs bent forward like Lombardy [illegible] in a gale, but ere sunset the black clouds departed, our spines were straightened at a glowing fire - we forgot the cold & all about half raw mutton & alkaline cakes - the grossest of our earthly coils was shaken off & ere the last slant sunbeams left the dripping meadow & the spiry mountain peaks [we was?] again in the [illegible] alpine heaven & saw & heard things equal in glory to the purest & best of Yosemite valley our next camp was beneath a big gray [illegible] at the foot of Mt Dana Here we had another rain storm which drove us beneath our [illegible] Where we lay in complicated confusion our forty limbs woven into a knotty piece of tissue compact as felt Next day we worshiped upon high places on the brown cone of Dana, & returned to our rock, next day walked among the flowers & cascades of Bloody Canon & camped at the lake. rode next day to the volcanic [cove nearest?] to the lake & bade farewell to the party, & climbed to the highest crater in the whole range south of the [illegible] lake, Well I shall not try to tell you anything as it is unnecessary Prof Le Conte whose company I enjoyed exceedingly
[in margin: will tell you all. Ask him in particular to tell you about our camp meeting on the Janaya rock. I will send you a few [illegible] mountain plant children by Mrs Yelverton. If there is anything in particular that you want let me know. Mrs Yelverton will not leave the valley for some weeks & you have time to write. I am ever your friend JM]
Location
Yosemite
Date Original
1870 Aug 20
Source
Original letter dimensions: 24.5 x 19.5 cm.
Recommended Citation
Muir, John, "Letter from John Muir to Mrs. [Jeanne C.] Carr, 1870 Aug 20." (1870). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 1351.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/1351
Resource Identifier
muir02_0319-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 02, Image 0319
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
Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library. 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
