Creator

John Muir

Creator

[John Muir]

Recipient

Annie [Galloway]

Transcription

[1]

Dear Annie

It is not a very long, time since Merrill & I paid you a visit but now I am away in California - [I hardly ever see anybody?] & sometimes I am lonesome. I wish you could come to my shanty, I would tell you about the flower & the mountains & the birds & you would tell me all about lessons & everything about [illegible]lia - Most of the winter days here are fine & warm & sunny just like summer days - The stars in California twinkle more than the stars that are above Wisconsin - I had a nice walk about a month ago from beyond the Tuolumne river, the [Traills?] for miles were all

[2]

strewed with quartz crystals - & they made the ground look starry as the sky. I looked at them so much that I saw the glinting & flashing of thousands of them after I shut my eyes to sleep. Here is a precious little fern that I found far up in the Yo-Semite rocks, the day before I found it I was at what is called the Ribbon falls, I went too near & got all wet in the spray, & it made me sick, & when I was setting at the campfire that night I looked up past the top of the rocks & happened to see two of the stars that belong to the great bear & they made me think of home, & then I was loney. Now whenever I feell bad I always find something good to make up for it, & so sure enough next day I found this delicate little creature

[3]

of a fern. Its little cove home is on the north side of the valley a thousand feet up the rocks, some of the spray of the great Yo-Semite falls come to it One or two little white flowers were with it, & some mosses were on the floor bright & shinning as the drops that wet them, I found a great many pretty ferns & flowers in the Yo Semite Valley, & I will give you some. This is the smallest fern I ever saw. This is a dark stormy night. The wind is loud, & the rain is pouring from the black sky in torrents, five or six of my lambs died today. & I think that far more will die tonight. It makes me sorry to see the little things die - I hope when spring comes you will gather some flowers for

00494

[4]

me & send them in a letter, some of the big Anemones I want you call them gopher blows, I suppose you have your uncle Dan with you now - I wish you would tell him that I received his Avery letter of Sep' 27th that I want him to send his "plans" before I answer it, because I have something to tell that I don't wish to tell before he tells his latest plans - There are no trees where I am nor any bushes but the little birds find shelter in the rocks. God has made little houses for them little caves, little shelf berths - Where they are cozy & warm, but my poor sheep have no shelter I hope that you are very happy & that you will have a very happy new Year

[in margin: Bid everybody happy new year for me from your [illegible] John If you see Annie & Jessie [illegible] tell them that I am going to write to them soon. Tell Joanna Muir that I rced her letter of Oct 25 & will write a great long answer when I am not lazy]

Location

[Yosemite, Calif ?]

Circa Date

[1870]

Source

Original letter dimensions: 21.5 x 26.5 cm.

Resource Identifier

muir02_0365-let.tif

File Identifier

Reel 02, Image 0365

Collection Identifier

Online finding aid for the microform version of the John Muir Correspondence http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt0w1031nc

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

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