Creator

Louie [Strentzel Muir]

Recipient

John Muir

Transcription

[4]

Edward and Coleman seem very cheerful and are doing well on the ranch, they mended the windmill and keep the tank full of water. Timmie Choi and Keng are at work. The road & poll tax collectors came the day you left, and the other chinamen all went off to the city. Joung worked only 2 days, so the ranch is very quiet. Mr. Van Trump sent you a pleasant letter from Yelm. The Century sent part of the article for the September No. calling it "Features of the Proposed National Park." Father is ready to start to Martinez, so goodbye, today O my beloved, God bless you and guard you.

Louie.

[1]

Martinez, California

June 25, 1890.

My dear husband,

No word from you has come to us since the morning you left San Francisco, and your letter and instructions from Victoria are still far off somewhere in the darkness. We can only try to wait patiently till the returning steamer brings messages from Glacier Bay. Oh John, Alaska seems farther away, colder and mistier than ever before. Perhaps the winds & storms of this month, will be worn out by the time you reach the grand Glacier and then you may be satisfied, with sunshine and soft

[2]

air and clear ways among the mysteries of that icy wilderness. That would be glorious! May the good Father grant it, and keep you always in his own loving care, and lead you through all the shadows. Very little was said in the papers here about the collision with the steamer Queen, leaving Port Townsend, but the shock in the darkness at midnight must have been terrible. It makes me shiver yet to think of it, and of how the wind must have cried and moaned through that storm on the northern waters. Even down here we thought winter might be coming again for June, the wind beat so against this house on the hill.

01443

[3]

and we kept fires burning all the week. Helen and I were sick for several days, but Wanda thrives exceedingly under her grandmother's care, and in return helps her very much. Grandpa looks better and baby coaxes him to eat good dinners, but he still seems feeble. I wish you could see little Helen writing a letter to you, all the earnest care she showed in writing those lines and folding in the little flowers. She kept asking if I thought you would understand such marks, and saying that I must teach her right away to make all the letters so she could "send a good really letter to dear Papa far in Alaska on the cold glacier"!

Location

Martinez, California

Date Original

1890 Jun 25

Source

Original letter dimensions: 20 x 25 cm.

Resource Identifier

muir06_0539-let.tif

File Identifier

Reel 06, Image 0539

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

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

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.

Pages

2 pages

Keywords

Environmentalist, naturalist, travel, conservation, national parks, John Muir, Yosemite, California, history, correspondence, letters

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