Creator
[John Muir]
Recipient
Wanda and Helen [Muir]
Transcription
Kodiak. July 3. 99
Darlings Wanda & Helen.
I have often thought how fine it would be to have you on this trip. The Harriman & [Averil?] girls & Miss Draper about your own ages enjoy it so much & have so bright & merry & instructive time. So many grand mountains with birds & flowers & glaciers & waterfalls & so many wise men to tell them about all they see. Everyday is delightful & even when we were out on the open ocean the ship was so steady nobody was seriously seasick a single hour. Some day you will see the Alask islands & glaciers & mountains & forests than which none are finer anywhere I mean those seen on the regular trip to Glacier Bay which you can take anytime Yesterday I climbed a green flower mountain back of the town 1500 ft high & it is one flower bed all the way to the top I wish I could send you the big hand full I brought down all fresh. The creeping matted huckleberry & Loisleuria flowers & the Anemone & geranium & orchids & cypripedium were particularly fine. I did not feel so tired as I would climbing Mt Wanda. For I am getting strong now & eat three or four times as much as at
02599
home. It seems very queer to have so many companions on a glacial excursion after being along so much. Still I'm lonely to see you I often wonder what you are doing & how Strickeen & Tom are getting along. It is light all the time & I dont think Ive seen a star since we were at Sitka It is often eleven or twelve o'clock before I go to bed. & we are going farther north yet before we start for home. John Burroughs is delighted with the birds here most of them are singing now. They came many of them from California & Mexico. Even the little ruby throated hummingbird is here tho the little farry muggins had to fly all the way from Mexico or Central America since spring. One of the Zonotrichia. so common about our house in winter the one with Yellow on his brow is here & has built their nests & some have young already the naturalists call it the golden crowned Sparrow. Though now much Yellow is seen when it is flying about. It is a sad sight to see the naturalists a dozen of them at once shooting every kind of bird whether they have young or not, even the hummingbirds. & the mammal hunters set out 100 or 200 traps at once to catch mice marmots shrews etc. & then comes skinning & stuffing a horrid business. They all make fun of me about glaciers but I dont mind the fun of course. Ill soon be home
Location
Kodiak [Alaska]
Date Original
1899 Jul 3
Source
Original letter dimensions: 27.5 x 21 cm.
Recommended Citation
Muir, John, "Letter from [John Muir] to Wanda and Helen [Muir], 1899 Jul 3." (1899). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 2417.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/2417
Resource Identifier
muir10_0859-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 10, Image 0859
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
