Creator
R[obert] U[nderwood] Johnson
Recipient
John Muir
Transcription
Stockbridge, Mass.,
Oct. 12, 1895.
My dear Muir:
I am most interested and obliged by your long letter concerning Yosemite affairs, and I hope to make use of the facts you have given to the advantage of the Valley -- sooner or later.
I have been spending a month's vacation in Stockbridge -- and this last week I have been visiting here at the country house of Joseph H. Choate, a beautiful big house built by Stanford White and overlooking the Housatonic Valley. I like the region greatly, and hope to have a country home here within two or three years. (See the July and August Century for articles on the Berkshires.) When I settle down you must come and visit me and I'll have a tomahawk masquerade with war-whoops, etc. to give this mellow and gentle country the wild suggestion necessary to your enjoyment!
When I get back to the office I will send you under the seal of secrecy the letter about Radford. I doubt if he is a man to tie to.
I am rejoiced to hear what you say about Recession. Can't the Sierra Club be got to take the initiative in the movement? Your Legislature doesn't meet this winter, and there is plenty of time for making preliminary canvass of a few men of influence in the Club. I believe you might carry them for recession and thus form a nucleus for a canvass of the state. The electric light and railway suggestions show how little the true grandeur of the Valley is suspected by the authorities. The latter can be fought at Washington, for it will have to traverse government land, the National Park, and this I will oppose with all my energies. But recession is the thing, and before you break your neck on an earthquake talus you ought to accomplish that great result. You underestimate your influence, I am sure. The argument, and the contrast of the two parks are all with you.
I will ask Mr. Choate if there is any method except recession practicable. He has just come up from New York, where my family are. The Choates have a copy of your book which I gave them, and you will soon be a household word here!
I am well and trying to get strong as Gilder is soon to go again to Europe.
My warm regards to Mrs. Muir.
Ever gratefully and faithfully yours,
R. U. Johnson02037
Location
Stockbridge, Mass
Date Original
1895 Oct 12
Source
Original letter dimensions: 17.5 x 23 cm.
Recommended Citation
Johnson, Robert Underwood, "Letter from R[obert] U[nderwood] Johnson to John Muir, 1895 Oct 12." (1895). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 3153.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/3153
Resource Identifier
muir08_1237-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 08, Image 1237
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
Copyright status unknown
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
3 pages
Keywords
Environmentalist, naturalist, travel, conservation, national parks, John Muir, Yosemite, California, history, correspondence, letters
