Creator
[John Muir]
Recipient
[William C. Hendricks]
Transcription
1419 Taylor St – S. F. Feb 21st 1876
Dear Senator –
Keith has just handed me your last letter. I am glad you so promptly & effectively enlightened the darkness of the Record – Union regarding the landscape. Your action in the matter manifested genuine kindness & magnanimsty – Mr Goodyear called on Mr Swett today & informed him that he thought his bill would be favorably reported upon & passed, provided you would withdraw yours. He therefore requested Mr Swett to tell me that if I would assist him in getting his bill through, he would give me any position on the survey that I might choose, that was within his power to grant, provided he was appointed state geologist Mr Goodyear did not come direct to me & I have never spoken five minutes with him on the subject but since talking the matter over with you I have seen nothing to change
[stamped: Literary Property Rights held by the California Historical Society]
[Page 2]
my views. I devoutly disbelieve in the methods of the old survey as a whole & I cannot see how the new survey of Goodyear is to differ from the old therefore of course I can have nothing to do with it in any capacity. It will be time enough to publish Whitneys volumes as soon as it appears that they are of sufficient value. For example the Volume on economic geology ought not to be published until the entire question of mining in all its bearings be carefully studied. if the varied mass of material accumulated by the old survey is valuable let it be sorted out & made use of in the reports of the new survey according to the fresh lights brought to bear upon it through the medium of fresh facts. Reports of progress should be made through the newspapers together with useful facts as soon as discovered, but the final reports in the shape of expensive vols should be withheld until the subjects treated in them are understood. The truth is that Prof Whitney appeared in person before the last legislature asking an appropnation for the publication of [underlined: his] material now he makes the same demands through Mr Goodyear
[stamped: Literary Property Rights held by the California Historical Society]
Location
S[an] F[rancisco]
Date Original
1876 Feb 21
Source
Original letter dimensions unknown.
Recommended Citation
Muir, John, "Letter from [John Muir] to [William C. Hendricks], 1876 Feb 21." (1876). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 338.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/338
Resource Identifier
muir03_0392-md-1.pdf
File Identifier
Reel 03, Image 0391
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, click here to view the Holt-Atherton Special Collections policies.
Owning Institution
California Historical Society. 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
