Creator
[William Colby]
Recipient
John Muir
Transcription
[illegible]
San Francisco, March 5, 1906.
Mr. John Muir,
Adamana, Ariz.
My dear Mr. Muir:
I am receiving very unfavorable news from every source, concerning the present status of the bill accepting the recession of Yosemite Valley now before Congress.
It seems that Fresno people and H. S. Huntington applied to have the bill modified so as to allow their proposed railroad to run near the entrance of the valley from Wawona without going down to the South Fork and losing all the grade .
The entire California delegation seem to favor this, and recommend that the Secretary of the Interior approve such amendment.
Various other interests have taken this opportunity to come in and demand that the park boundary on the west be cut down still further to suit their private ends. All the cattle men around Sonora backed up by Curtin, want all the northwest portion of the park thrown out, and everything north of the Tuolumne River. The water interests want Hetch Hetchy Valley and Lake Eleanor thrown out as reservoir sites.
The lumber interests want all that magnificent sugar pine belt on both sides of the Wawona stage road and extending two or three miles east all along this road, almost as far as Inspiration Point, thrown out, and with all these interests combined, and fighting to cut down the park so as to leave little outside of the Yosemite Valley, are making a very powerful fight, and unless a strong stand is taken at once, and the matter called to the attention of the President and other important officials in Washington, this wholesale slaughter of the western boundary willtake place .
I think it very important that you should write the President at once and call this matter to his attention. Since he took such a strong stand last year on the boundaries recommended by the commission, there is no reason why he should not do the same again this year.
With regards to the girls and yourself, I remain,
Very truly yours,
Location
San Francisco
Date Original
1906 Mar 5
Source
Original letter dimensions: 28 x 22 cm.
Recommended Citation
Colby, William, "Letter from [William Colby] to John Muir, 1906 Mar 5 ." (1906). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 3495.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/3495
Resource Identifier
muir16_0135-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 16, Image 0135
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
1 page
Keywords
Environmentalist, naturalist, travel, conservation, national parks, John Muir, Yosemite, California, history, correspondence, letters
