Creator
John Muir
Recipient
[Robert Underwood] Johnson
Transcription
81
Good!
Martinez, Sep 15/02
Dear Mr Johnson;
On my return from the Kern region I heard loud but vague rumors of the discovery of a giant sequoia in Converse Basin on Kings River 153 feet Cir. 50 ft dia. to which I paid no attention having heard hundreds of such biggest-tree-in-the-world rumors before. But at Fresno I met a surveyor who assured me that he had himself measured the tree & found it to be 153 feet Cir. 6 ft above ground. So of course I went back up the mountain to see & measure for myself carrying a steel tape line. At one foot above ground it is 108 ft in Circum- [At] four [feet above ground it is] 97 46 inches [circum- At] six [feet above ground it is] 93 ft [circum-] One of the largest & finest every way of living Sequoias that have been measured But none can say it is certainly the largest
The im[illegible]ly larger dead one that I discovered 27 yrs ago stands within a few miles of this new wonder & I think I have in my notebooks measurements of having specimens as large as the new tree or larger. I have a photo of the tree & can get others I think from a photographer who has a studio in Converse Basin. I'll write a few pages on Big Trees in general if you like also touching on the horrible destruction of the Kings River groves going on fier[illegible] about the mills. As to the discovery of a region grander than Yosemite by the Kelly brothers in the Kings Canon it is nearly all pure bosh. I explored the canon long ago. it is very deep but has no El Capitan or anything like it.
Ever yours faithfully John Muir
Location
Martinez [Calif.]
Date Original
1902 Sep 15
Source
Original letter dimensions unknown.
Recommended Citation
Muir, John, "Letter from John Muir to [Robert Underwood] Johnson, 1902 Sep 15." (1902). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 4728.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/4728
Resource Identifier
muir12_0618-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 12, Image 0618
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The unpublished works of John Muir are copyrighted by the Muir-Hanna Trust.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
The Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley. 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
