Creator
John S. Gray
Recipient
John Muir
Transcription
[letterhead]
Nov 21st 1902
My Dear Mr. Muir
I recently read your article on the Grand Canon [diacritic] of the Colorado and am prompted thereby to write you, expressive of my appreciation of your description of that wonderful scene. I am free to confess that I never read a descriptive article before, that compares with it, not even in Walter Scott's writings which I have always considered unequalled in that line= But yours excells everything- so that I hardly knew which to admire most- the grandeurs of the subject or the masterly way in which it is pictured to the reader. It is certainly a prose poem of the highest order. and I hope you will be long spared to enrich the public with such productions = & that at least you will be able to finish the books you had under consideration when we were with you last spring. This description of the Grand Canon [diacritic] has an added interest to us, in as much as you were working on it when we were there, and we interrupted you a great deal in your work= I wonder how you all are in the Alhambra Valley- Mrs. Muir was in poor health. I trust the summer has been the means of improving it- and that Helen and Wanda were off on a tour with you as they were a year ago and that they, and you, had close contact with nature in her grandest scenes- I noticed your discovery of a hitherto unknown group of Sequoia Gigantica which overtops all previous known specimens- What a wonderful country that is. David I suppose has been fighting the pest of his
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vines, and extending the area of resi[illegible]ent vines as you all must do to overcome that serious trouble- I trust he and his are well and that Mrs. Reid is stronger than when we saw her last as she came out to wave us farewell from their porch, as we past over the viaduct = Mrs. Galloway too I trust is well. Please remember us to all the friends with our kindest regards. Mrs. Galloway will be interested to known that Mrs. Sanderson - Isabella- has sold off her household effects closed her house, and yesterday left us to go to spend the winter with her daughter Grace who is settled in East Orange near New York- I felt very unwilling to have her go, but know that it is better for her- My own family is much as usual in health and prosperity- I lately turned over my factory to a large company and resigned its entire management to my sons Paul & David- so that I am now out of active business, and only retain an office in the bank to attend to my personal affairs and to give an hour or two a day to the bank- Otherwise I might be "looking for a job" We have spent about half of our time since our return from the west on our country place, but now that cold weather is coming will be shut out of that, & may have to think of migrating to a warmer climate. With kind regards and best wishes for you and yours believe me
Ever Yours Sincerely
John S. Gray
P.S. David Gray of Buffalo-my nephew as you will see writes occasional light stories for the Century and has gone to Manilla & Japan partly for his health and partly for material for future work- the wrong places to look for his kind of subjects I should think- horses being at a discount there.
Location
Detroit, Mich.
Date Original
1902 Nov 21
Source
Original letter dimensions: 28 x 21.5 cm.
Recommended Citation
Gray, John S., "Letter from John S. Gray to John Muir, 1902 Nov 21." (1902). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 4781.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/4781
Resource Identifier
muir12_0805-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 12, Image 0805
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
2 pages
Keywords
Environmentalist, naturalist, travel, conservation, national parks, John Muir, Yosemite, California, history, correspondence, letters
