Creator
R[obert] U[nderwood] Johnson
Recipient
John Muir
Transcription
R.W. GILDER,EDITOR.R.U.JOHNSON.ASSOCIATE EDITOR.C.C.BUEL.ASSISTANT EDITORMr.John Muir,Martinez,Cal.Dear Mui:I have done everything I can to save the Hetch-Hetchy but the opponents of that scheme are all considered sentimentalists.I shall have my [illegible] about it in print as soon as possible, though for that matter ther is no haste.I want to the White House Conference and it was a most significant gathering and has done great things for conservation. You, perhaps, do not know what Pinchot certainly knew and probably the President that on August 28, 1906 in a letter to the president I formally proposed that he should call a conference of all the Eastern governors to consider how to save the Eastern forests.He did not take to it but said he would speak to Pinchot about it, whereupon on September 15, I wrote to him even more explicitly repeating my formal proposition.In his address at the Conference no notice was taken of this, and the entire credit went to Pinchot, who says that he laid out the plan in May of last year,and that my letter may have been in the back of his head.I consider this all very shabby and petty, but it may not have bean deliberate; however,I sent my two letters to Pinchot a fortnight before the Conference, so that if he had cared to have any acknowledgment made to me he could have done so.You know how loyally I have supported Pinchot's work from the start.As to Hetoch-Hetchy he and the President and Garfield are all of one mind.I told Garfield face to face that It was an irretrievable mis-04178 --2--M.take. I think you must feel, as I do, that a child of ours has been mutilated.Please do not say anything about my relations to the Conference; some day it will all come out. I said nothing at Washington publicly and very little privately about it as I did not wish to mar the success of the Conference by any discordant or personal note.I am sorry to hear that you have any family reasons for anxiety.With undiminished regard, Faithfully yours,R U Johnson 04198
Location
New York
Date Original
1908 May 23
Source
Original letter dimensions: 26.5 x 21 cm.
Recommended Citation
Johnson, Robert Underwood, "Letter from R[obert] U[nderwood] Johnson to John Muir, 1908 May 23." (1908). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 5429.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/5429
Resource Identifier
muir17_0601-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 17, Image 0601
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
