Creator
John Muir
Recipient
Helen & [Annie] Wanda [Muir]
Transcription
North of Scotland & Orkney & Shetland Steam Navigation Co.
"St. Sunniva"
Near Bergen, Norway,
July 31, 1893
8:30 P.M.
My dear sweet little Helen and Wanda:
The ship is going very fast through the beautiful blue water among a lot of islands, and is shakin so much I can hardly write. In a few minutes we will be at a queer-looking Norwegian town called Bergen and then I will go ashore ana send this letter to you. Tomorrow evening we will start back to Scotland, where we will land about Wednesday night. Then I'm going to London and Switzerland, and then I'm going home. I bought some nice little things for you in another queer town called Savanger, and in still another called Throndheim, and perhaps I may see somothing you would [lice] in Bergen.
I have enjoyed the sail in Norway very much, For more than a thousand miles I have been sailing in narrow channels between high mountains in beautiful scenery. The walls of the channels or fiords, as they are called, are about 3000 or 4000 feet high, and are covered with heather and grass and bluebells and larkspurs and geraniums and buttercups and many other beautiful flowers. Also many handsome birch trees not very big, and alders and willows and huckleberries, vild strawberries grow on these high steep hills too, as Well as raspberries, but there are not many pine trees or spruces, nothing- like California trees. It is just as if all the valleys of California were full of water so that we could sail about in them.
The farms along the sides of the mountains are very funny and small, less than an acre, many of them. Hundreds of waterfalls come tumbling over the tops of the high cliffs and make them very beautiful, and make all the country joyful. Some day you must see them, The people are good and kind, but they are not troubled much with money.
I also rode about 200 miles through the country and saw many lovely lakes and two charming and grand Yosomite Valleys called Naradal and Romsdal. I'll bring some pictures of them. God bless you, my darlings.
Your father,
JOHN MUIR
[Envelope addressed Helen Muir, Martinez, California, U.S.A]
731
Location
Near Bergen, Norway
Date Original
1893 Jul 31
Source
Original letter dimensions: 33 x 21.5 cm.
Recommended Citation
Muir, John, "Letter from John Muir to Helen & [Annie] Wanda [Muir], 1893 Jul 31." (1893). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 963.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/963
Resource Identifier
muir07_1224-trans.tif
File Identifier
Reel 07, Image 1224
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
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.
Copyright Holder
Muir-Hanna Trust
Copyright Date
1984
Pages
1 page
Keywords
Environmentalist, naturalist, travel, conservation, national parks, John Muir, Yosemite, California, history, correspondence, letters
