Notes of a Naturalist. John Muir in Alaska-Wrangel Island and its Picturesque Attractions. Summer Days that Have No End-Pictures of Sound Life. Life Among the Indians-Boat Life-Wild Berries. (Special Correspondence of the Bulletin.) Fort Wrangel, Alaska, August 8, 1879.

• Main Author: Muir, John
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Scholarly Commons 1879
• Subjects: Environmentalist; naturalist; travel; conservation; national parks; John Muir; history; pamphlets; journal articles; speeches; writing; annotation; Wrangel Island; Ripen; glaciers; Ice Sheet; Alaska
• Online Access: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmb/174; https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/context/jmb/article/1173/viewcontent/91_20second_20batch.pdf

3?BA1STCISC0, SEPTEMBEK NOTES OF A NATURALIST JOHN MUIR IN ALASKA — WRANGEL ISLAND AND ITS PICTURESQUE ATTRACTIONS—SUMMER DAYS THAT HAVE NO END—PICTURES OP SOUND LIFE—LIFE AMONG THE INDIANS- BOAT LIFE—WILD BERRIES. [SPECIAL COKHESPONDENCE OF THE BULLETIN.] Fokt Wrangel, Alaska,) August 8, 1879. j Wrangel Island is one of the thousands of picturesque bits of this cool end of the continent carved out of the solid by the ice of the glacial period—not by separate glaciera such as now load the mountain topa and flow, river-like, down the valleys, hut by a broad, continuous ice-sheet that crawled slowly southward, covering all the land and much that is now sea, grinding on unhalting through unnumbered seasona, and modeling the comparatively simple and featureless pre-glaeial landscapes to the marvelous beauty and variety of the present day. The island is about fourteen miles long, separated from the mainland by a narrow channel or fiord, and trending north and south in the direction of the flow of the ancient ice sheet. From the tops of its highest hills down to the water's edge all around it is densely planted with coniferous trees that never suffer thirst in all their long century lives, that never have seen wasted by fire, and have never yet been touched by the ax of the lumberman. Abundance of snow ikeeps them fresh and lusty through the winter, abundance of rain and soft, shady clouds makes them grow luxuriantly through the summer, while the many warm days, half cloudy, half clear, and the little groups of pure sun-days, enable them to ripen their cones and perpetuate the species in surpassing strength and beauty. ALASKAN FORESTS AND GLACIEES. The forests and the glaciers are the glory of Alaska, and it is not easy to keep my pen away from them. Nevertheless, I want to try to sketch this little far-away town and its people, and will gladly return to the trees and the ice some other time, after 1 have observed further. A ROUGH PLACE. Wrangel is a rough place, the roughest I ever saw. No wildcat mining hamlet in ...