Letter from [John Muir] to [Louie Strentzel Muir], 1881 May 18.

• Main Author: John Muir
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Scholarly Commons 1881
• Subjects: John Muir; correspondence; letters; author; writing; naturalist; California; correspondent; mail; message; post; exchange of letters; missive; notes; epistle; Seal Islands; Shoalwater Bay; St Michael; Alaska
• Online Access: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmcl/11182; https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/context/jmcl/article/36115/type/native/viewcontent/fullsize.jpg

[2]dim white slopes seen as through a veil darkly becoming fainter & fainter as the flakes thicken & at length hide all the land. Last evening I went ashore with the Captain & saw the few chief men of the place & the one white woman & a good many of the [illegible]. We were kindly & cordially entertained by the agent of the Alaska Com. Co Mr Greenbaum, & while seated in his elegant parlor could hardly realize that we were in so remote & cold & silent a wilderness. While we were seated at our ease discussing Alaskan & Polar affairs a knock[3]came to the door & a tall hoary majestic old man slowly entered whom I at once took for the Russian priest but to whom I was introduced as Dr Holman. He shook hand with me very heartily & said Mr Muir I am glad to see you I had the pleasure of knowing you in San Francisco. Then I recognized him as the dignified old gentleman that I first met 3 or 4 years ago at the home of the Smiths at San Rafael & we had a pleasant evening together. He has been in the employ of the Alaska Com. Co here for a year caring for the health of the Companys Aleats. His own01002[6][in margin: I am multiplying letters in case some be lost. & a thousand kisses to my child] We have not yet commenced to coal so that we will not get off for the north before Sunday. There is a schooner here that will sail for Oregon (Shoalwater Bay) in a few days by which I will send 4 or 5 letters. The 3 or 4 more that I intend writing ere we leave this port I will give to the Agent of the Company here to be forwarded by the next opportunity in case the first batch should be lost. Then others will be sent [words crossed out] from St Michael by the company’s steamer & still others from the Seal Islands, & from points where we fall in with any vessel homeward bound. Good night to all. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmcl/36115/thumbnail.jpg