Letter from John Muir to Louie [Strentzel Muir], 1888 Jul 23.

• Main Author: Muir, John
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Scholarly Commons 1888
• Subjects: Environmentalist; naturalist; travel; conservation; national parks; John Muir; history; correspondence; letters; Crater Lake; Fraser River; glaciers; Alaska
• Online Access: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/1769; https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/context/muir-correspondence/article/2768/viewcontent/muir05_1075_md_1.pdf

[letterhead]July 23 1888Dear Louie We have been working hard these last three days eating for Picturesque California & am truly reluctant to cease our toils in this commendable direction. This is our last day here It is now 4 P.M. & we go abroad the steamer tonight for Vancouver So that we will have only one meal more [then?] farewell to fatness & smooth downy digestion. Have been more than half sick since leaving home but now am feeling well & eat majestic massive meals. Wish I could stay here until I got my bones decently fleshed over 2but my picturesque D[rawing?] duties call & I must obey. We will sleep aboard the steamer tonight & be in Vancouver the terminus of the Canadian R.R. tomorrow morning I have after learning what I can of the forests scenery etc of Vurrand Inlet. Will cross over to the Fraser River for a day or two & may go a few hundred miles up the Canadian railroad among the best scenery. Thence returning to Victoria go to Seattle & thence back to Tacoma to get into the woods & among the Glaciers of Mt. Ranier. May then go up the Columbia. & thence home stopping a week on the way to visit the famous Crater Lake. How long all this will take will depend on how well we endure the fatigue & how well our money lasts.#917200207[letterhead]Keith is much better but still far from well & I fear the hardships of camping & tramping will be more than he can bear Only by going alone in silence without baggage can one truly get into the heart of the wilderness all other travel is more dust & hotels & baggage & chatter. Tacoma is finely situated & commands a most [illegible ] view of the great mountain & the sail to Victoria is smooth & pleasant. Were it not for the long journey from S.F. you should all come up & enjoy it but 800 miles of dust or ocean waves are hard to bear. 7though it is more ten years since my last visit here Alaska comes back into near view & if a steamer were to start now it would be hard indeed to keep ...