Letter from John Muir to [Robert Underwood] Johnson, 1894 Jan 12.

• Main Author: Muir, John
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Scholarly Commons 1894
• Subjects: Environmentalist; naturalist; travel; conservation; national parks; John Muir; history; correspondence; letters; Pacific; Underwood; glaciers; Alaska
• Online Access: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/6804; https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/context/muir-correspondence/article/8155/viewcontent/muir08_0049.pdf

Martinez, Jan 12, 1894My dear Mr Johnson, No doubt ere this you have been notified of your appointment on a committee of the Sierra Club to urge the passage of the bill making the Mt Rainier portion of the Pacific Forest Reserve a National Park. Go ahead as our representative & what you do we other members of the Committee will swear to--Mt Rainier is the grandest isolated icy old volcanic cones on this coast--The forest about its base are most interesting containing specimens of nearly every coniferious tree of Alaska Washington & Oregon, while an intermediate Zone above the forest & below its glaciers is one glorious garden of the finest alpine & subalpine flowers. It is also the home of from one hundred to two hundred wild goats-nearly related to the camois of the Alps-& of many deer & other interesting animals & birds etc. All the live people of the Puget Sound region turn to Rainier as a natural pleasure ground--It will be one of the very noblest & most interesting of all our parks. Fortunately few claims of any importance have been made about it.Making this park will bless everybody, hurt nobody & please the Lord. I had a letter from Mr Scott the other day asking how I was getting on with the proposed book & saying it ought to be in the hands of the printers within a few months. I am pegging away at it-trying to make the old articles bear on each other, & stick together canceling here & there & adding new matter. Can you send me another set of copies of my articles, to be cut up? It would save me much rewriting. The chapters will be about as follows1 General View of the Sierra[10012] 2 The Glaciers3 The Passes4 " Lakes5 " Meadows6 " Forests7 " Storms8 " Avalanches9 " Caves10 " Bee Patures11 " Yosemite12 " Kings River Canon13 " Hetch Hetchy Valley14 " Tuolumne Canon15 " Animals -Bears, Wild sheep, Squirrels etc16 " Birds, Waterouzel etcHow [do you] think will [sic.] this do? I dont want too big a book This will make about 120 000 words, leaving enough for ...