Letter from [John Muir] to [Louie Strentzel Muir], 1881 Jul 2.

• 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; Indian; Barrow; Point Barrow; Alaska
• Online Access: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmcl/11285; https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/context/jmcl/article/36218/type/native/viewcontent

[2]We succeeded however in throwing a line to them wh they made fast to a skin boat that they had pushed over the ice from the shore & getting into it they were dragged over the st[illegible] edge of ice waves & water waves & soon got safely aboard leaving the tent provisions 2 dogs & sleds at the Indian village, to be picked up some other time. Then we sailed southward again to take our Interpreter [Tehnchi?] Joe to his home wh we reached two hours ago. Now we are steering for St Michaels again intending to land for a few hours on the north side of St Laurence Island on the way. At St Michaels we will write our letters, wh will be carried to S.F. by the Alaska Com. Co. Steamer St Paul, take on more provision & then sail north again along the American shore, spending some time in [Kotzebue?] Sound, perhaps exploring some of the rivers that flow into it & then pushing on around [deleted: Cape] Point Barrow & out into the ocean northward as we [can?], our movements being always determined by the position & movements of the ice-pack. Before making a final effort in August or September to reach Wrangel Land in search of traces of the Jeanette we will return yet once more to St Michaels for coal & provisions wh we have stored there in case we should be compelled to pass a winter north of Behring Strait01016[3] 2The season however is so favorable that we have [illegible] hopes of finding an open way to Wrangel Land, & returning to our homes in Ocotober. The Jeanette has not been seen, nor any of her crew on the Asiatic Coast as far west as Cape Jakan, & I have no hopes of the vessel ever escaping from the ice but her crew, in case they saved their provisions may yet be alive, though it is strange that they did not come over the ice in the spring. Possibly they may have reached the American coast If so they will be found this summer. Our vessel is in perfect condition & our captain is very cautious of being caught in the north pack. How long it seems since I left home, & yet according to the almanac it will not be two months until the day after tomorrow. I have seen so much & gone so far & the nightless days are so strangely joined it seems more than a year. And yet how short a time is the busy month at home among the fruit & the work. My wee lass will be big & bright now & by the time I can get her again in my arms https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmcl/36218/thumbnail.jpg