Letter from John Bidwell to John Muir, 1896 Apr 20.

• Main Author: Bidwell, John
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Scholarly Commons 1896
• Subjects: Environmentalist; naturalist; travel; conservation; national parks; John Muir; history; correspondence; letters; Lookout; San Jose; glaciers; Alaska
• Online Access: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/29; https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/context/muir-correspondence/article/1028/viewcontent/muir09_0124_let.pdf

02081[1]Chico, Cal., Apr 20, 1896John Muir Esq.Martinez, Cal.My dear Sir,Your esteemed favor to hand - came during my late absence at San Jose. Glad to hear from you.In the inclosed statement I have tried to comply with your request.So you are going to Alaska again! lookout, for the glaciers there are full020812of crevasses. (Please pardon poor pencil writing, my nervous hand being too unstead to use the pen.)Mrs. Bidwell joins in best wishes and kindest remembrances.Come and see us when you can.Yours alwaysJohn Bidwellover 02082[3]The Silva of North American I shall hope some time to see, but cannot fix the date.The Democrats and Republicans have brought the country to the very brink of ruin-- the times are terrible financially we are literally crushed - fruit practically all killed - grain brings scarcely cost. Yet I intend to have the "Silva" if I ever get able.02082[4]Please do me the favor to revise and discard every thing in the said inclosed Statement you deem unnecessary. I have no time to revise or condense and put in presentable shape. Do pleaseJ. Bidwell 02082Statement.In 1841, before Fremont had seen or named Great Salt Lake, Humboldt, Carson or Walker's rivers, or, so far as I know, before any white man had ever crossed the Sierra Nevada mountains, I crossed the plains to California and saw them all. The party I came with consisted of thirty two men one woman and childBidwell020822We struck a stream and ascended it to the eastern base of said mountains. This proved to be what is now known as Walker's river, which was named by Fremont in 1845 after a noted Rocky Mountain trapper, Jo Walker. There we scaled the now famous Sierra Nevada. and first struck waters flowing west. The stream 020823we descended was the Stanislaus river, a tributary of the San Joaquin, both names to us being then unknown. Our party was now entirely out of provisions. One of the last two oxen had been killed before we began the climb, the other when in mid journey down the western slope. The oxen become so poor that the bones ...