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

• Main Author: Muir, John
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Scholarly Commons 1881
• Subjects: Environmentalist; naturalist; travel; conservation; national parks; John Muir; history; correspondence; letters; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Indian; Jagged; Plover Bay
• Online Access: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/659; https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/context/muir-correspondence/article/1658/viewcontent/muir04_0633_md_1.pdf

[1]Between Plover Bay & St Laurence Island 8.45 P.M. July 2d / 881. My beloved wife,After leaving St Michaels on the 22d June where I last wrote you we went again into the Arctic ocean to Tapkan 12 ms N.W. of Cape Serdge to seek the search party that we left on the edge of the ice pack opposite Kolinchin Island & were so fortunate as to find them there having gone as far as the condition of the ice seemed to them safe, & after they had reached the fountain head of all the stories we had heard concerning the last whaler vigilance & determined them to be in the main true. At Cape Wankarem they found three [illegible] who said that last year when the ice was just beginning to grow & when the sun did not rise they were out seal hunting three or four miles from shore when they saw a broken ship in the drift ice wh they boarded & found some dead men in the cabin & a good many articles of one sort & another wh they took home & wh they showed to our party. This evidence reveals the fate of at least one of the ships we are seeking. Our party when they saw us came out to the edge of the ice, wh extended about 3 miles from shore, & after a good deal of difficulty reached the steamer The north wind was blowing hard sending huge black swells & combing waves against the jagged [grinding?] edge of the [pack?] with terrible uproar making it impossible to for us to reach them with a boat [Page 2][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 ...