Letter from John Muir to Henry Randall, 1901 Dec 20.

• Main Author: Muir, John
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Scholarly Commons 1901
• Subjects: Environmentalist; naturalist; travel; conservation; national parks; John Muir; history; correspondence; letters; Arctic; Canada; Alabama; Randall; glacier*; glaciers; Alaska; Siberia
• Online Access: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/4509; https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/context/muir-correspondence/article/5525/viewcontent/muir11_1013_let.pdf

Martinez, CaliforniaDec. 20, 1901 -My dear Harry Randall.I'm delighted to hear from you & get a sketch of you life, though a meagre one, in the long eventful years since our Yosemite days. I have no lack of friends & have acquaintances in every rank almost everywhere nowadays, but I never forget old friends, & those of early pioneer days in the grand Sierra are my especial delight. I have often wondered where you were & how the battle of life was going with you. I remember you took a great liking to Mr Hamilton the carpenter who was working with Mr Hedges & he to you & I think you told me that you were going into partnership with him to raise cattle in some of the wild states. I'm glad to learn you00215 2settled down & are enjoying a fair share of peaceful prosperity - Had you stayed with me I might perhaps have pushed you a little farther ahead, but Heaven guides us more than we know & our fate none of us can forsee. Mine has been to wander in all wild places as a lover of nature botanist, geologist, naturalist And though I never intended to write or lecture or seek fame in any way I now write a good deal & am well known - Strange is it not that a tramp & vegabond without worldly ambition should meet such a fate. I spent about ten years altogether in the Sierra Nevada & Utah, then I wandered through the mountains of Oregon & Washington then began a system of exploration in Alaska, especially with a view to forests, glaciers, mountains etc. In 1881 I went to the Arctic regions about00215 3Behring Sea on the Steamer Corwin in search for the lost Jeanette Expedition during which I saw a good deal of the frozen Arctic region along the coast of Siberia & the northern extremity of the N. American continent. Later I spent a little time in Montana, Idaho, Colorado Arizona - Also in the New England States & Southward through Delaware, Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama & Florida - studying the forests mostly. Also made a short run into Canada. In 1893 I ...