Letter from John Muir to [Herbert] Gleason, 1914 Jun 10.

• Main Author: Muir, John
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Scholarly Commons 1914
• Subjects: Environmentalist; naturalist; travel; conservation; national parks; John Muir; history; correspondence; letters; Arctic; Alaska
• Online Access: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/6565; https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/context/muir-correspondence/article/7916/viewcontent/muir22_0393.pdf

(In response to a letter of condolence on the death of Mr. Parsonsand speaking of my plans for an Alaska trip.)Martinez, June 10,1914.Dear Mr. Gleason:We all feel the loss of our friend and fellow worker verykeenly. He was about the last man in our Club that any of us would expectto lose so suddenly, so full he was of the strength of the hills. None has done more for the Sierra Club than he has ever since he joined it. - ever faithful in every fight for the right, however great the number of the faithless.I thank you very much for the fine pictures of him just received. The one where he is standing alone is very good, the best I have seen. It must be published in the Club Bulletin.I'm glad you are going to Alaska. You should have gone there years ago, for your own good and for your lectures, if nothing else. As to getting pictures to illustrate my little book of travels, I don't see how you can add to the collection I have on hand, for you cannot follow my track, except to the few places touched by the steamships. Had you been with me on my canoe trips, it would have been glorious.I have made six trips to Southeastern Alaska and one to Unalaska and the Arctic regions lasting six months. There will be more than one of these icy volumes if I live long enough to write them. The present volume is nothing like a general description of the vast country, but only a lot of little notes of study travel, and I mean to select the illustrations that go into it instead of letting the publishers do it for me.Be sure to come straight to our house on your wav.Ever years faithfully,John Muir.(Postscript)Drear Mr. Gleason:When I wrote yesterday I forgot to answer your question about the Alaska weather. On my first trip in 1679 I was in the Wrangell region about seven months, and here are some weather notes from my journal:"About one-third of the summer days were cloudy, with very little or no rain, a third decidedly rainy, the other third clear. Of 147 days beginning May 17th of this year there were 65 on which rain fell, 43 ...