Transcription:
LUTHER B. YAPLE, ATTORNEY AND COUNSELOR AT LAW, ROOMS 7 AND 8, HOWSON BLOCK. Chillicothe, Ohio, Nov. 15, 1895. /89?
Mr. John Muir, Esq., Martinez, Cal. Dear Sir;- Upon my desk lies your book, The Mountains of California , which I have
just read and re-read with the greatest possible interest. Your book is so delightful, and I am so much pleased and in-instructed
by it, that I felt I should express to it's author my gratitude and add my voice and word to the many who have doubtless ere
this, expressed to you personally and by letter, their high appreciation of the book. Upon my application to them therefor,
your publishers, The Century Co., kindly furnished me with your address, ad and I find that you are in the glorious land you
have so beautifully described. Your descriptions of your trip to and ascent of Mt. Ritter, of the sunrise and sunset - the
Alpenglow - in the mountains - the wind-storm in the forests - the water ouzel, the paragraph beginning near the bottom of
page 78 and ending near bottom of page 79, are excellent, and the whole book each and every part thereof , as we lawyers say,
is, to me, one of the best and most helpful I have ever read. I love the mountains, and best of all, not the traveled tourists
routes and places, but the untrodden, unexplored part, back and away from civilization and the haunts of men. The summer of
1893, I spent in Yellowstone National Park, last summer in Jackson's Hole at the foot of the Grand Teton. I did not get away
this summer, but must next. I had intended penetrating, on my next trip, into the heart of the Big Horn and Bitter-Root Mountains,
in north-western Wyoming. Your book almost inclines me to change my plan and visit the Yosemite region next. I have had the
Yosemite trip in mind, but, before reading your book, had not contemplated visiting it in the near future. From the glorious
enthusiasm they aroused in you, a true and passionate lover of mountains and nature, I imagine I would River, more inspiring
and beautiful than the Big Horn and the Bitter-Root ranges. While appreciating the fact that I have no right to expect an
answer from you, yet, if you could find time to write at least a short letter, advising me as to which, in your opinion, are
the better, the Sierra or the Bitter Root and Big Horn ranges, I would greatly appreciate it, and a letter from you. This
question, of course, is predicted on the assumption that you have some acquaintance with the Rocky fit. ranges. I, a total
stranger to you, make bold to write you, because you are one of us who love mountains for themselves alone, who love nature
and everything she has made, and because you have a heart and mind attuned to every sight and sound 02049