Title:
Letter from John Muir to Helen & [Annie] Wanda [Muir], 1893 Jul 31.
Creator:
John Muir
Publisher:
University of the Pacific Library Holt-Atherton Special Collections. Please contact this institution directly to obtain copies
of the images or permission to publish or use them beyond educational purposes.
Contributor:
Helen & [Annie] Wanda [Muir]
Date:
1893 Jul 31
2008
Type:
Text
Format:
Image/jpeg2000
Identifier:
muir07_1225-md-1
Source:
Original letter dimensions: 33 x 21.5 cm.
Language:
eng
Coverage:
Near Bergen, Norway
Rights:
Copyrighted
The unpublished works of John Muir are copyrighted by the Muir-Hanna Trust. To purchase copies of images and/or obtain permission
to publish or exhibit them, see
http://library.pacific.edu/ha/forms
Muir-Hanna Trust
1984
Transcription:
North of Scotland Orkney Shetland Steam Navigation Co. St. Sunniva Near Bergen, Norway, July 31, 1893 8:30 P.M. My
dear sweet little Helen and Wanda: The ship is going very fast through the beautiful blue water among a lot of islands,
and is shakin so much I can hardly write. In a few minutes we will be at a queer-looking Norwegian town called Bergen and
then I will go ashore ana send this letter to you. Tomorrow evening we will start back to Scotland, where we will land about
Wednesday night. Then I'm going to London and Switzerland, and then I'm going home. I bought some nice little things for you
in another queer town called Savanger, and in still another called Throndheim, and perhaps I may see somothing you would lice
in Bergen. I have enjoyed the sail in Norway very much, For more than a thousand miles I have been sailing in narrow channels
between high mountains in beautiful scenery. The walls of the channels or fiords, as they are called, are about 3000 or 4000
feet high, and are covered with heather and grass and bluebells and larkspurs and geraniums and buttercups and many other
beautiful flowers. Also many handsome birch trees not very big, and alders and willows and huckleberries, vild strawberries
grow on these high steep hills too, as Well as raspberries, but there are not many pine trees or spruces, nothing- like California
trees. It is just as if all the valleys of California were full of water so that we could sail about in them. The farms along
the sides of the mountains are very funny and small, less than an acre, many of them. Hundreds of waterfalls come tumbling
over the tops of the high cliffs and make them very beautiful, and make all the country joyful. Some day you must see them,
The people are good and kind, but they are not troubled much with money. I also rode about 200 miles through the country
and saw many lovely lakes and two charming and grand Yosomite Valleys called Naradal and Romsdal. I'll bring some pictures
of them. God bless you, my darlings. Your father, JOHN MUIR Envelope addressed Helen Muir, Martinez, California, U.S.A
731