Transcription:
Camp Colby, July 5, 1902 Dear Mama: We are spending the day in camp for the first time since we reached here. That is,
this is the first whole day we have stayed in camp for there has been so much to see and so many places to go. I have just
finished lunch. It consisted of ten biscuits, seven pickles (small) a big plate full of stewed dried apples, some flour and
bacon grease gravy and a big dipper full of strong tea without sugar (sugar has given out) and am still living and feeling
as happy and healthy as a mountaineer should. And so is Helen although she also ate a lot of ham besides all the things I
did. This morning was spent in washing clothes and visiting around camp, and now I am lying on a bank of pine needles under
a big yellow pine writing this letter. How I wish that you could be here for it is a fine place to rest and be lazy in as
well as to walk in. It is rather dry and dusty as you have no doubt guessed by the looks of this paper, but the weather has
been delightful all the time and the grand domes and cliffs, the big trees and the beautiful river more beautiful even than
either the Merced or Tuolumne, make it an ideal place to camp. One does not realize how many people are here unless one helps
wash dishes or doles out soup to the hungry multitude. There are now nearly two hundred people in the , canyon, rather too
many to be in one camp, but still everything is simply marvelous. There never seems to be any rush or hurry, yet all the work
of this big camp is done with the regularity and precision of clock work. The three Chinamen who do the cooking never seem
particularly busy, yet we ate 57 big loaves of bread yesterday, for one meal we had hard tack... Yesterday evening everyone
tried to make as much noise as possible in celebrating the glorious fourth and a terrific racket was the result. Then we had
a big bonfire rally, fire crackers, music and a wonderful supper of plum pudding, chocolate cake, nuts, olives, clam chowder,
etc. etc. The whole affair must have been a tremendous surprise to the three gray squirrels and the other little animals that
play around the camp, and even the echoes that the big rocks sent back had a startled and unnatural sound. 05004