Title:
Letter from Walter H. Page to John Muir, 1897 Mar 4.
Creator:
Walter H. Page
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:
John Muir
Date:
1897 Mar 4
2008
Type:
Text
Format:
Image/jpeg2000
Identifier:
muir09_0770-md-1
Source:
Original letter dimensions: 21.5 x 13.5cm
Language:
eng
Coverage:
Boston [Mass]
Rights:
Copyright status unknown
Some letters written to John Muir may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). Transmission or reproduction
of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners.
Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Transcription:
letterhead 4 March 1897 Dear Sir: I write to seek if you will not prepare for the Atlantic Monthly an article or articles
about the Government parks and reservations in the West. Our own longstanding wish of having the pleasure of publishing something
from you on such a subject has been quickened into this definite invitation by the kind suggestion of Professor C. S. Sargent,
who has written to you, seconding my request. I shall not presume to indicate any definite method of treatment, for your
own method will be better than any other. But it seems worthwhile just now to point out the practical value of these reservations
because the awakening of an appreciative public sentiment may be necessary to insure their preservation. An attack, as you
know, has already been made in Congress on the President for his reservation of these lands and an effort will be 02251
3 put forth, I have no doubt, to annul Mr. Cleveland's action, and every such effort will qucken the greed of the adventurers.
But apart from this practical consideration and more important is the intrinsic charm of the subject; and the too general
ignorance in the Eastern States of the beauty as well as of the practical value of these forest-reservations imposes on the
Atlantic Monthly the duty of doing all that it can to build up an appreciative public sentiment--a duty that is made the more
pleasant because the subject lends itself so happily to literary treatment in your hands. Within its somewhat modest but,
I hope, fair limits, the Atlantic will expect to meet your wishes in regard to the honorarium. May I here acknowledge the
very great debt I owe you for the pleasure that I have received from 'The Mountains of California'? Very Sincerely Yours,
Walter H. Page John Muir Esq./ 02251