Transcription:
2nd creation, seperate in all respects from all other valleys, but such is not true, Yosemite is one of many One chapter
of a great mount- ain book written by the same pen of ice which the Lord long ago passed over every page of our great Sierra
Nevada's. I know how Yosemite and all the other valley's of these magnificent mountains were made and the next year ontrod?
of my life will be occupied chiefly in writing their history in a human book - a glorious subject, which God help me preach
aright? . I have been sleeping in the rocks and snow often weary and hungry sustained by the excitements of my subject and
by the Scottish pluck and perseverance which belongs to our family - for the last few days I have been eating and resting
and enjoying long warm sleeps beneath a roof, in a warm rockless boulderless bed. 4th Wisconsin winter will soon be upon
you may you enjoy its brightness and universal beauty in warm and happy homes Our topmost mountains are white with their earliest
snow, but the Valley is still base and brown with rustling leaves of the Oak and Alder and fronds of the fast fading ferns
Between two and three thousand Persons visited the Valley this summer I am glad they are all gone. I can now think my thoughts
and say my prayers in quiet ever devoutly yours in family love John