Transcription:
GIFFORD PINCHOT, CONSULTING FORESTER, NEW YORK. UNITED CHARITIES BUILDING, FOURTH AVE. AND 22D ST. New York, July 2,
1897. Mr. John Muir, Martinez, Cal. Dear Mr. Muir: I have recently been appointed Special Forest Agent by the Secretary
of the Interior, with the duty of examining and describing the suspended reserves, recommending new boundaries for them and
preparing the outline of organization for a forest service. My work will take me first to Priest Lake, then to Lake Chelan
,where I expect to arrive about July 24, and thence across the Cascades to Seattle or Snohomish. It looks very much as though
I should lose for this summer the opportunity so kindly referred to by you, to make a trip in the woods in your company, unless
by some good fortune you should be going to Washington. Afterward I must join some government officials in the Black Hills
and the Big Horn Mountains, and after that make short trips in western Montana and eastern Idaho. The field work will last
until the latter part of October or longer. I esteem myself very fortunate indeed to have been given this post of work to
do. I had already made my plans to do it as a private citizen and submit the results to Secretary Bliss; so that the government
work comes in direct continuation of my own plans. I was both surprised and delighted when the matter was brought to my atten-02311