Transcription:
Rough draft of letter to Miss Irene G. Wheelock, written on back of her letter of John Muir, dated September 16, 1903 Martinez,
September 24, 1904, Dear Miss Wheelock: Your kind letters, after their many adventures, one of them lying hidden and smothered
a year in your pocket, then the twins setting forth in their travels around and across and along the world have at last reached
me, forwarded from Peking, China, one of them a year old, the other more than two years, and still as good as new. In the
same package with yours came ten from my own family. In the middle of May, 1903, I went with President Roosevelt to Yosemite,
then started on an excursion more than a year long. Visited many of the famous parks and art galleries of Europe, spending
about a week or ten days at London, at Paris, Berlin, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, the Hague, Leyden, St. Petersburg, Moscow. From
Moscow I went to Sebastopol, thence along the Black Sea to Batoun, then to Tiflis, through the Caucasus by the Darhu Pass
back to Moscow, thence across the Urals, Siberia, Manchuria, looking at forests, rocks, glaciers, people, etc. From Vladivostok
to Korea, Japan, China, Singapore, India, up the Himalaya, thence to Egypt, up the Nile, thence to Ceylon, to Australia, New
Zealand, Manila, Honkong, and home by way of Japan and Honolulu. And being most of the time off the main lines of travel in
the woods no wonder letters had hard work to find me. But the loss of your letter was no loss to your book, fot it is all
right, has beautiful plumage, is bright and stout and well able to make its way on its own wings. We all remember your visit
with pleasure, and hope to see you at our home again whenever you come to this side of the continent. Thanking you for your
kind invitation, and with best wishes, I am, etc. , John Muir 03448