Steep Trails | Page 3

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Transcribed by Judy Gibson, of Descanso, California, USA, from a
book in the collection of the San Diego Natural History Museum, used
by the courtesy of the San Diego Society of Natural History.

Steep Trails
California-Utah-Nevada-Washington-Oregon-The Grand Canyon
by
John Muir

EDITOR'S NOTE

The papers brought together in this volume have, in a general way,
been arranged in chronological sequence. They span a period of
twenty-nine years of Muir's life, during which they appeared as letters
and articles, for the most part in publications of limited and local
circulation. The Utah and Nevada sketches, and the two San Gabriel
papers, were contributed, in the form of letters, to the San Francisco
Evening Bulletin toward the end of the seventies. Written in the field,
they preserve the freshness of the author's first impressions of those
regions. Much of the material in the chapters on Mount Shasta first
took similar shape in 1874. Subsequently it was rewritten and much
expanded for inclusion in Picturesque California, and the Region West
of the Rocky Mountains, which Muir began to edit in 1888. In the same
work appeared the description of Washington and Oregon. The
charming little essay "Wild Wool" was written for the Overland
Monthly in 1875. "A Geologist's Winter Walk" is an extract from a
letter to a friend, who, appreciating its fine literary quality, took the
responsibility of sending it to the Overland Monthly without the

author's knowledge. The concluding chapter on "The Grand Canyon of
the Colorado" was published in the Century Magazine in 1902, and
exhibits Muir's powers of description at their maturity.
Some of these papers were revised by the author during the later years
of his life, and these revisions are a part of the form in which they now
appear. The chapters on Mount Shasta, Oregon, and Washington will
be found to contain occasional sentences and a few paragraphs that
were included, more or less verbatim, in The Mountains of California
and Our National Parks. Being an important part of their present
context, these paragraphs could not be omitted without impairing the
unity of the author's descriptions.
The editor feels confident that this volume will meet, in every way, the
high expectations of Muir's readers. The recital of his experiences
during a stormy night on the summit of Mount Shasta will take rank
among the most thrilling of his records of adventure. His observations
on the dead towns of Nevada, and on the Indians gathering their harvest
of pine nuts, recall a phase of Western life that has left few traces in
American literature. Many, too, will read with pensive interest the
author's glowing description of what was one time called the New
Northwest. Almost inconceivably great have been the changes wrought
in that region during the past generation. Henceforth the landscapes that
Muir saw there will live in good part only in his writings, for fire, axe,
plough, and gunpowder have made away with the supposedly
boundless forest wildernesses and their teeming life.
William Frederic Bade
Berkeley, California
May, 1918

STEEP TRAILS

CONTENTS
I. Wild Wool II. A Geologist's Winter Walk III. Summer Days at
Mount Shasta IV. A Perilous Night on Shasta's Summit V. Shasta
Rambles and Modoc Memories VI. The City of the Saints VII. A Great
Storm in Utah VIII. Bathing in Salt Lake IX. Mormon Lilies X. The
San Gabriel Valley XI. The San Gabriel Mountains XII. Nevada Farms
XIII. Nevada Forests XIV. Nevada's Timber Belt XV. Glacial

Phenomena in Nevada XVI. Nevada's Dead Towns XVII. Puget Sound
XVIII. The Forests of Washington XIX. People and Towns of Puget
Sound XX. An Ascent of Mount Rainier XXI. The Physical and
Climatic Characteristics of Oregon XXII. The Forests of Oregon and
Their Inhabitants XXIII. The Rivers of Oregon XXIV. The Grand
Canyon of the Colorado Footnotes

ILLUSTRATIONS
The Crest of the Wahsatch Range From a point about four miles north
of Salt Lake City, Utah. From a photograph by Herbert W. Gleason
At Shasta Soda Springs A view of Mossbrae Falls, where a
subterranean stream coming down from the glaciers of Mt. Shasta
breaks through the vegetation and flows into the Sacramento River.
From a photograph by Herbert W. Gleason
Mount Shasta after a Snowstorm A view from the west, near Sisson.
From a photograph by Pillsbury's Pictures, Inc.
Mormon Lilies The plant is known in Utah as the Sego Lily,