EDITOR'S NOTE 



ing it to the Overland Monthly without the 

 author's knowledge. The concluding chapter 

 on "The Grand Canon of the Colorado" was 

 pubUshed 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 experi- 

 ences during a storm 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 



