Letter from John Muir to [Henry F.] Osborn, 1910 Jun 1.

Los Angeles, Cal., June 1, 1910325 West Adams Street,My dear Mr. Osborn:-Many thanks for the copy you sent me of your long good manly letter to Mr. Robert J. Collier on the Hetch-Hetchy Yosemite Park. As, I suppose, you have seen by the newspapers, San Francisco will have until May 1, 1911, to show cause why Hetch-Hetchy valley should not be eliminated from the permit which the government has given the city to develop a water supply in Yosemite Park. Meantime the municipality is to have detailed surveys made of the Lake Eleanor water-shed, of the Hetch-Hetchy, and other available sources, and furnish such data and information as may be directed by a board of Army Engineers appointed by the President to act in an advisory capacity with Secretary Ballinger. Mr. Ballinger said to the San Francisco proponents of the damming scheme- I want to know what is necessary so far as the Hetch-Hetchy is concerned . He also said: What this government wants to know and the American people want to know is whether it is a matter of absolute necessity for the people of San Francisco to have this water supply. Otherwise it belongs to the people for the purpose of a national park for which it has been set aside . Ballinger suggested that the Lake Eleanor plans should be submitted to the engineers at once so that they could have them as a basis for ascertaining if the full development of that watershed is contemplated, and to make a report of its data to the engineers as its preparation proceeded so that they may be kept in immediate touch with what is being done. Of the out-04777https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmcl/31771/thumbnail.jp