Outgoing Correspondence from Robert Ridgway, January 14, 1868

              headquarters u s geological exploration 40th par carson city nevada dear sister fannie january 14th 1868 i answer your kind letter in haste send you some veiws of california scenery. do for pity's sake send me your photograph tell pa & ma to send theirs as i cant do without them any longer your affectionate brother robt ridgway nr 5 this is the first veiw the traveller gets of the famus yosemite valley the most beautiful in the world the tree in foreground was trimmed by one of our party mr l bayliss. nr 11 & 12 showing work on pacific r r. through the dormer lake pass of the unfortunately the pictures that ridgway sent did not survive with the collection the yosemite valley is a flat-floored glacially gouged valley about seven miles long the merced river runs along its floor encyclopedia americana international edition 30:690-91 unidentified sierra nevadas i have seen all of this the road is now completed over the mts nr 10 is the view which breaks upon the vision as you gain the western summit of the pass here you are in perpetual snow you look down upon the beautiful donner lake and across the valley to the eastern summit of the sierras remember that that sheet of water you see is higher above the sea than the top of mt washington: nr 9 the neck of the woods see him sticking his head out of the tree; these two men at the left of the