Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

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Glimpses of our National Monuments

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  • wcu_great_smoky_mtns-10691.jpg
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  • 36 OUR NATIONAL MONUMENTS beauties of the country and wish to see them preserved and undamaged, and especially those who realize the literally unique value of the groves of giant trees, must feel that you have conferred a great and lasting benefit upon the whole country. I have a very great admiration for John Muir; but after all, my dear sir, this is your gift. No other land than that which you give is included in this tract of nearly 300 acres, and I should greatly like to name the monument the Kent Monument, if you will permit it. Sincerely yours, Theodore Roosevelt. To the President, Washington. My Dear Mr. Roosevelt : I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your message of appreciation, and hope and believe it will strengthen me to go on in an attempt to save more of the precious and vanishing glories of nature for a people too slow of perception. Your kind suggestion of a change in name is not one that I can accept So many millions of better people have died forgotten that to stencil one's own name on a benefaction seems to carry with it an implication of mundane immortality as being somewhat purchasable. I have five good, husky boys that I am trying to bring up to a knowledge of democracy and to a realizing sense of the rights of the " other fellow," doctrines 'which you, sir, have taught with more vigor and effect than any man in my time. If these boys can not keep the name of Kent alive, 1 am willing it should be forgotten. I have this day sent you by mail a few photographs of Muir Woods, and trust that you will believe, before you see the real thing (which I hope will be soon), that our Nation has acquired something worth while. Yours truly, William Kent. The White House, Washington. My Dear Mr. Kent : By George! you are right. It is enough to do the deed and not to desire, as you say, to " stencil one's own name on the benefaction." Good for you, and for the five boys who are to keep the name of Kent alive! I have four who I hope will do the same thing by the name of Roosevelt. Those are awfully good photos. Sincerely yours, Theodore Roosevelt. Nestling in a sheltered canyon on the lower western flank of Mount Tamalpais and but a short distance from San Francisco, less than a two-hour combination ride of ferry and train, this peaceful grove of redwood giants has flourished under national protection. Here are found immense trees, whose forefathers survived the tempestuous ordeal of lava and ice when the world was restless in the making. These are the Sequoia sempervirens of the northern California coast line. They are the tallest trees and the most beautiful. The lofty height of the coast species and the gigantic girth of the Sierra species, the Sequoia gigantea, together form a conifer unrivaled the world over.
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Object’s are ‘parent’ level descriptions to ‘children’ items, (e.g. a book with pages).