Chariton Valley Beef Initiative

Chariton Valley Beef Industry Initiative (CVB) was started by producers seeking to improve their herd management skills and simultaneously look into value- added markets. Individualized computer analysis of past carcass data is a key product supplied to CVB members

Letter from Fay H. Sellers to [John Muir], 1913 Mar 3.

[2]not however remain much longer, having made her arrangements to return home in April. She is to visit her mother and daughter in Oregon before that time, consequently I will have to give her up soon. As I wrote you in my last letter, I will go to Chicago and decide later what is the best thing for me to do, live in a hotel, coming here winters or take a house there. I get very homesick when I think of[1]Pasadena Mch 3-13Dear friend.I am still in Pasadena where I expect to remain until there is a prospect of selling the house. I have put it in the hands of Mr. Luckwood to sell. hoping he may find a purchaser soon- although one cannot always dispose of a house immediately upon offering it for sale. My sister-in-law is still with me. She can05386 [3]going away from Pasadena. for I like it here. No doubt when I go to Chicago, everything will be different there, and it may not seem like home. Five years have probably made many changes there too. I will let you know as soon as I know myself where I am going. It may be two months before I can dispose of my things here and be ready to go. If you come to Los Angeles, you will come to see me, won\u27t you? I would be very unhappy to go away without seeing you again. God bless you dear Mr. Muir. for you have indeed been a dear and kind friend.Your sincere friendFay J. Sellers

Letter from Fay H. Sellers to John Muir, 1912 Sep 19.

[2]days, and will then see Helen, In your letter to me your say Helen\u27s husband and her eldest boy have been ill. I do not understand it quite, for I had not heard that the stork had visited Helen and her husband for the second time. I am so sorry to learn that Mr. Buell and dear little Muir have been ill.[1][letterhead]Sept 19-12Dear Mr. Muir,I have just gotten up from a sick bed where I have been for two weeks. Was threatened with pneumonia and other complications. However I am now rapidly recovering and hope to be out again in a few05276 [3]I never go out anymore to see my friends, although I ride out every day when I can, just run over to Tropico where my sister lives. Soon my sister-in-law will come to California for a visit, and I am looking forward with pleasure to it. She will be a comfort to me helping me to live through this awful loneliness. Just imagine Mr. Muir what this means to me to be so absolutely alone. All summer I have been here prefering it however to being with people who did not interest me. You do not say anything about your Alaska trip. Hope you enjoyed it, but that goes without saying, as you[4]always are in your native element when visiting such interesting places and heartily enjoy and appreciate them. Good-bye. Soon I will see Helen and her dear ones, and hope to find them well. With kindest remembrance I am as ever your sincere friendFay H. Sellers0527

Letter from A. H. Sellers to John Muir, 1907 Aug 7.

WESTERN BANK NOTE CO. CHICAGO.HOTEL METROPOLEMichigan Ave. and 23rd St.MANAGEMENTC. C. HORTON – F. G. WARDEN.ABSOLUTELY FIRE PROOF HOTEL300 ROOMS.THE METROPOLE COMPANYPROPRIETOR.2Chicago,August 7th 1907.My Dear Mr. Muir:-Last night Mrs. Sellers said to me “Is’nt it strange that we have not heard a word from Mr. Muir? I feel worried about him”, I replied I will write him tomorrow. About noon today, she came up from the hotel office all smiling, and said “you remember I spoke to you last night about not hearing from Mr. Muir, and now here is a letter from him”, and. I assure you we were glad to get it.Well, when we got home from Pasadena, my heart was troubling me very much, so I called on my doctor, Frank S. Johnson, who is a heart and lung specialist. He told me that my heart was in very bad shape, that I had been abusing it, that the only way to cure heart troubles was to give it complete and, as far as possible, absolute rest, and not to fight it. He then put me under the “Nauheim” treatment. Nauheim, Germany, is where so many go for heart troubles. There is a Swede here who was educated in the Nauheim sanitarium, and gives the treatment at your home. It consists of certain very, slow movements of the arms, legs, and body, designed to very slowly exercise and strenghten certain muscles of the heart. Following this I take a bath, in which are placed 15 lbs of salt, 3or 4 pints of “Calcium Chloride”, I think this is right, and 6 or 8 cakes, with a lot of soda, which cause the cakes to liberate an immense quantity of carbonic acid gas, so that the watter in the tub boils violently. In this bath I remain for 15 minutes, am then put to bed to sleep for an hour. I have now been taking this treatment for five weeks,03906 WESTERN BANK NOTE CO. CHICAGO.HOTEL METROPOLEMichigan Ave. and 23rd St.MANAGEMENTC. C. HORTON – F. G. WARDEN.ABSOLUTELY FIRE PROOF HOTEL300 ROOMS.THE METROPOLE COMPANYPROPRIETOR.2Chicago,and it is astonishing the improvement it has made. I told the doctor, last night, that I believed that I was well, and could now go to work. You ought to have heard the raking over he gave me. Told me that I was in good condition to fully recover, but that I had several months yet to do so, of very careful nursing of my heart to acomplish it. That I could by carelessness undo, in five minutes all that I had gained in five weeks work. This is rather discouraging but I will have to stand it, for I feel it is right.My wife\u27s neice, Rhea Logan, is to be married the 20th, at the family\u27s summer home at Darien Conn, on Long Island sound. We leave for there the 12th inst, and they want us to stay down there, with them, a month, I dont know that I can stay that long, but the doctor thinks it will help me very much, the sea air, and the quiet life I must lead. I am very anxious to get my stuff out to California, and get to living once more. I hope to leavve here, for Pasadena, about the 15th of October.My address here will still be at this hotel, and letters will be forwarded tome. Mrs. Sellers is at her dressmakers, but know she will join me in kind regards to you all. Were very sorry to hear of brother Keith\u27s accident, kindly remember us to him.Yours very sincerely[illegible]0390

Letter from Frank H. Sellers to John Muir, 1906 Sep 14.

10 Astor St., Chicago.Sept. 14, 1906.My Dear Mr. Muir:I have been asked a pleasant courtesy:- to write a letter of introduction to you for my friend Bert. Wentworth,- because it stirs me up to send you a note, and it takes quite a jolt to make me write to anyone. I do not know why I have such a constitutional reluctance to writing, but I have, all the same, and I have now come to be so fully aware of it, that I no longer make apologies.Bert. Wentworth is a fine young fellow whom I have hot seen in years,for his health failed him long ago and he went to the West. He is a manly, sincere fellow, and one I know you will like. He asked me for the letter and hopes soon to be able to meet you.My affairs have been poking along in the usual uneventful way,-not sufficient to keep me really busy and yet enough to hold me here with an occasional business run to some large eastern city, where I have to see oceans of people, who weary me, and not a bit of Cod\u27s real country. My wife, whose health is restored, goes off occasionally to her relatives and I sometimes fetch her home, with a day or two of trout fishing slipped in. Those trips are great, for we splash along in the abandoned rivers of the old pine country in Michigan, where nature is slowly claiming her own again, and one can breath pure air and see the trees and sky.The other day our family doctor, a royally good fellow, ran off for an outing in the Big Horn valley, and we talked over his outfit and preparations. And what fun we had. I could almost live over again the glorious ride I took so long ago with you in the rainy, muddy Yellowstone[illegible]03762 and could smell the camp bread and the frying greasy bacon, those wonderful perversions of good food, and see you sitting on the slippery edge of some mud gyser as the rain pelted down, serenely quoting Bobby Burns\u27 remarks about the hot hereafter and the Deevil , as the mud balls puffed and choked and sputtered back at you. Those pictures of my mind are a part of me.Now I suppose you are sizzling and drying up out on the sandy stretches of Arizona, digging up a monster tree each day and reading the buried secrets of the old ages. How I wish I were with you and that you could see the enthusiasm of my wife, if she were along, and found a newflower or bird. She does not know that country and its weird picturesque ness and romance, and it has always been my regret that she and I could not get you and wander about its mysterious stretches.Father and Mrs. Sellers are well and would join with my wife and me in our best wishes for your well fare, if they knew I was writing.Your most sincerely.[illegible]0376

Letter from A. H. Sellers to John Muir, 1904 Sep 11.

AH. SELLERSHotel MetropoleCHICAGO Sep\u27t 11th 1904.Our dear Mr. Muir:-Just as we were about to leave our old house on Michigan Ave, the last of June, we received your splendid letter of June 16th last from Martinez, and I hurridly answered it.Yesterday, Fay, in handing ire the wail, said here is a newspaper sent you by Mr. Muir . Glancing at it I saw it was post marked New Castle N S [illegible] and said well this explains why we have heard nothing from Mr. Muir. he has gone back to Australia . Tearing off the cover. I saw it was the Daily Telegraph Sidney Jug 6. 1904. It contained a marked 3 column article on Our vanishing brothers. Northern tribes of central Australia- Messrs Spencer and Cillen\u27s book- A valuable and interesting record. Afterwards, looking the paper over, I found on the first page in red pencil Marked copy F. W. G. which explained who it was from. F.W.G. being Fred. w. Coding, Mrs Sellers\u27 cousin, who is the U. S. Consul at New Castle New South Wales. He is quite a naturalist, and has sent me some valuable books on the aborigines of that country.Now, to show you how natural it was for my wife and me to be misled by the address on the cover of the paper, I send it to you, with the envelop of your letter showing my address as written by you, from which you will see that the similarity in the handwriting is certainly remarkable.We were all interested and delighted with your letter, and were astonished at how much you told us in the four pages. It gave us a splendid idea of your great travels, and what you saw, in a very few words.03439 A. H. SELLERS3420 MICHIGAN AVENUE(2) CHICAGONow, for fear you did not get my best answer to your letter, I must, at the risk of repetion, tell you why we sold our house. Last year we were only in the house about two months, the winter being spent at Coronado Eeach California, and the following summer at Oconomowoc and Fuckawa lake. Returning from there Nov 15th we left on Jan\u27y 15th last for Southern Cal, returning here about the first of last May. Soon after our return an Israelite commenced negotiating with we for the house, and inasmuch as we were about the only Gentiles left in the block- balance all Israelites- I finally sold to him the place, realizing $50.000.00 in cash, being all that it had cost ire more than 15 years ago. It took about two months to consumate the sale, get rid of our surplus truck (giving away six wagon loads) and pack up and store the balance in warehouse. We then took rooms in the Hotel Metropole , a very fine family hotel at the corner of 23rd & Michigan Ave. We did this because we had no time to look up another house, and wanted time to carefully consider before building another home. We cannot, at present, give much attention to our future plans, because Mrs. Sellers\u27 dear old mother is very ill, and at her age, 82, is in a very precarious condition. We cannot now make any plans for this coming winter, because if she continues as she is now, Fay will not want to go very far from her. We have been in the city all summer, and expect to remain, tho1 we hope to be able to spend a couple of weeks or so at Puckawa lake, near your old home in Wisconsin, sometime next month.Frank and his wife took dinner with us today, and we talked much about03457 According to the [illegible] of things literaryA. H. SELLKRS3420 MICHIGAN AVENUECHICAGO(3)you. Frank said I do hope Mr. Muir will now settle down to write, and give the world the benefit of the great knowledge he has acquired, in his own beautiful language , to which I say amen . Frank has just returned from New York. He has been working for a long time on a bier street railroad subway scheme for this city, hut finds it hard to float just now. I think he feels, after this last trip to N. Y., quite discouraged, as he begins to talk about trying to get into something else. This, I fear, he will not find easy to do in these times. I told him that if he was not married, I would send him out to California, or the coast generally, to see what he could do out there.He, and Fay join me in kindest regards, and best wishes to you all.Sincerely yoursAH SellersSep. [24?] You say you thought I had gone to [Australia?] & I began to think you had all gone [illegible] Sellers [illegible] The June letter you refer to [illegible] kind letter of Sep. 11th is the first I have received from you since my return. I got [illegible] the one you sent in June must be lost [illegible] from my big ramble. [illegible] Now that yr fine [illegible] house is sold you must al come to Cal as soon as you can build your next home here & be my neighbor. [Then we?] can grow old (or young) [illegible] together - the high Sierras will then be our glorious backyard, the Pacific our pond [where we?] can sail when we like, for [illegible] Alaska to the Andes for exercise & [illegible] of the noble aboriginal [forest?] [illegible] to South Africa & Madagascar to see the Grand [illegible], etc etc etc and we can go [illegible] anytime to India for another look at the Himalaya [illegible] you on yr footloose freedom I can\u27t help feeling a little sad at the loss of my home The only home I ever had in Chicago. I\u27m [puttering?] a little with my pen trying to write another little book. [illegible] that it seems hardly worthwhile spending precious [illegible] on them. When if ever I can get [these?] off my hands I don\u27t know0343

Letter from A. H. Sellers to John Muir, 1910 Jun 24.

320 WEST CALIFORNIA STREETPASADENA, CALIFORNIAJune 24, 1910My dear friend Muir-On our return from Riverside a couple days ago, we found your letter of the [first?] telling of your sister Margarets serious illness and today we receive yours of the 23rd giving us the sad news of her death. Your letter is a beautiful one and so appropriate to the long hard yet blessed life of a dear woman. She is now at rest and pain & suffering ended, and only those who loved her are left to mourn and suffer for her loss- what a comfort it must have been to her to have you with her, and to you also, that you could be there.Now, John, you ought to get away from your sad surroundings as soon as you can and we hope to see you down here as soon as you can come. Mrs Sellers was very much affected by your letter, and said she was going to try to write you soon. Here niece is with us now, & she keeps her pretty busy- We all join in much love & sincere sympathy to you.Very truly yours A H Sellers0481

Letter from A. H. Sellers to John Muir, 1908 Jan 8.

[letterhead]Jany 8, 1908Dear MuirWe were delighted to get your letter of the 7[th?] inst, because it gives us the good news that Helen is much better, on the Van Dyke ranch. When you can leave her you must come down & visit us. We have 3 rooms finished on the 2nd floor, & the Kitchen. The servants are in the house & we expect to get in (on the 2d floor) ourselves by Friday or Saturday (this is Wednesday). It will be at least two weeks more before the downstairs rooms are finished. all the 2d floor will be done by the first of next week. We can take care of you when we go in and will be delighted to have you with us.Sincerely yoursA H Sellers0401

Letter from A. H. Sellers to John Muir, 1902 Nov 16.

A. H. SELLERS3420 MICHIGAN AVE.CHICAGONov 16th 1902SundayMy dear friend Muir:-We returned Friday from our annual hunting and fishing trip to Puckaway Lake, and were delighted to get your letter with a photo of your dear self. The likeness is excellent, and the whole picture very appropriate, as you stand beside one of your gnarled old friends. We were delighted to get it.Fay. had not been at all well for over a year, when last may her brother, the doctor, made a thorough examination, and found the cause and after a three months treatment the trouble seems to have been removed. Following this medical treatment, with a two months stay at our little cottage at Puckaway, has made her as well as ever. We realize, however, that to keep her so, will necessitate keeping her out of doors as much as possible.I have not been very well, my liver giving me much trouble, all owing to my inability to give it natures great “out-of-doors remedy. This was demonstrated by my stay at the lake, and I feel that I must follow it up. Having just [illegible]ten home we have not had time to [illegible] winter. We both need plenty of out-of door[illegible] hardly been considered. Our preferences are Ca[illegible] of Fay\u27s [illegible] (she is 80) makes us hesitate [illegible].We [illegible] with pleasure the account of [illegible] high Sierra[illegible] summer, and tried to imagine [illegible] joyed it.I [illegible] greatly pleased with your article [illegible] Colorado, [illegible] delighted to learn that you [illegible]. The world cannot get too much of your beautiful [illegible].Fay [illegible] me in love to you, Mrs Muir, and [illegible].Your faith[illegible][illegible]0309

Letter from A. H. Sellers to John Muir, 1907 Dec 29.

My house No is 320 West California St.[letterhead]Dec 29, 1907Dear Mr Muir-We were greatly shocked at what you wrote about poor Helen. The desert is an interesting place to visit but to be banished there for two years seems very hard. I did not answer your letter because I was trying to find some one who had acquaintances at Moh[illegible]- B[illegible] or some other eating home town on the desert, but so far have not succeeded. I met Lukens & he says he recomended you going to a ranch near Dagget, but I thought it would be better to get near some town where there was a [illegible] eating house so you could get eastern [illegible]-Neither he or I know whether you have started yet or not, but hope daily to hear from you.We are not in our house yet & it looks as tho\u27 it would be at least 2 weeks more before we get there. It seems an [illegible]able job to get it ready. Our goods & servants are all here. Do let us hear from you when you get located. Mrs Sellers joins me in love & sympathy for you bothYours sincerelyA.H. Sellers0400