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John Muir's Book
The first landing and claiming of Wrangell Island for the United States was
chronicled by
famed explorer and naturalist John Muir. He was in the landing
party that came ashore from
United States Revenue Marine ship Thomas Corwin on
August 12, 1881. The significance of the
aster
flowers on the title page is that the species Erigeron Muirii was named after
him because of his discovery of the species on the cruise near Cape Thompson in northwest
Alaska. He referred to
"Wrangell Land" inasmuch as it was not known
whether the territory was an extensive land mass or
an island. The party landed at
the mouth of a river, which was named Clark River after Ezra W.
Clark, the
national head of the Revenue Marine.
