Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30 1835 – April 21 1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was a famous and popular American humorist, novelist, writer and lecturer.

Roughing it Out West

Twain's experiences out West formed him as a writer and became the basis of his second book, Roughing It. In Nevada, Samuel Clemens became a miner, hoping to strike it rich digging up silver in the Comstock Lode and staying for long periods in camp with his fellow prospectors--another mode of living that he later put to literary use. Failing as a miner, he fell into newspaper work in Virginia City for the Territorial Enterprise, where he adopted the pen name "Mark Twain" for the first time. In 1864, he moved down to San Francisco and wrote for several papers there.

Related Topics:
Roughing It - Comstock Lode - Territorial Enterprise - San Francisco

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In 1865, Twain had his first literary success. At the behest of humorist Artemus Ward (whom he had met and befriended in Virginia City during Ward's lecture tour of 1863), he submitted a humorous short story for a collection Ward was publishing. The story arrived too late for that book, but the publisher passed it to the Saturday Press. That story, originally entitled "Jim Smiley and his Jumping Frog" but now better known as "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," was reprinted nationwide, and called by Atlantic Monthly editor James Russell Lowell "the finest piece of humorous literature yet produced in America."

Related Topics:
Artemus Ward - The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County - Atlantic Monthly - James Russell Lowell

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In the spring of 1866 he was commissioned by the Sacramento Union newspaper to travel to the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii) to write a series of letters reporting on his journey there. On his return to San Francisco, the success of the letters and the personal encouragement of Colonel John McComb (publisher of San Francisco's Alta California newspaper) led him to try his hand at the lecture circuit, renting the Academy of Music and charging a dollar a head admission. "Doors open at 7 o'clock," Twain wrote on the advertising poster. "The trouble to begin at 8 o'clock."

Related Topics:
Sacramento Union - Hawaii - Alta California

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The first lecture was a wild success, and soon Twain was travelling up and down the state, lecturing and entertaining packed houses.

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