July, end – Sam’s mining fever waned. To make ends meet, he began sending letters to various papers. His “Josh” letters to the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise had created some interest, and brother Orion’s finances were strained from increasing mining expenses. Sam’s legislative friend, William Barstow, worked in the Enterprise business office and convinced the paper’s owner, Joseph T. Goodman (1838-1917), that Sam was just the sort of writer the paper needed. Barstow wrote Sam, offering him a job as a reporter at $25 a week [MTL 1: 231].