May 26 Thursday – Sam wrote Orion asking for $200:
…if you can spare it comfortably. However, never mind—you can send it to San Francisco if you prefer. Steve [Gillis] & I are going to the States. We leave Sunday morning per Henness Pass. Say nothing about it of course. We are not afraid of the grand jury, but Washoe has long since grown irksome to us, & we want to leave it anyhow. His letter also stated that they wished to stay in San Francisco a month [MTL 1: 299]. The two flaps over the Sanitary fund had soured Sam on Virginia City. The Henness Pass route did not go through Carson City, where some folks were not placated by Sam’s apologies. It was time for Sam to move on. That Sam asked Orion for money reveals his strong desire to leave, and also the up and down nature of his finances while in Virginia City. He’d sent hundreds home, banked thousands, but had to borrow money when he left town. The Virginia Daily Union ran the Carson City Ladies’ Letter of protest for three days [Powers, MT A Life 138].