August 5 Monday – In the morning, the Clemens party traveled by train about 100 miles from Helena to Missoula, Mont. Sam’s notebook:

Left Helena for Missoula. Saw in Butte, Dixon & O’Bannon — 27 & 38 years. Helena, Judge Knowles and Tom Campbell — 28 & 32 years.

Beautiful dwellings, green grass & trees. & the gray brown mountains. In H & B saw relatives — 25 years. Fine valley & scenery [NB 35 TS 22].

The day’s events are also recorded in J.B. Pond’s diary:

Senator Sanders walked with “Mark” to the station in Helena this morning, while I accompanied the ladies in a carriage. Whom should we meet walking the platform of the station but Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher, on her way to visit her son Herbert in Port Townsend. It was a delightful surprise. Senator Sanders at once recognized her, as in 1883 he joined our party and drove from Helena (then the end of the eastern section of the Northern Pacific Railroad) to Missoula, the eastern end of the western division. We then drove in a carriage with four horses, via Butte and Deer Lodge, and it took four days to make the journey. Senator Sanders travelled the same distance in five hours with us to-day in a Pullman car.

At Missoula we all drove in a “bus” to the Florence House, the ladies inside and “Mark” and I outside with the driver. Here we saw the first sign of the decadence of the horse: a man riding a bicycle alongside the bus, leading a horse to a nearby blacksmith shop. At “Mark’s” suggestion I caught a snapshot of that scene. Officers from Fort Missoula, four miles out, had driven in with ambulances and an invitation from Lieutenant-Colonel [Andrew] Burt, commandant, for our entire party to dine at the fort. The ladies accepted. “Mark” went to bed and I looked after the business.

We had a large audience in a small hall, the patrons being mainly officers of the fort and their families. As most of the ladies who marry army officers come from our best Eastern society, it was a gathering of people who appreciated the occasion. After the lecture, the meeting took the form of a social reception, and it was midnight before it broke up. The day has been one of delight to all of us. As we leave at 2:30 P.M. to-morrow, all have accepted an invitation to witness guard-mounting and lunch early at the fort [Eccentricities of Genius 213-14].

Fatout writes,

“At Missoula, Pond was impressed by much military brass and braid from nearby Fort Missoula. ‘As most of the ladies who marry army officers,’ he said snobbishly, ‘come from our best Eastern society, it was a gathering of people who appreciated the occasion.’ That was ironical praise for an old Comstocker like Mark Twain, who was as western as sagebrush, and some of whose best stories were flavored with sourmash and alkali” [Lecture Circuit 248-9].

The Missoula Montana Evening Republican, p.4 “Local Briefs” announced,

Mark Twain tonight

Mark Twain’s lecture begins at 8:45 sharp.

A few seats are left for this evening’s entertainment. Secure one at once.

Mark Twain and Major Pond and party arrived on No. 1 today and are registered at the Florence.

Koelbel writes of Sam’s time in Missoula:

“…he arrived at Fort Missoula, August 5th. Col. And Mrs. [Andrew] Burt received a telegram at 2 p.m. the afternoon of the 5th informing them that they would be honored by the presence of the author and his family at dinner that night. Dinner was always at 6 p.m. sharp. Needless to say, the news threw the household into a dither. Between the garden and the chicken coop, plenty of food was available. The Burts’ Negro maid also served soup, salad, ice cream and coffee. The food was served on shining silver plates. Roses from the garden helped make the dinner seem like a long-planned-for event. A number of officers and their wives joined the Burts and Twains after dinner for a concert by the Army band. The concert was short, however, because Mr. Twain had to go to Missoula for his lecture at a local theater. On the way back to the fort that evening, Col. Burt told Twain that he was taking him to a place where he wouldn’t have to entertain but he himself would be entertained. Mr. Twain threw up his hands and said, ‘Great heavens! Is there such a place of delight on earth?’As it turned out, Twain was continuously surrounded by officers. Every time he would try to tell a joke, an officer would interrupt saying, ‘eg your pardon, Mr. Clemens, permit me to tell a little incident.’The officer would tell an old army story. After each story Twain would start in on another story of his own, but again he’d be interrupted. Finally he exclaimed, ‘ beg you, give me just one chance.’After the laughter died down, he added in his inimitable drawl, ‘ay, boys, I haven’t had one put over on me as good as that since the old Comstock days!’”65-6].

The Missoula Evening Republican, Aug. 6, 1895 p.4 ran a short notice of Sam’s lecture at the Bennett Opera House:

Mark Twain delighted a fair audience at the Bennett last night [Aug 5] with his droll manner and ever ready wit. No more enjoyable occasion could be imagined than an evening with Mark Twain and it is needless to say that none went away disappointed [Copy from Tenney].