June 21 Tuesday – A local item in the Call, “Short-Hand Law Reporter” is attributed to Sam [Branch, C of Call 289].

June 17–23 Thursday – The article “‘Mark Twain’ in the Metropolis” was probably first printed sometime between these dates in the Territorial Enterprise, copies of which were lost [ET&S 2: 9]. (See June 26 entry)

The Morning Call

June 11 Saturday – A local item in the Call, “Another Chapter in the Marks Family History” is attributed to Sam [Branch, C of Call 289].

June 6 Monday – Sam secured employment as a local reporter for the San Francisco Morning Call at forty dollars a week [Branch, C of Call 16]. His duties included local news, public meetings, and local theater productions. His hours were long and irregular. He wrote candidly about the racial and social injustices he saw, particularly about the Chinese. These articles were censored or discarded by the paper’s conservative editor, but many were printed by the Enterprise.

June–July – In a few weeks Sam and Steve would move from the more expensive Occidental to cheaper rooms, but they continued to take meals at the Occidental, where the food was great and the company stimulating. There Sam met and enjoyed Martha Hunter Hitchcock, wife of Dr. Charles McPhail Hitchcock (1813?-1885), medical director for the Army of the Pacific. Martha was a regular contributor to the Alta California and active in local literary circles. She introduced Sam to her literary circle, which included: Ina Coolbrith (1841-1928), Bret (Francis) Harte (1836-1902), Ambrose G.

May 30 Monday – Sam and Steve Gillis settled at the Occidental Hotel.

May 29 Sunday – Sam, Joe Goodman, and Steve Gillis left Virginia City for San Francisco. Goodman wrote to Paine in 1911 that he’d intended to ride only a short way with the pair, but that the company was “too good and I kept clear on to San Francisco” [MTL 1: 302].

May 18 Wednesday – Sam’s EDITORIAL “How Is It?” ran in the Enterprise:
How is it that The Union outbid us for the flour Monday night and now repudiate their bid? How it is that Union employees refused to pay their subscriptions when they fell due? Did they pledge themselves for a big amount solely to make a bigger display than The Enterprise? Had they any other idea than to splurge? [Schmidt: reprinted in The Saga of the Comstock Lode, George D. Lyman, (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1957), p. 294, quoting Virginia City Daily Union, May 19, 1864].

May 17 Tuesday – In Virginia City, Sam wrote to his mother, Jane Clemens, and sister Pamela about raising money for relief of sick and wounded Union soldiers, called the “sanitary fund.” The Enterprise and the Union bid against each other to raise funds. Sam related Reuel Colt Gridley’s efforts at hauling a flour sack from town to town for the people to bid on as a means of raising funds. This letter was published (and it appears written for publication) in an unidentified St. Louis newspaper [MTL 1: 281-287].

May 16 Monday – Joe Goodman was again away from Virginia City, and Sam was in editorial charge of the Enterprise [Benson 107]. Sam drafted a “joke” about the funds for the Carson City Ball going to a miscegenation society back East. He showed it to De Quille, who agreed with Sam that it shouldn’t be printed. Sam later guessed the foreman, needing filler, picked it up and printed it [Powers, MT A Life 137].
Sam’s article, “History of the Gold and Silver Bars—How They Do Things in Washoe,” ran in the Enterprise [Camfield bibliog.].