Day By Day Dates

May 19 Tuesday­ – The Fresno Mining Co. issued ten shares of stock to “Samuel L. Clemmens” [sic] in Aurora, Esmeralda mining district. The company was incorporated on Jan. 22, 1863 [Spink Shreves Galleries Sale 121 Lot 487, 2010]. Note: see insert.

June–July – “Bullion,” and “Decidedly Rich,” items attributed to Sam, ran in the Enterprise [Schmidt].

June 1 Monday – Sam was still in San Francisco, but now stayed at the Lick House at Montgomery and Sutter. The Lick House was more opulent than their first stay at the Occidental Hotel at Bush and Montgomery ($2.50 per day) [MTL 1: 256n1, MT Encyclopedia, Zall 651]. Sam wrote his mother, and sister Pamela, enclosing another $20 greenback.

June 4 Thursday – Sam wrote from San Francisco to his mother, and sister Pamela, sending another $20 greenback. “…it seems like going back to prison to go back to the snows & the deserts of Washoe, after living in this Paradise. But then I shall soon get used to it—all places are alike to me” [MTL 1: 256].

June 19 Friday – Sam wrote “All About Fashions,” (“Mark Twain – More of Him,”) a piece that was published in revised version in the San Francisco Golden Era on Sept. 27. It was probably published in the Enterprise sometime between June 20 and 24 [ET&S 1: 304]. Note: Budd says between June 21 and June 24, 1863 [“Collected” 1001].

June 20 Saturday – Sam wrote from San Francisco to Orion and Mollie—all in a dither about Echo stock, of which he had a small share. Sam had speculated on the stock and helped to raise the price later by writing glowing accounts of the mine to the San Francisco Morning Call [MTL 1: 258].

June 21–24 Wednesday – Sam’s LETTER FROM MARK TWAIN – ALL ABOUT FASHIONS was printed in the Enterprise. It was the main body of “Mark Twain—More of Him” written on June 19; see also Sept. 27 entry for reprint in Golden Era [ET&S 1: 304]. An excerpt:

EDS. ENTERPRISE: – I have just received, per Wells-Fargo, the following sweet scented little note, written in a microscopic hand in the center of a delicate sheet of paper — like a wedding invitation or a funeral notice — and I feel it my duty to answer it:

VIRGINIA, June 16.

July – “Gymnasium,” and article attributed to Sam, ran in the Enterprise [Camfield, bibliog.].

July–August – “Report on Bullion Production,” attributed to Sam, ran in the Enterprise [Schmidt].

July 2 Thursday – Sam arrived back in Virginia City [MTL 1: 254n6]. Sam’s article “The Comstock Mines” ran about this day in the Enterprise [Camfield, bibliog.].

July 5 Sunday – Sam’s first in a series of “Mark Twain’s Letters” was dated this day. See July 9 entry for publication [ET&S 1: 254-258].

July 8 Wednesday – Sam spoke at the dedication of the new Collins House hotel, a great success. Sam had made an equally pleasing speech back in 1856 for the Keokuk printers [MTL 1: 263].

July 9 Thursday – The Evening Bulletin reported on Sam’s speech dedicating Virginia City’s newest hotel, the Collins House:
Perhaps the speech of the evening was made by Sam. Clemens. Those not familiar with this young man, do not know the depths of grave tenderness in his nature. He almost brought the house to tears by his touching simple pathos [MTL 1: 263].

July 14–17 Friday – Sam’s unsigned “Extracts” ran between these dates in the Enterprise and were reprinted July 27 in Mining and Scientific Press [Camfield, bibliog.].

July 14 Tuesday – The Virginia City Bulletin ran a headline LOOK OUT MARK! After the drama “East Lynne” was incorrectly announced by Sam in the Enterprise for July 15 instead of July 14 and 16. [The Twainian, Nov.-Dec. 1948 p.3].
Four hundred and ninety-six hundred thousand incorporations have been filed, in the County Clerk’s office up to date. So Sam Clemens says [The Twainian, Nov-Dec 1948, p3].

July 15 Wednesday – Another “Mark Twain’s Letter” (dated July 12) ran in the San Francisco Morning Call. Sam wrote that the dollar value of Echo’s “first class ore goes clear out of sight into the thousands” [MTL 1: 259; Camfield, bibliog.].

July 16 Thursday – Sam’s article “Particulars of the Recent ‘Cave’ of the Mexican and Ophir Mines” ran in the Enterprise, and was reprinted in the Evening Bulletin July 21 [Camfield, bibliog.].

July 17 Friday – Sam’s article “An Hour in the Caved Mine” ran in the Enterprise [Camfield, bibliog.].

July 18 Saturday – In Virginia City, Sam wrote his mother, and sister Pamela and sent another $20 greenback. Sam now roomed in the White House on B Street. The letter was a defense of his money and its source: selling wildcat mining ground that was given to him. He wrote that he:
“never gamble[s], in any shape or manner, and never drink anything stronger than claret or lager beer, which conduct is regarded as miraculously temperate in this country” [MTL 1: 260].

July 23 Thursday – Another “Mark Twain Letter” (dated July 19) ran in the Morning Call. Subheadings: Judicial Broil; Theatricals; General Benevolence; The Caved Mines; About Other Mines: Immigration; Billiard Match [Camfield, bibliog.].

July 24 Friday – Orion’s term as acting governor of Nevada Territory ended [ET&S 1: 465].

July 25 Saturday – The Virginia City Bulletin ran an item about Mark Twain seen coming from the Chinatown section of town with “a feather in his cap we supposed you had turned Pah-Ute.” This could have been an indirect reference to Sam frequenting the red light district [The Twainian, Nov.- Dec. 1948, p.4].

July 26 Sunday – Sam and Clement T. Rice were forced out of their White House Hotel rooms by a fire at 11 AM. Sam went solo to a room in an “A” street mansion [MTL 1: 262]. Accounts of the fire appeared the next day in the Virginia City Evening Bulletin, and on July 28 in the Union. Note: a larger fire burned 70 buildings in late August. In some accounts this fire is confused with the larger conflagration.

July 30 Thursday – Sam’s account of his Virginia City fire experience (dated July 26) ran in the San Francisco Morning Call:

July 31 Friday – The new Enterprise building and its new steam press were completed on North C street [Mack 233]. With all the celebrating of the event Sam’s chronic bronchitis forced him to bed. He asked Clement T. Rice to fill in for him, and Rice did so, taking the opportunity to run a fake “apology” in the Enterprise (see Aug. 1 entry).