Page 49 - 2009 DT 7 issues

I n T h i s I s s u e

Featured Article
Sam Clemens in NV, part 2................1
Special
Just an Ordinary Star.......................2
Memory Tree Program....................3
Departments
News & Notes..................................2
July 2009 Programs & Hikes...........................4
Desk Schedule................................6
Bulletin Board................................8

He started submitting articles
Sam Clemens in Nevada, Part 2 to the local paper, The Virginia City
Territorial Enterprise. Sam was a
nd so it was that Sam set off course of setting up camp there and strange person with a rather large
with his brother Orion for ineptly lighting a fire, managed to head, a shambling gait and a drawling
ACarson City. To say that the burn it down. Southern accent. He drank, gambled,
journey was leisurely would be to imply If dealing in “feet” didn’t pay, smoked, swore, could be prickly, and
some degree of pleasure and comfort. perhaps actually owning a mine would, his quick wit made people wary of
It certainly took time. They left on so Sam decided to stake a claim along him, but he could also be charming
July 10 1861 and reached Carson with some friends. He soon found and quickly made friends with one of
th,
City on August 14 and, at $500, the himself involved in a dispute with the Enterprise’s best writers, William
th,
journey was costly and, according to some “claim jumpers.” Unfortunately, Wright, who wrote under the name
Sam, very uncomfortable. of Dan de Quille. Sam was quickly
Whilst Orion had a salary, Sam given a permanent post with the paper
was unpaid and had to find himself because of his undoubted skill as a
some means of support. It was not writer, but also because the editor
long before he was involved in the perhaps saw advantage in having the
mining industry, not as a miner, but brother of the Secretary of State in
rather as an entrepreneur. He began to his employ.
trade in “mining feet.” “Feet” referred Initially Sam wrote serious items
to a means of assessing a mine’s on mining and local murders, but his
value and the related certificates mischievous spirit could not be held
were virtually share certificates in a in check for long. Shortly after joining
particular enterprize. It comes as no the paper he wrote a spoof article
surprise that some of the certificates called “The Petrified Man,” which
were bogus and worthless, but there fooled a local judge to come rushing
seems to be no evidence that Sam was to Virginia City to conduct an inquest
ever involved in any shady dealings. and several national newspapers into
Perhaps that is why he soon found the reprinting the article in full.
enterprise unrewarding. Perhaps he was happier writing
His fertile mind led him next to he seemed not to have researched in that vein rather than reporting
venture into the timber trade on the his claim fully. The “claim jumpers” on politics in Carson City. His first
basis that every mine needed timber actually had a legitimate title to at ventures into the latter led him into
to shore up the workings. It seemed a least part of the claim and Sam was a public dispute with Clement Rice,
sure money-spinner, but what followed ordered by the court to pay them
could well have been extracted from a one-eighth interest in it. Every
one of his novels. Sam and friends venture seemed doomed to failure and
bought some woodland but, in the Sam soon lost interest. Sam Clemens, continued on p.6