The Republican journal., 1885-04-23
Marx 1'wain's Experience as a Pocket
Miner.
BIRTH OF HIS JUMPING FROG.

BIRTH OF HIS JUMPING FROG.
Mark Twains narrow escape from becoming
pocket miner has never been told. says Dan
de guile in the Alta California. 1t is worth
recording, it gave him the story of the
dumping Frog" and sent him off along the
line of the literary lode and set him to search
ing therein for pockets of fun.
In 1860, Mark wearied of Bohemian life in
San Francisco and went up into the mining re-
glOns of Calaveras county to rusticate with
some old frends-Steve, Jim and Billy Gillis.
jim ellis was, and still is, one of the most ex-
pert pocket miners in California. Although
educated with view eventually to fight the
battle of life as a physician, and though still
finding soace In his leisure moments in the
works of Greek and Latin authors repOsing on
shelf in his cabin, Jim ellis is booked for life
as pocket miner. The business has charms
for him that he cannot break away from-he Is
bound TO it in chains of gold. Show him par
ticle of quartz gold on the side of q mountain,
and if i: came to where it was found through
the processes or accidents of nature, undisturb-
ed in any way by the interference of man, he
will as unerringiy trace il to its source as the
bee-hunter will follow the bee to its hoard of
sweets.
AN ATTRACTIVE LIFE,
Mark Twain found the Bohemian style of
mining practiced by the "Gillis boys much
more attractive than those more regular kinds
which call for large outlay of muscle. He
and Jim Gi> took to the hills in search of
golden pockets and spent some days in working
/ up the undisturbed trail Of an undiscovered de-
posi-. They We're on the golden "bee line" and
stuck to it faithfully, though it was necessary
to carry each sample of dirt Il considerable dis
| tame TO a small stream in the bed up canyon
| in order to pan it out. Each step made sure by
/ golden grains, they at last came upon the peck
/ Ell which had thrown these grains off. 1t wa,
| cold, drearN, driZZDg day when the "h me
/ Deposit was found The first sample carried
| to the stream and washed out yielded but a few
cents. Although the right vein had been dis
! covered, they had as yet found but the ''tall
end of the pocket. Returning to the vein, they
dug sample from a new place and were about
/ to carry it down TO the ravine and test it when
/ the rain began to pour down heavily. With
chattering teeth, Mark declared he would re-
! main no longer. He said there was no sense In
! freezing to death, as in day or two. when 1t
was bright and warm, they could return and
pursue their Investigations in comfort. Yield
in2 10 Marks entreaties, backed as they were
by his blue nose, bumped back and generally
miserable and detected appearance, Jim empt-
led the sacks of dirt upon the ground, first hay
/ ing hastily written and posted up a notice Of
their claim to a certain number of feet on the
vein. which notice would hold good for thirty
| days. Angels Camp being at no great distance
from the spot. while their cabin was some
miles away, Mark and jim struck out for that
place. The only hotel In the little mining camp
was kept by one Coon Drayton, an old Mississ-
ippi river pilot, and at his house the half
drowned pocket miners found shelter Mark
| Twain having formerly followed the business
of pilot on the Mississippi river, he and Coon
were soon great friends and snapped scores of
yarns. 1t continued to rain for three days, and
until the weather cleared up, Mark and jim re-
manned ut Coon's hotel.
THE STORY OF THE Jumping FROG
WAS one of the warns told Mark by Coon during
I ,a layS ntlit ltr I1.Eh I'm
ing comica that he determined to write 1t
up. When he returned to the ellis cabin,
| Mark set to work upon the frog story. He
also wrote some sketches of life in the noun
tainS and the mines for some of the San Fran
cisco papers.
Mark did not think much of the frog story,
even after it bad received the finishing touches.
He gave the preference to some other sketches
and sent them to the papers for which he was
| writing. Steve ellis, however, declared that
the frog story was the best thing Mark had
written, and advised him to save it for book
| of sketches be was talking of publishing. A
literary turn having been given to the thoughts
of :he inmates of the ellis cabin, a month
passed without return TO the business of
pocket mining.
While the days were passed by Mark and
his fIiends in discussing the merits of the
jumping Frog and other literary matters.
other prospectors were not idle. A trio Of
! Austrian miners who were out in search Of
collaborating quartz happened upon the spot
where Mark and Jim had dug into their ledge.
1t was but few days after Twain and Gillis
bad retreated from the place in the pouring
rain. The Austrans were not little astonished
at seeing
THE GROUND GATHERING WITH GOLD.
Where the dirt empted from the sacks had
been dissolved and washed away by the rain.
lay some three ounces of bright quartz gold.
The foreigners We're not long in gathering this,
but the speedy discovery of the notice forbade
their delving into the deposit whence il came.
They could only wait and watch and pray"
This hope was that the parties who had posted
up the notice would not return while it held
good.
he sun that rose on the day after the Twain
ellis notice expired saw the Austrians in
possession of the ground. with notice of their
own conspicuously and detiantly posted. The
new owners cleaned out the pocket. obtaining
from il. in a few days. little over, S 900.
Had Mark Twan's backbone held out a little
longer, the sacks of dirt would have been
washed and the grand discovery made. He
would not then have gone to Angels Camp
and would probably never have heard or
written the story Of the jumping Frog"-the
story that gave him BIZ first boost in the
literary world as the Heather Chinee" gave
Bret Harte his first lift up the ladder. Had
Mark found the gold that wa captured by the
Austrian>. he would have settled down as Il
pocket miner. He would never have given up
he would have been pounding quartz, with jim
Gilli> for his ''pard." in cabin somewhere in
the Sierra Nevada mountains.