The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-08-31
An Old Letter he Wrote to the Cali
fornians Who Had Won.
Kansas City Starr

A HIGHLY Interesting letter written
a thirty-four years ago by Mark
Twain has just been brought to
light in Elmira, n. Y, where Mr..
Clemens has a summer home. Now
that he is preparing for another trip
abroad, he is overhauling his literary
effects and finds letters and manu-
! scripts in out of the way places, prob
ably forgotten for many years.
As 10 the letter recently unearthed in
Elmira, ii was written in October. 1859,
two days before the meeting Of the
California pioneers at DelmonicO's.
That was a notable occasion, and Mark
| Twains letter, read by the chairman,
evoked loud and long applause.
The first railroad across the continent
the Union Pacific-had been complet-
ed only a few weeks. Among the first
| Californians to make the trip by rail
were nearly 208 members Of the Pho
neers' association of San Francisco.
Ever since the discovery Of gold and
| the invasion of the state in 1S49 by
| thousands of 'Argonauts,' the Forty
miners had celebrated the event.
Preparations were made for the big
dinner at DelmOnicos in their honor.
Among their invited guests were PreSi-
dent Grant, General Sherman and Cen
eral Mcdowell and other heroes of the
| day. Grant and Sherman, detained by
business, sent letters in sympathy with
/ the movement.
Mark Twain's Letter.
Mr.. Clemens at one time worked on
John Mackay's paper, the Virginia City
Enterprise. He also tried mining, and
his remarkable letter, read at the Cali
/ fOrnia Pioneers banquet, throws new
light on his early California and Ne
vada days. II runs as follows:
Elmira, Oct. j, 1S69-To the California
Pioneers acknowledgements rem
! der it out of my power TO take advantage
OF the invitation extended to me through
MI SlmOntOn, and be present at your
dinner in New York. L regret this very
much, for there are several among you
whom l would have right to Join hands
with on the score of old friendship and
suppose would have a sublime general
right to shake hands with the rest O you
on the score of kinship in California ups
ana downs in the search of fortune
If were to tell some of my exper. euces
you would recognize California blood in
me. fancy. The old. old story would
sound familiar, no doubt. 1 have the US
ual stock Of "reminiscences. For instance,
/ went to Esmeralda early.
l purchased largely in the Wide West.
the Winnemucca and other fine claims.
and was very wealthy. I Jared sumptu-
! ously on bread when flour was $500 bar
rel, and had beans every day when none
but blOated arlstocrats could afford such
I \
teries TO a quartz mill at SIS week and
wishing / was a battery myself and had
somebody 20 feed me. My claims in Es-
meralda are there yet
I suppose I could be persuaded to sell.
L went to the Humboldt district when it
was new. l became largely interested in
the Alba Nueva and other claims with
gorgeous names, and was rich again-in
prospect. i owned a vast mining prop
erty there. ] would not have sold out for
less than $4V0t0O at that time-but / will
| now. Finally / walked Lonesome 900
miles-partly for exercise and partly be-
cause stage fares were expensive.
Next entered upon an affluent career
in Virginia City. And by a judiciuus in
Nestment of labor and the capital Of
friends became the owner OF about all the
worthless wildcat mines there were in
( that part of the country.
Assessments Ruined Him.
Assessments did the business for me
/ there- Ihere were III assessments TO one
dividend and the proportion Of income 20
7 outlay WAS a little against me My finan-
clal thermometer went down TO 81 degrees
Fahrenheit and the subscriber was frozen
out L took mp extensions on the main
| land-eXtensions that reached to British
America in one direction and to the
lsthmus of Panama IN the other-and I
verify believe I W0nld have been rich
man If | ever found those Internal extern
sions. But 1 didn't. ! ran tunnels till 1
/ tapped the Arctic ocean, and 7 sunk
| shafts till ] broke through the roof Of
! perdtion. but those extensions turned up
missing every time.
am willing 90 sell all that property
and throw in the improvements. Perhaps
YOU remember the celebrated North
/ Ophirf bought that mine. II was very
| rich in pure silver, You could take II out
| IN Jumps as big as a fIlbert. But when il
was discovered that those Jumps were
melted half-dollars. and hardly melted at
! that. painful case of satin was an
] parent, and the undersigned adjourned TO
the poor house again.
| / paid assessments on Hale g. Norcross
TIL they sold me out. and j had 10 take
i in washing for a living-and the next
/ month that Infamous stock went up 20
5000 a foot. / own millions and millions
/ Of feet of affluent silver leads in Nevada
| lin TACT. j own the entire undercrust OF
/ that country, and III congress would move
/ that state off my property that L could
get at IT.. I would be wealthy vet But no
/ ther~ she squats-and here am L. Fail
ing health porsuadeg me 20 sell. II you
| know Of any enc desiring a permar ent in
/ vestment / can furnish him one that will
/ have the virtue OF being eternal.
Mark Twsin's Mining.
] have been through the California mill
/ with an its dips spurs and angles. vari-
| atoms and siuuosifies. I have worked
4 there az all the different trades and pro-
Il