88 Days: Mark Twain finds his voice
Mark Twain in 1867
At the end of 1864, 29 year old Samuel Clemens was at the end of his rope. After leaving his job as a reporter for "The Enterprise," a Virginia City newspaper, he traveled to San Francisco. There, he wrote for "The San Francisco Call" newspaper until he was forced to step down. It wasn't a job he particularly liked anyway. He was broke and slinking around the city, avoiding contact with people he knew, he contemplated suicide.
Out of cash, he bailed a friend, Steve Gillis, out of jail with money he didn't have. To escape his creditors and his troubles, he followed Steve's brother, Jim Gillis up to the Gold Country hills in December of 1864. In and around Calaveras and Tuolumne Counties, he spent the next 88 days pocket mining and listening to Jim spin hilarious yarns in front of the fireplace of a small cabin on Jackass Hill.
During those 88 days, Clemens once again began keeping a journal. In it, he jotted down a few sentences about a story he heard around a tavern stove in Angels Camp; a story about a frog. Those few sentences soon became "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" and would launch a legendary literary career.
Samuel Clemens underwent a transformation in those 88 days in Angels Camp and Sonora and found his voice as Mark Twain - one of America's greatest writers and humorists. What was so magical about these 88 days that brought him from the depths of depression to a reinvigoration that propelled him forward to international stardom? Join us as we explore those 88 days in the Mother Lode through Mark Twain's eyes.
Out of cash, he bailed a friend, Steve Gillis, out of jail with money he didn't have. To escape his creditors and his troubles, he followed Steve's brother, Jim Gillis up to the Gold Country hills in December of 1864. In and around Calaveras and Tuolumne Counties, he spent the next 88 days pocket mining and listening to Jim spin hilarious yarns in front of the fireplace of a small cabin on Jackass Hill.
During those 88 days, Clemens once again began keeping a journal. In it, he jotted down a few sentences about a story he heard around a tavern stove in Angels Camp; a story about a frog. Those few sentences soon became "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" and would launch a legendary literary career.
Samuel Clemens underwent a transformation in those 88 days in Angels Camp and Sonora and found his voice as Mark Twain - one of America's greatest writers and humorists. What was so magical about these 88 days that brought him from the depths of depression to a reinvigoration that propelled him forward to international stardom? Join us as we explore those 88 days in the Mother Lode through Mark Twain's eyes.
