III.

Becoming Mark Twain

For almost a year Clemens worked as a prospector in Nevada, but without much success. During that year he began contributing humorous sketches to the Territorial Enterprise, a newspaper published in Virginia City, Nevada, and in 1862 he became a reporter for the paper. Seeking a good pen name, he chose Mark Twain, a Mississippi riverboat phrase called out to test the water’s depth; “twain,” or two fathoms (12 feet) deep, meant it was safe for navigating. In May 1864, a quarrel with a rival journalist, whom he challenged to a duel, forced Twain to flee to San Francisco, California. For the next two years he worked for various California papers. During this time he met American writers Artemus Ward and Bret Harte, who encouraged him in his work.

In 1865 Twain reworked a tale he had heard in the California gold fields, and within months the author and the story, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” had become national sensations. The story, which was published in several newspapers, is a typical example of the tall tale, or exaggerated tale of the frontier, which was the basis of much of Twain’s humor.

Early in 1866 the Sacramento Union commissioned Twain to do a series of letters about Hawaii. Their popularity encouraged him to try a humorous lecture based on his experiences. Its enormous success marked the beginning of his career as an internationally famous and popular humorous lecturer. As a result of his Hawaiian triumph, Twain was commissioned by a San Francisco newspaper to supply a weekly newsletter on New York City. After his arrival in New York City he saw an announcement for a Mediterranean cruise and persuaded the newspaper to send him on it.

Twain wrote of his cruise to Europe and Palestine in The Innocents Abroad (1869), a highly successful travel book that is a delightful combination of humor and shrewd observation. The Innocents Abroad shows Twain at his irreverent best, debunking the awestruck and uncritical admiration of many Americans for European civilization. Besides supplying the material for the book, the cruise brought him the friendship of Charles Langdon, whose sister Olivia married Twain in 1870.