Roughing It PDF

Roughing It
Study Guide by Course Hero
ABOUT THE TITLE

What's Inside Mark Twain lived and traveled in the West while it was still the
lawless Wild West. The "civilized" East where Twain began his
journey offered creature comforts and law-abiding citizens,
j Book Basics ................................................................................................. 1 while the West was often dirty, uncomfortable, and downright
dangerous, due in part to outlaws and displaced Native
d In Context ..................................................................................................... 1
Americans. Life was not easy in the West; hence, Twain was
a Author Biography ..................................................................................... 3 "roughing it."
h Key Figures ................................................................................................. 4
k Plot Summary ........................................................................................... 12

d In Context
c Chapter Summaries .............................................................................. 17
g Quotes ........................................................................................................ 59
The Changing West
m Themes ...................................................................................................... 62
Countless tribes of Native Americans lived on the land west of
m Motifs .......................................................................................................... 64 the Mississippi, with a population originally numbering in the
millions. In the 17th and 18th centuries, portions of the land
e Suggested Reading .............................................................................. 65
were claimed or occupied by England, France, or Spain.
Mexico was also a Spanish territory and at the time and was a
much larger nation than it is today, consisting of much of what
j Book Basics
is now the American Southwest. Starting with the Louisiana
Purchase in 1803, the United States began to expand into and
settle the West purposefully, sometimes peaceably (through
AUTHOR treaty) and sometimes forcibly (through war). Change
Mark Twain escalated in the 1840s with milestones such as the annexation
of Texas (1845) and the formation of Oregon Territory (1846).
YEAR PUBLISHED
Moreover, in 1848, Mexico ceded a vast amount of territory to
1872
the United States, including the land where the majority of
GENRE Roughing It takes place—the future states of Utah, Nevada, and
Adventure, Comedy, Memoir California. This was the same year that gold was discovered in
California, leading to a large migration of miners eager to cash
PERSPECTIVE AND NARRATOR in on the Gold Rush. These (mostly) men are the pioneers
The events of Roughing It are narrated in the first person by Twain refers to in his descriptions of the early mining
the author. population of California, with its stalwart specimens of
manhood (Chapter 57).
TENSE
Roughing It is written in the past tense. Events fell into place rapidly after this, with the organization of
Roughing It Study Guide In Context 2
the territories of New Mexico and Utah (1850) and the state of being the "tallest," "biggest," or some other superlative quality.
California (1850). In 1857 the U.S. Congress passed the Tall tales have often been passed on by word of mouth, though
Overland California Mail Act, which recruited stagecoach many have been written down, too.
companies for mail delivery. Twain experiences this firsthand
when he sleeps on sacks of mail on the Overland route just Some tall tales are entirely fictional, such as the popular tale of
four years later. Change accelerated again with the discovery American lumberjack Paul Bunyan, the fictional hero who is
of silver at the Comstock Lode in Nevada (1859), after which giant in size, appetite, and strength. Tall tales boast that he
the boomtowns of Virginia City and Carson City quickly sprang created the Grand Canyon, had a kitchen stove taller than a
up. Communications were then improved again because a pine tree, and could eat 40 bowls of porridge in one sitting.
more reliable communication network was urgently needed to Other tall tales are exaggerated versions of a true story or
deliver news of the Civil War (1861–65). The Pony Express (mostly) fictional stories about a real person. Real historical
(1860) helped important news reach California far faster than figures who feature in tall tales include American missionary
previously. However, it was ultimately the Pacific Telegraph Act Johnny Appleseed, American soldier Davy Crockett, and
(1860) that opened up communications with the Western African-American railroad construction worker John Henry. A
regions of the United States. On October 24, 1861, the first modern-day celebrity around whom tall tales have sprung up is
telegram was sent from California to the East, and on the same Chuck Norris, a famous American martial artist and actor.
day, the Pony Express ceased operations. Chuck Norris "facts" include humorous boasts such as, "When
Chuck Norris does push-ups, he doesn't push himself up ... he
These events began during Twain's boyhood and unfolded as pushes the earth down."
he grew into adulthood. Born in 1835, Twain's opportunity to
travel west came in 1861 at age 26. In that year, Nevada was Tall tales of the West abound, and Twain adds many tall tales
organized into a U.S. territory and Twain's brother, Orion of his own to Roughing It. One of the most outrageous is that
Clemens, was appointed as its Secretary. Twain arrives just in of George Bemis and the runaway buffalo, which supposedly
time to catch the height of "silver fever" and witness historical climbed a tree to try to catch Bemis (Chapter 7). A popular tall
changes of incredible significance. Virginia City and Carson tale Twain hears repeatedly is how famous American journalist
City are only a few years old, and Nevada isn't even a state yet Horace Greeley had a bumpy ride in which his head burst
(it becomes one in 1864). The Pacific Railroad Act (1862) through the ceiling of the stagecoach (Chapter 20). Twain's
further elevates the pace of change in the West, as "Genuine Mexican Plug" horse jumps over "a wheelbarrow and
transportation switches over from stagecoaches and wagons a Chinaman" in a single leap (Chapter 24) and is said to cause
to trains. The building of the Transcontinental Railroad begins as much destruction as an earthquake. Then there is Dick
in 1863 while Twain is living in Nevada. The railroad is Baker's cat, which was allegedly blown into the air and out of
completed in 1869, making California easily accessible and sight for two and a half minutes by a mining blast (Chapter 61).
uniting the nation "from sea to shining sea." These are only a few of the exaggerated tales Twain includes
to add color and humor to his tale of the West.
Tall Tales
Roughing It as a Travel Text
The tall tale is a classic genre of American folk literature,
though tall tales can be found elsewhere in the world, as well. A Books about travel and adventure were well-received leading
tall tale is told as if it were true, but it has elements that are up to Twain's time, with many explorers and authors paving the
impossible to believe. Tall tales often have a personable way in travel writing of the era. Published journals of
narrator who may claim to have witnessed or taken part in the exploration included British explorer Captain James Cook's
story. These stories are generally humorous and involve travels around the world (1769, 1772–1779) and American
incredible adventures or feats of strength, daring, or some explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's trek through
other personal characteristic. Such a story may be about the West (1804–06). English naturalist Charles Darwin's The
people, animals, events, or almost anything. The main Voyage of the Beagle (1839) recorded his travels around the tip
character of a tall tale may have exaggerated body features, of South America and elsewhere. Other prominent writers who
published travel narratives in the first half of the 19th century
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Roughing It Study Guide Author Biography 3
included U.S. president John Quincy Adams (Silesia [Poland], experiences, including his fondness for the slaves, in his most
1804), American writer Washington Irving (Spain, 1832), important books.
American writer James Fenimore Cooper (Europe, 1836–37),
English writer Charles Dickens (United States, 1842, and Italy, As a young boy Twain was sickly and was cared for by his
1844–45), and English writer Mary Shelley (Germany and Italy, mother, Jane Lampton Clemens. She was a fun-loving,
1844). tenderhearted woman whose love of storytelling later inspired

her son to write. Unlike his wife, John was a serious person
Not long before Twain began publishing his own travel who felt great stress over the family's financial situation. He
narratives, various volumes of travel writing influenced his was, however, a dreamer and believed one day he would be
approach. Two such books were American journalist William wealthy. When John died in 1847, the family became destitute,
Cowper Prime's Boat Life in Egypt and Nubia and Tent Life in and Twain's boyhood was over.
the Holy Land, both published in 1857. Prime was prone to
exaggeration and may have even included fictional incidents in
his volumes. Twain parodies Prime's writing in his own debut Striking Out on His Own
travel book The Innocents Abroad (1869), which shares the
topic of travel in the Holy Land. Another voice whom Twain At age 13 Twain left school to become a printer's apprentice
would have been well aware of was Horace Greeley, the for a local newspaper owned by his brother Orion. Twain
famous American journalist mentioned in two separate began to contribute some sketches and articles, despite
anecdotes in Roughing It (Chapters 20 and 70). Greeley friction with his older brother. When Twain turned 17 he left
published his travel book An Overland Journey (1860) about his Hannibal and went to several large cities, including Philadelphia
1959 journey on the Overland Trail to Salt Lake City. This is the and New York. He continued to work for newspapers,
same route Twain travels in 1861 and writes about in Roughing operating as a printer in Cincinnati, Ohio, and writing a series
It in 1872. Greeley's version of the journey is factual and of letters under the pen name "Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass."
straightforward; he is a journalist at heart and writes to inform.
Twain, on the other hand, frequently diverges from the strict When he returned to Hannibal in 1857, Twain began learning
truth in order to make the reader laugh. He is a humorist first how to pilot a steamboat on the Mississippi and became a
and foremost, mixing strange-but-true facts, amusing fiction, licensed pilot in 1859. He loved the job, and it affected his
and exaggerated stories that fall somewhere in between. In writing greatly, inspiring many articles written in The Atlantic
doing so, he creates a travelogue in his own unique style with Monthly and key books like Life on the Mississippi (1883) and
immense popular appeal. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). In 1863 Twain
wrote his first piece under the pseudonym "Mark Twain." There
are a number of stories—some potentially untrue—about the
a Author Biography origin of Twain's most famous pen name, including his own
claim that he stole the name from a senior riverboat captain
who used to sign his bland descriptions of the Mississippi River
with the name "Mark Twain." However, it is most likely that
Early Childhood Twain adopted the name from steamboat slang meaning 12
feet of water.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens—better known by his pen name
Mark Twain—was born in Florida, Missouri, on November 30,
1835, and grew up in Hannibal, Missouri. Twain, who was the Literary Career
sixth of seven children, moved with his family in 1839 to the
frontier town of Hannibal since it offered better financial When the Civil War (1861–65, war between northern and
prospects for Twain's father, John Marshall Clemens. However, southern states over slavery and states' rights) put an end to
during and after the early portion of his childhood, Twain spent commercial steamboat traffic, Twain made his way out West
many summers at his Uncle John Quarles's farm in Florida. The and worked for a number of newspapers. Twain first found
farmhouse, which had on its premises as many as 30 black publishing success in 1865 with a short story called "Jim Smiley
slaves, was a rural paradise for Twain; he would later use these

Roughing It Study Guide Key Figures 4
and His Jumping Frog," which was printed in newspapers (1969).

across the country. The story would eventually appear in
Twain's first published book, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of
Calaveras County, and Other Sketches (1867). His first of many Death and Legacy
travel books, Innocents Abroad, was published in 1869 and
detailed his trip to Europe and the Holy Land on the cruise ship Mark Twain died on April 21, 1910, in Redding, Connecticut. His
Quaker City. The book was a major success, though the works, since translated into more than 75 languages, are
foundation for his fame had already been laid by the many considered part of the canon of classic American literature.
letters he had published in newspapers during his five-month Numerous biographies, films, and television shows have been
voyage on the Quaker City. dedicated to his life or have featured Twain as a character. In
addition, many sites today still celebrate Twain's life and
In 1870 Twain married Olivia Langdon and first settled in
legacy, including Mark Twain's Boyhood Home and Museum
Buffalo, New York, though two years later he commissioned
(Hannibal, Missouri), the Mark Twain State Park (Florida,
the construction of a mansion in Hartford, Connecticut, where
Missouri), the Mark Twain Riverboat (Hannibal, Missouri), and
he resided until 1891. During the 1870s Twain continued to
the Mark Twain House and Museum (Hartford, Connecticut).
write and give lectures across the country. Over the next 20
years Twain wrote some of his most famous books during
summers spent at Quarry Farm, located in Elmira, New York.
The farm was purchased for Twain and Olivia by Olivia's father, h Key Figures
Jervis Langdon, when they were newlyweds. Twain published
another travel book, Roughing It (1872), about his experiences
many years before in Nevada, California, and Hawaii (then the Mark Twain
Sandwich Islands) before turning to novels.
Twain is a somewhat naive man in his 20s when he begins the

In 1876 Twain's book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was
journey West with his brother. He is full of energy and
published. He called it a hymn to childhood. The novel included
enthusiasm to see the world, have adventures, and (he hopes)
the character of Huckleberry Finn, and soon Twain decided to
make his fortune. Twain never overthinks a venture. Instead he
write a book exploring this character. The Adventures of
flies by the seat of his pants and takes risks that are
Huckleberry Finn (1884) did not come out until years
sometimes foolish, sometimes downright dangerous. He has an
later—other books were published in between—as Twain wrote
unshakeable optimism that everything will turn out great, but
it in fits and starts. When the book did come out, it was banned
when it doesn't, he shakes off every disaster and makes a
by many who did not approve of the attitudes toward religion
fresh start on a new venture. Twain dreams of the good life
and the protagonist's unseemly habits. Despite its critics the
and has a tendency toward laziness which he admits freely.
book sold well and later became respected as a classic of
And he never loses the opportunity to make fun of himself
American literature and one of Twain's masterpieces.
when the joke is worthy. Twain is a keen observer of
Twain went on to write many more books, including the biting everything around him, from people to landscapes, and uses
satirical work A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court language deftly to convey these observations to the reader. He
(1889) and the antislavery novel The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead also doesn't hesitate to speak his opinion or to skewer those
Wilson (1894). He continued to tour the country and abroad, people and institutions he finds ludicrous or disagreeable. Over
having become famous not only as a writer but as an the course of seven years, Twain travels across the West and
entertaining lecturer. In his later years, he suffered personal all the way to Hawaii (the Sandwich Islands). As Twain's travels
tragedies and financial difficulties, which ultimately led him to continue, he gains experience and a more mature perspective
declare bankruptcy and sell the Hartford home. His writings on life. After trying his hand at mining and reporting, he dreams
and thoughts on life turned pessimistic, though he retained his up and implements a successful tour as a humorous lecturer.
sense of humor as witnessed in The Man That Corrupted When Twain returns home to New York, he finds it isn't what it
Hadleyburg, and Other Stories and Essays, as well as the used to be. It has irrevocably changed, just as he himself has.
posthumous Mark Twain's Mysterious Stranger Manuscripts

rowing) and also solves problems of Twain's creation (such as

Orion Clemens retrieving the runaway boat). Back in Esmeralda, Higbie
ingeniously discovers the "blind lead" that is worth millions. He
Twain's brother is never mentioned by name—it's Orion dreams of building a big house in San Francisco and of
Clemens, for the record. Through him, Twain is able to make traveling the world together with Twain, but the men lose
the trip West. Orion invites him to go along as his personal through bad luck and negligence. In part, the loss is Higbie's
secretary, an opportunity Twain can't pass up. Orion shares fault, for instead of doing the work needed to secure the blind
the exciting overland journey and all its adventures with Twain lead, he goes chasing off after Whiteman again instead. In the
and Bemis. Once in Nevada, Twain documents Orion's end, after nearly a decade of hard mining, Higbie uses the
struggles managing the new territory, especially his difficulties $2,500 he has managed to accrue to go into the fruit business.
in receiving funding from the federal government in
Washington, D.C. Twain's brother is a conscientious, honest
worker, doing the best work he can in a difficult position.
George Bemis
A formidable man, Bemis carries an unreliable revolver and is a
Mr. Ballou terrible shot with it. Bemis has a companionable relationship
with the brothers, and together, they enjoy the adventure of
Mr. Ballou is an earnest, kind-hearted man who works as hard the journey. At one point, Bemis is chased by a wounded
as the younger men and socializes easily with them. Ballou has buffalo during a hunt and he escapes up a tree. Afterward, he
a fondness for using large words he doesn't understand, but he tells a whopper of a tall tale about the incident, claiming the
does it with such ease that nobody ever questions his meaning. bull climbed the tree and he hanged it with his lariat. Bemis
Unlike the younger men in the mining party, Ballou has more later gets thoroughly drunk in Salt Lake City and falls asleep
experience and more reasonable expectations about their with his boots on.
prospects. Though he dreams of riches, too, he has a "wait and
see" attitude that is both practical and usually accurate. It is
Mr. Ballou who points out that Twain's first "strike" is not
actually gold, but only mica—a glittering but worthless stone
Brigham Young
well-known to experienced miners. His words of wisdom, that
The Mormons in Utah obey Young's directives as though they
not all that glitters is gold, stick with Twain for years. Ballou
were the words of God himself. Anyone who speaks against
first finds a real silver prospect for the group, and he explains
Young may find themselves dead, possibly at the hand of his
what the deposit's structure is like and how they will need to
Destroying Angels, Mormon assassins. Twain notes that Young
mine it, by digging a shaft or tunnel. Ballou also accompanies
is a fair-minded leader, however. Young enforces a labor
Twain to Esmeralda and survives the night in a snowstorm with
contract with Mormon workers who have walked off the job
him. (Although Ballou pledges to give up playing cards during
under contract to a local Gentile. Young admonishes the men
this ordeal, it's a vow he doesn't keep.) Ballou eventually
for breaking their word, and they return to work without further
returns to Humboldt on his own, while Twain returns to
objections. Twain quotes a lengthy speech supposedly made
Esmeralda.
by Young as related to him by Mr. Johnson. Johnson, who once
had breakfast with Young, said Young had so many children he
couldn't remember their names. He had also complained of his
Higbie many wives, and how if he bought one a present, he must buy
the same for them all. The tale culminates with Young
Twain dedicates the book to Calvin H. Higbie, "an honest man, constructing a bed for his 72 wives to sleep in all at once.
a genial comrade, and a steadfast friend." Higbie has decent
knowledge of ore, as well as an instinct for finding it. Higbie
and Twain try to track down Mr. Whiteman and his famous
"cement mine" with no luck, so they travel together to Mono
Lake. Higbie, strong and sensible, does most of the work (like

Slade
Born in Illinois to good parents, Slade murders a man in his 20s
and then flees to the West to escape punishment. Slade is both
a cold-blooded killer who enjoys revenge and a devoted, loving
husband who inspires the fierce loyalty of his wife. He is also a
highly effective agent for the stagecoach company who brings
order to his route with an iron fist, not hesitating to kill
troublemakers and bandits. Twain dines with Slade during a
stagecoach stop, an occasion that both thrills him and makes
him incredibly nervous. Slade is later hanged in Montana for
being a dangerous public nuisance for shooting up businesses
while drunk and for defying a local group of vigilantes. At his
hanging, he pleads and cries for his wife, prompting some to
call him a coward. Twain, however, cannot see how such a
proven fearless man could ever be thought a coward.

Key Figure Map
Orion Clemens
Mark Twain Conscientious man;
Adventurous writer Brothers Secretary of Nevada
Territory
Main Key Figure
Other Major Key Figure
Minor Key Figure

Full Key Figure List Old Arkansas is an argumentative

desperado who stays at the same
remote inn with Twain outside of
Arkansas Carson City. When he tries to shoot
Key Figure Description
the landlord, the landlord's wife
threatens him with scissors and puts
Mark Twain is the author and narrator him in his place.
of the book who tells of his
Mark Twain
adventures exploring the West as a
After Gumbert stabs Reeder, Justice
young man.
Atwill releases him from custody and
Justice Atwill orders him to come to trial that
Twain's brother, Orion, has been evening. Instead, Gumbert shoots
appointed Secretary of the Nevada Reeder.
Orion Clemens Territory. Mark Twain accompanies
his brother to Nevada to serve as his
Babbitt is the lone survivor of an
personal secretary.
Indian massacre of 1856. Terribly
Babbitt
wounded with a broken leg, he drags
Mr. Ballou is a 60-year-old blacksmith himself to safety over two days.
who joins Twain on the mining
Mr. Ballou
venture to Humboldt in search of
Baker is a pocket miner who uses his
silver. Dick Baker
cat, Tom Quartz, to help him find gold.
Higbie is Twain's close friend and his

Higbie Bascom, a planter in Thailand, invites
mining partner in Esmeralda.
Bascom Twain to visit Eckert with him to try to
hear him tell his tall tales.
Mr. George Bemis joins Twain and his
George Bemis brother for the overland journey by
Mrs. Beazeley had written to Erickson
stagecoach to Carson City.
Mrs. Beazeley about her son William, whose health
is failing.
Brigham Young is the leader of the
Mormon church in Salt Lake City.
Brigham Young William Beazeley is a young man who
Twain considers him the "king" of
William is obsessed with growing turnips on a
Utah.
Beazeley vine. His health begins to fade as he
fails at this endeavor.
J.A. Slade is a notorious desperado-
Slade turned-division agent for the Jim Blaine is a resident of Virginia
stagecoach company. City. He gets drunk and tells a long,
Jim Blaine
rambling story about his
The Admiral is a retired sea captain grandfather's old ram.
aboard Twain's boat to Hawaii. He
The Admiral
annoys the other passengers with his Captain Ned Blakely is a San
political rants. Francisco sea captain who sails to
Captain Ned
the Chincha Islands. When his
Blakely
A.D. Allen is the foreman of the Wide shipmate is murdered, Blakely brings
West mining company and Twain and the murderer, Bill Noakes, to justice.
Higbie's partner after they discover
A.D. Allen
the "blind lead." He eventually profits Blucher is a homeless reporter down
from the discovery, while Twain and Blucher on his luck who Twain befriends in
Higbie get nothing. San Francisco.

Boggs is a rival reporter in Virginia Eckert, an Englishman in Thailand, is

City who likes to drink a bit too much. Eckert known for telling stories that can't
Boggs
He and Twain trick each other to try possibly be true.
to publish important stories first.
Simon Erickson is a possibly mentally

Scotty Briggs is a miner and a friend ill preacher who is convalescing in
of Buck Fanshaw. He arranges Simon Erickson Hawaii. He believes he has
Scotty Briggs Fanshaw's funeral oratory with the corresponded with Horace Greeley
local minister and later becomes a and Queen Victoria.
religious man himself.
Buck Fanshaw is a Virginia City

Billy Brown is shot to death by Jack saloonkeeper who is much loved
Buck Fanshaw
Billy Brown Williams after getting drunk at a around town. His death is mourned by
saloon and firing at Williams. many.
General Buncombe is a self-important Mr. Goodman is the owner and chief

Easterner who becomes the U.S. editor of the Enterprise newspaper in
General Mr. Goodman
Attorney for Nevada. The locals trick Virginia City. He hires Twain as a
Buncombe
him into trying a fake case about a reporter.
landslide.
Horace Greeley is a journalist from
Young Clagett, a lawyer, is one of New York. An oft-told anecdote
Clagett
Twain's mining partners in Humboldt. claims that he once went on a
Horace Greeley
stagecoach ride that was so bumpy
his head popped through the roof of
Captain James Cook, a British the coach.
explorer, was killed in Hawaii (the
Captain Cook Sandwich Islands) after tricking
natives into believing he was the god Reuel Gridley is a former schoolmate
Lono. of Twain's who loses an election and
a bet with the winner. He then
Reuel Gridley
auctions a sack of flour in several
Mr. Cradlebaugh was a federal judge cities to raise money for wounded
in Utah at the time of the Mountain Union soldiers.
John
Meadows Massacre. He attempts to
Cradlebaugh
prosecute those responsible for the
attack. George Gumbert stabs and later
George
shoots Tom Reeder, who dies, but he
Gumbert
is never charged with a crime.
Cumming was appointed governor of
Cumming Nevada after Brigham Young was
removed from office. Mr. Harris, a Carson City resident, is
Harris wounded in a shoot-out on Twain's
first day in town.
Conrad Wiegand calls on Sherriff
Sheriff Cummings to protect him during a
Cummings visit with John Winters and Philip Ben Holliday is in charge of the
Lynch. western half of the stagecoach route.
Ben Holliday
He is known for his efficiency and
speed at managing his route.
Old Abe Curry informs Twain that
he's been duped into buying the
Mexican plug horse. Curry later offers Charles Hurtzal is robbed at gunpoint
Abe Curry Charles Hurtzal
a building rent-free to the state by Jack Williams at a music hall.
legislature, helping to save the
fledgling government.

Dick Hyde is a ranch owner in the Kamehameha was the historic warrior
Carson City area. He participates in a Kamehameha king of Hawaii who united the islands.
Dick Hyde
fake trial about a landslide as a joke His funeral was held in 1819.
on General Buncombe.
His Royal Highness M. Kekuanaoa is

Jack, a young man from New York, the president of the national
Kekuanaoa
Jack tells a story about Ben Holliday while legislature of Hawaii and the father of
traveling in the Holy Land with Twain. the king.
Colonel Jack is a naive country boy Liholiho is the son of Kamehameha

Liholiho
who suddenly strikes it rich. He and becomes king after his death.
Colonel Jack travels to New York City to see the
sights, where he hires a public bus,
thinking it is a grand private carriage. Philip Lynch, owner of the Gold Hill
News, is accused by Conrad Wiegand
Philip Lynch
of aiding John B. Winters in an
Jacops is mentioned by Jim Blaine as assassination plot.
he tells his story. Jacops is a coffin
Jacops
seller who waits like a vulture for sick
people to die. Markiss is an annoying local in Maui
Markiss who continually interrupts Twain's
conversations with tall tales.
Colonel Jim, a wealthy and prominent
Colonel Jim man from Nevada, accompanies
Colonel Jack to New York City. Marlette is a tourist who ventures to
Marlette the bottom of the Kilauea volcano
with Twain one night in Hawaii.
Johnny K is the son of a rich Ohioan
who travels to Nevada for recreation.
Johnny Joe McGee is chosen by a gang of
He camps at Lake Tahoe with Twain,
where he does much of the work. desperadoes to kill Jack Williams, and
Joe McGee
he does. He is later killed himself by
another member of the gang.
Johnson, a quiet and well-mannered
man, is the landlord of an inn outside
Johnson Carson City. He unintentionally Mike, who becomes Twain's agent on
offends Arkansas, who tries to pick a Mike the lecture tour in Nevada and
fight with him. California, is a friend of Twain's.
Mr. Johnson, a man living in Salt Lake Tom Morgan owns a Carson City
Mr. Johnson City, tells Twain of his breakfast with ranch that is supposedly transplanted
Brigham Young. by a landslide, burying Dick Hyde's
Tom Morgan
ranch beneath his own. The story is
false; like Hyde, Morgan is playing a
Mr. Jules, a former agent for the joke on General Buncombe.
stagecoach company, hates Slade,
Jules who took over his job. After they have
a shootout, he goes into hiding, but Bill Noakes is a local rough in the
Slade eventually finds and kills him. Chincha Islands. He kills Captain
Bill Noakes
Ned's shipmate and is executed for
the crime.
Kaahumanu was the wife of
Kamehameha. She encouraged the
new king Liholiho to abolish the old Captain John Nye, the Governor's
Kaahumanu brother, rides with Twain to
taboos of their society, including one Captain Nye
that forbade men and women from Esmeralda. Twain later cares for him
eating together. when he becomes dangerously ill.

Nye, the governor of Nevada, sends a Slade's wife is a loyal, clever woman
group of his followers to survey the who rescues him from jail through
Governor Nye Slade's wife
countryside simply to keep them out trickery. She loves her husband
of his hair. deeply and mourns his loss sincerely.
A young man from Hawaii (the John Smith is an honest farmer who
Sandwich Islands), Obookia visits strikes it rich in silver. He travels to
Obookia
New York, where he converts to John Smith Europe, where he admires the
Christianity and is educated. livestock in England, Spain, and
Rome.
Bridget O'Flannigan is a French

Bridget
woman who offers board to men who Joseph Smith founded the Mormon
O'Flannigan
work for the Nevada governor. Joseph Smith religion and published the <em>Book
of Mormon</em>.
Oliphant, one of Twain's mining

Oliphant partners in Humboldt, is a young Mr. Street is a resident of Salt Lake
lawyer. City who takes Twain to meet
Brigham Young. He oversees the
Street
construction of telegraph lines
Ollendorff is a Prussian man who through the desert and over the
becomes Twain's mining partner in mountains.
Ollendorff Esmeralda. He later gets the group
lost in a terrible snowstorm, where
they almost freeze to death. Mr. Van Dorn, a friend of Mr.
Whiteman, promises Twain that they
Van Dorn
will be able to join Whiteman on his
Captain Phillips gives Twain a ride in next expedition.
Captain Phillips
his carriage in Hawaii.
Miss Wagner is mentioned by Jim

Princess Victoria is the sister of the Blaine as he tells his story. The poor
Princess Miss Wagner
king of Hawaii. Twain attends her lady had to borrow a glass eye, a wig,
Victoria
funeral procession and services. and a wooden leg from others.
Tom Reeder is stabbed and shot by Mr. Whiteman is a mysterious miner

George Gumbert after they argue who searches for a lost "cement
Tom Reeder
about Billy Brown's death. He dies mine" in Nevada. He travels through
two days later. Whiteman
Carson City disguised to try to hide
his movements, but people try to
After Joseph Smith was killed, Sidney follow him to the rich mine.
Sidney Rigdon Rigdon briefly takes over leadership
of the Mormon church. Wiegand, an assayer in Gold Hill,
Conrad writes a letter to the editor about a
Roop is the ex-governor of Nevada, Wiegand possible assassination attempt on his
replaced by Governor Nye. Roop life.
Roop
oversees the fake trial of Hyde v.
Morgan in Carson City. Williams is a passenger on Twain's
boat to Hawaii. He puts the Admiral in
Williams
Sawyer is a stranger who attends his place one night during a political
Twain's lecture in San Francisco. He argument.
Sawyer
promises to laugh in exchange for a
free ticket. Jack Williams is a corrupt officer of
the law in Virginia City. He robs and
Jack Williams
murders citizens, and is himself shot
to death while playing cards.

Roughing It Study Guide Plot Summary 12
during a terrible rainstorm. Just before arriving in Salt Lake

John B. Winters, president of the
Yellow Jacket Company (mining City, they have dinner with a family of Mormons, Twain's first
John B. Winters operation), is accused of beating encounter with the "peculiar institution" of polygamy. They
Conrad Wiegand and threatening his spend two days in Salt Lake City seeing the sights, and Twain
life.
even meets Brigham Young, who ignores him entirely. Stories
of the famous Young abound, from the people's complete
devotion to him to tales of his dozens of wives and children.
k Plot Summary Twain also gets hold of a copy of the Mormon Bible, which he
finds absurd in content and pompous in language.
As the coach travels onward, Twain recounts the "Mountain

The Overland Journey Meadows Massacre," a slaughtering of innocent emigrants by
Mormons. He also notes how prices for everything are higher
An eager young Twain travels West with his brother, the new in the West and how people there look down on emigrants.
Secretary of Nevada Territory. Twain will serve as his brother's They then travel through a 70-mile desert, during which they
personal secretary. They travel up the Missouri River from St. run out of water and get nosebleeds from the dry, alkali dust.
Louis to St. Joseph, where their stagecoach will depart. The At Rocky Canyon, they come upon some Goshute Indians,
men must leave behind a few luxury items of clothing, since whom Twain considers dirty, disgusting, dangerous, and
their baggage is overweight, but both take along guns. They useless to society. Next they cross the Great American Desert
meet fellow passenger George Bemis, and the trip begins. The and are forced to walk because the mules can't pull the loaded
coach breaks down due to the weight, so half of the mail is left coach through the thick sand.
by the side of the road for another coach to pick up, and they
continue on their way. The men sleep atop the mail sacks,
bounced around but content enough. Carson City
The coach passes through Overland City, a frontier town, and The coach arrives at its destination, Carson City, where Twain
continues onward, but their wagon breaks down the next day. and his brother find lodging in a boarding house with other
The passengers go on a buffalo hunt while the wagon is being political hopefuls and appointees. A crew of the lodgers are
repaired, and Bemis gets chased up a tree by a wounded sent out to survey the surrounding area, and they bring back
buffalo. Later along the route, they excitedly witness a Pony tarantulas in jars. One night during a great windstorm, the
Express rider race by, encounter their first alkali water tarantulas escape into the dark house and terrify the men, but
(poisonous surface water that contains salts and sediments), they are never seen again. Bored and with no actual work to
and pass the site of a former Indian robbery and massacre. do, Twain hikes to Tahoe with friends. They claim a piece of
One night, bandits attack the coach and kill the driver, but the land on the nearly uninhabited lake and start building a bare-
conductor gets the passengers to the safety of the next bones homestead. After a few weeks of fishing and euchre,
station. Twain also hears for the first time of Slade, a Twain accidentally starts a forest fire that burns down their
murderous outlaw who is now a ruthlessly effective division dwelling, and the men are forced to return to Carson City.
agent for the stagecoach company. Slade has a feud with the There, gullible Twain buys a horse with a terrible reputation for
former agent, Mr. Jules, and eventually kills him in a cruel bucking, and then he can't get rid of it. He finally gives the
fashion. Slade is later hanged for other crimes in Montana, horse away to an unsuspecting emigrant passing through
where he cries and pleads in vain to see his loving wife before town.
death.
Meanwhile, Twain's brother, the Secretary of Nevada, is having
The stagecoach overtakes emigrant trains heading through the troubles with his job. The federal government won't pay for
Rocky Mountains. Twain marvels at snow during the summer needed expenses, deducting them from his salary instead.
as the coach travels high in the mountains. They pass an Twain gets swept up in "silver fever" and decides to travel to
endless number of graves and livestock skeletons of those Humboldt with three partners to try mining there. They build a
who have traveled the route before, and they nearly wreck rough cabin with a canvas roof to keep out the cold and steal

firewood from Indians when they can. Twain expects to get

rich within a week, and he quickly slips away to look for silver Virginia City
on his own. He gets excited over a shiny specimen of rock, but
his partner Ballou bursts his bubble, saying the rock is just Twain struggles to scrape together stories at first and resorts
worthless mica. After a while, the men find a real prospect and to making up "news" about the hay wagon trade and fake
start digging at their new claim. It is much harder work than Indian attacks on emigrant wagons. Eventually, he makes
expected, though, so Twain and two of the partners quit. inroads in the community and develops a network of
People are trading shares of mines like crazy, and the men colleagues with whom he exchanges newsworthy information.
acquire some "feet" (shares) of a mine in Esmeralda. They set After he scoops a rival journalist, Boggs, over a school report,
off to visit that area, but are stuck at an isolated inn for eight Boggs tricks Twain into spending the afternoon stranded at
days because of a flood. Fed up with the annoying crowd at the bottom of a mine. Virginia City is booming with "flush
the inn, the men leave during a snowstorm and subsequently times," and everyone is trading stock in a frenzy. Twain is
get lost. When their horses wander away and they can't start a bribed with many gifts of stock but misses out on the ones that
fire, the men believe they will die, and they make their peace actually have value. Twain writes of local funerals, the city's
with each other and vow to live better lives if they should predisposition toward murder, and the laughable local justice
survive. The next morning they awaken to find the horses only system. Desperadoes abound, robbing and murdering both
a few feet away, sheltered at a stagecoach station, and they common citizens and each other.
kick themselves for their stupidity.

Twain then joins a group of authors in writing a novel for serial
They continue onward with Captain John Nye, a friendly man publication in a literary journal. This enterprise fails as well
with a knack for solving problems. Upon arriving in Esmeralda, after a new writer botches the story by killing off all of the
they discover their mining claims are worthless frauds. Out of characters. Twain then tours a mine that has just had a cave-in,
money, Twain takes a job at a quartz mill processing ore, a and he describes the subterranean features and activities of
dreary, labor-intensive job that he abhors. He gets himself the miners to readers. He also enjoys a visit to Chinatown, an
fired, after which he cooks up a secret scheme to help Mr. exotic quarter with opium smokers and fancy imported goods
Whiteman find the "cement mines," a legendary mine for sale. Twain, who admires the Chinese immigrants for their
supposedly brimming with gold. Twain and his new partners, hard work and frugality, recounts how their bodies are often
Higbie and Van Dorn, quietly leave town to rendezvous with shipped back to China after death for burial. After a disastrous
Whiteman at Mono Lake. Crowds of hopeful miners follow week in which Twain is left in charge of the Enterprise by his
them, trying to horn in on the action, so they must abandon the boss, Twain resigns from the paper. A new prospect arises for
plan. They camp for a week at Mono Lake to take in the him quickly, though: a potential trip to New York to help two
scenery. It's an alkali lake with two islands in the middle and men sell Nevada mining land. While he is waiting for this to
almost no life in its caustic, dangerous waters. Twain and materialize, he travels to San Francisco to experience the
Higbie row a boat out to explore the barren, ashy islands, famous city he has longed to see.
where they run out of water and their boat drifts away. Higbie
catches the boat and rows them safely back to the mainland
during a terrible storm. San Francisco and the
They return to Esmeralda, and wily Higbie discovers an Sandwich Islands (Hawaii)
unclaimed "blind lead" worth millions. They claim the mine in
glee, but due to unforeseen circumstances and poor decision As Twain journeys to San Francisco, he describes the austere
making, they lose the claim ten days later. After a half-hearted landscape and tells of California's pioneer mining days, a
attempt at another mining venture, Twain is offered the job of heyday of whiskey and gambling. Expecting that he will soon
city editor of the Enterprise newspaper in Virginia City, and he be rich from the upcoming New York venture, Twain checks
accepts. into an expensive hotel and lives it up around town. When the
mining boom crashes in Nevada, though, his stock becomes
worthless and Twain realizes he needs to economize. He
moves into a boarding house and takes a job as a reporter to

bring in some cash. One day when he misses work, a telegram lazy, you should leave home to make your way in the world, for
comes to his office about the New York trip, but he misses then you will be forced to work and make good in life.
it—and the boat to New York. Another opportunity blown, a
disappointed Twain resigns himself to his meager living. He
then experiences an earthquake, a thrilling event that rolls the
ground beneath his feet and causes buildings to collapse
around him. Not long thereafter, he learns that the New York
venture was an enormous success, making the men involved
millionaires. Twain becomes so depressed that he loses his job.
For two months, Twain lives for a time as a penniless mooch,

depending on the kindness of his landlady for meals and
shelter. He then travels to Tuolumne to try pocket mining for
several weeks, but doesn't earn a dime from the expedition.
When he returns to San Francisco, he lands a job for the
Sacramento Union, a newspaper that assigns him to travel to
the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) as a correspondent. Twain
travels from island to island at the newspaper's expense,
taking boats and riding horses as his main forms of
transportation. He visits the ancient ruins of pagan temples,
hikes through tropical forests, gives surfing a try, and attends
the state funeral procession for Princess Victoria. He also
makes observations about the culture and history, particularly
the arrival of the missionaries, who brought Christianity to the
island nation. He gives an outline of the government and
relates a bit of the history of the royal rulers, such as the
warrior-king Kamehameha. One of his most exciting
adventures is a nighttime hike across the bottom of Kilauea
volcano, a fiery crater with rivers and lakes of molten lava.
The Return Home

After many months in Hawaii, Twain returns to San Francisco,
where he is again jobless. He decides to offer a humorous
lecture to the public, and goes into debt renting an opera
house and advertising for the event. Stressed out, he recruits
friends and strangers to attend the show and laugh at his
jokes, and his plan works. The show sells out and is a big
success, netting him plenty of money to live on. Twain takes
the show on the road for a few weeks in California and Nevada,
returning to the Virginia City area to lecture. He is robbed at
gunpoint while traveling between towns. The robbery turns out
to be a practical joke played on him by his friends. At last,
Twain decides to return to his old home of New York, but finds
that it has changed for the worse during his seven-year
absence. Twain then delivers a moral for his readers: if you are

Timeline of Events
Summer 1861
Twain departs with his brother from St. Louis, bound for
Carson City, Nevada, by stagecoach.
Six days later
Twain witnesses a Pony Express rider race past while on

route.
The next night
Twain's stagecoach is attacked by outlaws and the

driver is killed.
In a few days
Twain arrives in Salt Lake City and stays for two days,
seeing the city and meeting Brigham Young.
Day nineteen
Mark Twain crosses the Great American Desert of 40

miles without water.
The next day, August
Twain arrives at Carson City, where his brother takes up

the post of Secretary of Nevada Territory.
Late August
Twain stakes a land claim at Lake Tahoe but accidentally

burns it down. He returns to Carson City.
Some time later
Mark Twain gets "silver fever" and begins his

prospecting career as a miner.
Some time later
Twain camps at Mono Lake for a week and nearly gets

stranded on an island in the alkali water.
Not long thereafter
Twain claims a potentially rich mine but loses it because

he doesn't break ground soon enough.
Fall 1862
Twain moves to Virginia City to become City Editor for

the Virginia Daily Territorial Enterprise.
Summer 1864
Mark Twain leaves Virginia City and moves to San

Francisco.
October 8, 1865
Twain experiences a major earthquake in San Francisco.
After that
Twain tries and fails at pocket mining in Tuolumne,

California, and elsewhere for three months.
March 1866
Mark Twain travels to Hawaii as a newspaper

correspondent.
Six months later
Twain returns to San Francisco by boat, a trip that takes

five weeks.
October 2, 1866
Mark Twain gives his first public lecture at a theater, and

it is a great success.
Immediately thereafter
Mark Twain launches a career as a traveling lecturer in

Nevada and California.
Not long after
Friends play a trick on Twain, fooling him into thinking he

is being robbed at gunpoint.
Soon after
Mark Twain returns home to New York after his seven-

year absence.

Roughing It Study Guide Chapter Summaries 17
The six-horse stagecoach leaves "the States" as it begins to

c Chapter Summaries cross the plains of Kansas. Twain admires the fine summer
morning and the landscape, feeling "an exhilarating sense of
emancipation from all sorts of cares and responsibilities." The
Chapters 1–3 three passengers are crammed inside with mountains of

mail—720 pounds in all. They travel all day, changing horses
every 10 miles, and are joined by a female passenger after
supper. The woman silently swats mosquitoes until Twain
Summary remarks upon the bothersome creatures, and then she begins
to prattle on incessantly. She "buried us under a desolating
deluge of trivial gossip," Twain writes, that was made up of
Chapter 1 "dislocated grammar and decomposed pronunciation." The
men suffer through her continual conversation until she
Twain's brother, Orion Clemens (unnamed in the text), is
disembarks early the next morning. She suggests that they
appointed Secretary of Nevada Territory, and Twain is envious
wait for her at Cottonwood, farther along the route, as she'll be
of his upcoming adventures in the West. "He was going to
"along sometime tonight," but they decide not to do so.
travel! I never had been away from home," the author explains.
Twain imagines his brother will get rich from gold and silver
mines, and "maybe get hanged or scalped, and have ever such Chapter 3
a fine time, and write home and tell us all about it, and be a
hero." When his brother invites him to go along as his private Overburdened with mail, the coach breaks down, and the
secretary, Twain accepts eagerly. He plans to visit Nevada for passengers have to disembark into the cold rain. The men
three months, but actually stays in the West for "six or seven abandon half of the mailbags alongside the route for a station
uncommonly long years!" The brothers travel for six days by guard to pick up later. They then rearrange the mailbags to
steamboat up the Missouri River from St. Louis to St. Joseph, form a "lazy bed" on top of the seats, and "we never wanted
where they will begin the overland journey. any seats after that," says Twain. The coach continues onward
as the men lounge on top of the mail, happily smoking pipes.
The coach enters Nebraska, where Twain spots a "jackass
Chapter 2 rabbit" which he describes in detail. The men then take turns
shooting at it as it streaks out of sight. Twain describes the
Upon arrival in St. Joseph, the brothers buy tickets on the
"friendly sagebrush," as well, calling it "an imposing monarch of
overland coach bound for Carson City, Nevada, at $150 per
the forest in exquisite miniature." He marvels at its hardiness,
ticket. Before departing the next morning, they have to jettison
for it can grow "in the midst of deep sand, and among barren
some of their possessions because their luggage is over the
rocks." The deserts are populated with this plant rather than
weight limit of 25 pounds apiece. They leave behind their
trees "for hundreds of miles," and travelers use it for firewood.
"swallow-tail coats and white kid gloves ... stovepipe hats" and
The author describes how fire pits dug into the ground stay
other formal finery in favor of plain, practical clothes. "We were
warm all night and produce no smoke, which "makes a very
reduced to war footing," Twain complains. His brother takes
sociable campfire." Speaking of mules and donkeys, Twain
along 10 pounds' worth books, including "United States
then diverges into camels, and tells how a camel in Syria once
statutes" and an unabridged dictionary, not realizing he could
ate his overcoat. The camel tries to eat a newspaper, too, but
buy these in the West, too. Both men carry guns, though
"he began to stumble on statements that not even a camel
Twain's "had one fault—you could not hit anything with it." His
could swallow with impunity." In fact, the camel "died a death of
brother's gun is "for protection against the Indians, and to
indescribable agony" from eating the paper.
guard against accidents he carried it uncapped." They travel in
the coach with Mr. George Bemis, who carries an erratic
"Allen" revolver that sometimes misfires. The gentlemen
prepare for their trip by packing a few blankets, pipes and
tobacco, water canteens, and silver coins for expenses.

to relate the incident of the camel, from a trip that happens

Analysis after Twain's travels in the West. This incident has more than a
hint of satire in it, too, poking fun at the news, which the camel
Twain sets up the narrator's persona as a wide-eyed, innocent
"can't swallow." Twain himself becomes a journalist while out
youth, a theme that he also employs in his 1869 travel narrative
West and finds out just how much of the news is fabricated.
The Innocents Abroad. That book recounts the author's travels
Such news was likely unbelievable, or "hard to swallow" for
to the Holy Land (from whence the Chapter 3 anecdote about
readers.
the camel makes its way into Roughing It.) There are really two
Twains narrating the story, however. One has the innocent
viewpoint of young Twain as the events unfold, while the other
has the 20/20 hindsight and humor of the older, wiser Twain
Chapters 4–6
who is writing the book. (Twain's travels in the West happened
from 1861–67, but he didn't write the book until 1870–71.)
Summary
Chapter 1 opens with the theme of travel, as seen through the
eyes of young, eager Twain. He views the West through rose-
colored glasses, romanticizing its dangers into exciting perks. Chapter 4
It certainly can't be called a "fine time" to get hanged or
scalped, though the enthusiastic Twain seems to imagine that The men attempt to sleep through the overnight journey but
it might be. Having never been away from home before the trip are bounced around as the coach crosses streams with steep
West, young Twain grabs onto stereotypes of the "Wild West" banks. They arrive at a coach station in the morning, where the
in imagining what life there must be like. This includes the hope driver is treated with deference by the workers as the horses
of "getting rich quick," an idea that drives Twain throughout his are changed out. These hostlers and station keepers are
Western adventure. In reality, the older, more experienced beneath the driver's notice, but to them, "the stage driver was a
Twain believed that the trip would be a quick way to earn a few hero." They "received his insolent silence meekly," they laugh
easy dollars. But he learned the hard way that writing a sequel uproariously at his lame joke, and they fall all over themselves
did not come as easily as he had hoped, and his own get-rich- trying to be of service to him. Twain describes the adobe
quick scheme backfired on him as he struggled to complete station buildings, each of which has an earth-covered roof with
the necessary word count for his publisher. "weeds and grass" growing on top of it. "It was the first time we
had ever seen a man's front yard on top of his house," Twain
In Chapter 2, the brothers show their worldly inexperience,
observes.
packing poorly and having to leave many of their possessions
behind. Luxury items such as top hats and white gloves will The buildings are bare-bones inside, with just the basic
hardly be needed in the West, anyway, as Twain comes to necessities, including a few bunks for sleeping and a fireplace
discover later. The author doesn't seem terribly familiar with but no stove. There are no cupboards for storing provisions,
guns, and his descriptions show humorous understatement or which sit on the floor and are also very basic (flour, bacon,
willful misinterpretation. He claims that his gun "could not hit salt). A broken mirror and half a filthy comb are available for
anything," but obviously, he is simply a poor shot. Twain also use, but the "towel" (a "hoary blue woolen shirt") is reserved for
introduces the theme of language in this chapter with the the station keeper, coach driver, and coach conductor only.
talkative woman, whose grammar and pronunciation are so The furniture and dishes are equally pathetic. Twain then
offensive to his ear. While this incident is brief, it is notable. It is describes the clothing worn by the workers: "coarse, country-
one of the few appearances of a woman in the book at all, woven" pantaloons patched with buckskin, stuffed into high
underscoring the idea of the West as a "man's world." (In boots studded with "great Spanish spurs." Beards, mustaches,
Chapter 57, in fact, lonely miners even line up and pay for the wool shirts, and shapeless hats complete the look, along with
privilege of simply looking at a real, live woman.) weapons, of course. The station keeper serves a horrid
breakfast of week-old bread, "condemned Army bacon," and
The theme of travel continues in Chapter 3, as seen in Twain's
"slumgullion," a vile sort of tea of the keeper's own invention.
description of the exotic flora (sagebrush) and fauna (jackass
Twain's request for coffee is met with a glare of disbelief from
rabbit) of the region. The "older" narrator then takes the stage

the station boss. For this inedible meal, they pay $1 each. executive ability." The driver covers the same limited tract of
ground back and forth endlessly, so a long-distance coach will
Meanwhile, the six horses are switched out for mules, "the first have several drivers as the route unfolds. The drivers often
diminution of our princely state," writes Twain. The coach flies work such long shifts that they sleep en route, with the
up the road, crosses the North Platte River, and the reaches conductor taking over the driving temporarily. The hostlers and
Fort Kearney late that afternoon, three hundred miles and 56 station workers are sometimes shiftless outlaws. Occasionally
hours from St. Joseph. Twain marvels at the changes that have "a division agent was really obliged to shoot a hostler through
come since that time, sharing a New York Times article from the head to teach him some simple matter."
the future called "Across the Continent." The article tells how a
Pullman train makes a similar trip from Omaha to the North Twain then mentions Mr. Ben Holliday, the head of the entire
Platte in only 15 hours, complete with a fancy dining car, western half of the stagecoach route. The author quotes from
champagne, and luxurious sleeping couches. his Holy Land travel notebooks, in which he describes Holliday
as "a man of prodigious energy ... a very whirlwind" of
efficiency. In the same excerpt, Twain describes a young man
Chapter 5 named Jack who had also met Holliday—and who knows
nothing of biblical history. Jack is reprimanded by "an elderly
After another overnight in the coach, the men awaken to the pilgrim" who is a walking encyclopedia of biblical knowledge.
fresh solitude of the plains. They ride atop the coach for fun, The old man, scandalized that Jack doesn't know who Moses
with a "wild sense of freedom" and excitement at "those fine is, tells of Moses leading his people through 300 miles of
overland mornings!" They spot prairie dogs, antelopes, and a desert in 40 years. Jack is shocked. "Forty years?" he exclaims.
coyote, which Twain describes as "a long, slim, sick and sorry- "Ben Holliday would have fetched them through in thirty-six
looking skeleton" and "a living, breathing allegory of Want." The hours!"
"cowardly" animal may seem threatening, Twain notes, but it
will quickly run away when pursued. Twain recommends The coach arrives at Overland City at noon after five days of
setting a dog after the coyote for good sport, saying "you will travel. It is "the strangest, quaintest, funniest frontier town that
enjoy it ever so much." He then writes that the wily coyote will our untraveled eyes had ever stared at and been astonished
toy with the dog, allowing it to come close before hurtling away with," notes Twain.
in a sonic boom of speed. Twain also remarks that the
ravenous coyote will "eat anything in the world that his first
cousins, the desert-frequenting tribes of Indians, will." The Analysis
author suggests, in fact, that the coyote competes with Indians
in finding the carcasses of dead animals to eat. In Chapters 4 and 6, Twain gives his first descriptions of the
social hierarchy of the West, which has classes of people
unfamiliar back East. The highest man on the totem pole is Ben
Chapter 6 Holliday, followed by the division agents, who are viewed as
rock stars or royalty in their own district. Each level of the
The coach takes on a new conductor who hasn't slept in 20 hierarchy seems to look down on the ones below it, with
hours, which Twain remarks is common on the 1900-mile route conductors feeling superior to drivers, who in turn feel superior
between Missouri and California. Each 250 miles is called a to the station workers. Here, Twain serves as cultural
"division, and is overseen by an "agent" who is authorized to anthropologist, showing the reader how society works in the
carry out a wide variety of tasks. The division agent hires and exotic West. His detailed descriptions of the buildings,
fires, pays wages, builds stations, digs wells, and buys and furnishings, and meals of the station house have a National
distributes whatever his region might need, from horses to Geographic feel of curious observation to them. It's as if Twain
harnesses. Twain calls them the "kings" of the overland route, is taking notes on a foreign culture—and technically, he is,
followed in importance by the conductors, the drivers, and then since he is no longer in the United States proper. Twain
the lowly "station keepers, hostlers, etc." The conductor (often sprinkles his writing with the usual witty cracks, such as his
a gentleman) oversees the coach, mail, and passengers, and comment on the "front yard" growing on the station's roof.
thus must be "a man of intelligence, decision, and considerable

Things are getting real, though, and Twain starts to get a taste circles often found themselves traveling together.
of the hardships of the West. The farther West the party
travels, the fewer luxuries are available. The coach's dashing
horses are switched out for homely mules, "the first diminution Chapters 7–8
of our princely state." Then the passengers find themselves
paying for a breakfast of rotten bacon so bad that the Army
won't feed it to the soldiers. Twain's request for coffee is
Summary
utterly scoffed at; it is clearly a luxury that isn't often found
along the route.
Twain's older persona comes out as narrator again when he Chapter 7

compares "then and now" regarding the overland journey.
At Overland City, the stagecoach is changed out for a
While it takes the stagecoach 56 hours to reach the North
"mudwagon" and then continues on, crossing the sandy,
Platte, in the near future, a train makes the journey in just 15
shallow South Platte River. The wagon breaks down the next
hours. (The first transcontinental railway was completed in
morning, and the passengers are invited to join a buffalo hunt
1869, just 8 years after Twain's journey by coach.) Times were
(on horseback) while the vehicle is being repaired. George
changing fast during Twain's lifetime, a phenomenon he
Bemis is chased up a tree by a wounded bull buffalo, much to
comments on frequently in the text. Young Twain was
the amusement of his companions. Unamused, Bemis tells his
experiencing the end of an era (the old "Wild West") just as a
side of the story, blaming his horse for panicking. He claims the
new one was beginning to unfold (a "Gilded Age" of railroads
animal stood on its head, shed tears, and did handsprings in
and increasing commerce). This offered Twain a unique
trying to escape the charging buffalo. Bemis, holding on for
vantage point as a witness to history, and his practical
dear life, was thrown about violently until the saddle broke and
examples help the reader understand the vastness of the
he was thrown from the horse. The saddle was tossed "more
changes taking place.
than four hundred yards up in the air" and fortuitously landed in
One of Twain's more disturbing characterizations appears in the very tree Bemis has scurried up to avoid the bull. But the
Chapter 5 when he equates the coyote to Indians. In calling bull climbed up the tree! When his companions object that a
them "relations," he implies that Indians are animal-like, or less bull can't climb a tree, Bemis retorts, "He can't, can't he? Since
than human. His unflattering descriptions of the coyote as an you know so much about it, did you ever see a bull try?" He
ugly, cowardly, scavenger may also thus reflect his opinion of breezes on with his story, telling how he fashioned a noose
Indians. Twain's view was typical of his era, when many viewed from the lariat (rope) on the saddle. Bemis then lassoed the
the Indian tribes as a nuisance and an obstacle to the progress bull around the neck and shot it in the face, and the animal fell,
of Manifest Destiny. ("Manifest Destiny" was the belief that hanging itself in the process. He swears the story is true,
white settlers had a divine right to take over the West.) Indians offering as proof the fact that he hasn't brought back his lariat
were stereotyped as savages, while the white man believed or horse, nor have they ever seen the bull again. Twain reflects,
himself to be superior. In the 1830s and 1840s, thousands of "If this man was not a liar he only missed it by the skin of his
Indians died as they were forcibly displaced from their teeth."
traditional lands east of the Mississippi. Indeed, Indians were
The incident reminds Twain of his travels in Siam (Thailand),
still seen as "the enemy" during the 1860s due to continued
where an Englishman named Eckert was "famous for the
conflicts between the tribes and white people.
number, ingenuity, and imposing magnitude of his lies." Twain
The theme of travel is emphasized in Chapter 6 with Twain's and a man named Bascom try to draw him out one evening,
anecdote from his trip to the Holy Land. Amazingly, he meets a hoping to hear such a lie. Eventually, they manage the feat, for
man there (Jack) who has also met Ben Holliday of the one night Eckert tells a ludicrous story about his cat eating
stagecoach company. Such tie-ins were common in 19th coconut. Much to their chagrin, however the cat actually eats a
century travelogues, where people with money and opportunity coconut right in front of them. Bascom advises Twain not to
to travel were few; places to travel were restricted by politics, speak of the matter to their friends.
weather, and convenience; and thus people from similar social

this time to exotic Siam.

Chapter 8
Twain has even more to write home about and impress his
The passengers eagerly await the arrival of the "pony rider," a
readers with in Chapter 8. The Pony Express had started only
mail carrier who travels the 1,900 mile route from St. Joseph to
one year prior to Twain's trip, and it had quickly become
Sacramento "in eight days!" These riders and their horses are
legendary for its fearless, speedy riders. It would have been
"flying light," says Twain, for they carry next to nothing in order
uncommon to witness a rider in action, and Twain plays up the
to reduce weight and ride faster. They travel twice as fast as a
experience in vivid detail. His descriptions of speed and
stagecoach, and at any time, night or day, about 80 riders are
emotions project his excitement, making the reader feel as if
flying in both directions alone the route. At last, a pony rider
he were there himself. Another oddity not experienced by
overtakes the party, "and man and horse burst past our excited
Twain's friends back home is alkali water, which may be salty,
faces ... winging away like a belated fragment of a storm!" It is
soapy, or even caustic to the skin.
over so quickly that they wonder if it ever happened at all.
The site of the 1856 massacre once again brings up an
The wagon next comes to their first sighting of soapy alkali
element of tall tales, as Twain meets over a hundred people
water, "a first-class curiosity, and a thing to be mentioned with
who claim to be the sole survivor. Many of the stories they tell
éclat in letters to the ignorant at home." They then pass by "the
are fantastic and unbelievable, and while the tale of Babbitt is
scene of the Indian mail robbery and massacre of 1856," from
the "most trustworthy," that doesn't mean it's true, either. All of
which only one survivor escaped. "This must have been a
this was part of the character of the Old West. Everyone had
mistake," Twain writes, for thereafter, over a hundred people
his own tall tale to tell, and there was no way of corroborating
tell him the story of how they escaped this very massacre. The
what was true. Yet as Twain notes, "There was no doubt of the
"most trustworthy" story is that of a man named Babbitt.
truth of it—I had it from their own lips." Such tales seemed to
Severely wounded and suffering greatly, he reaches a safety at
be not only tolerated, but relished in that era, when "larger than
a nearby station by crawling at night and hiding from the
life" was the typical state of existence. The massacre also
Indians during the day.
touches on the matter of Indians, and the antipathy travelers
and settlers in the West felt toward them. Since the massacre
happened only 5 years prior to Twain's trip, it would have still
Analysis been considered a recent event. Twain and his party may have
felt uneasy passing the site, wondering if they, too, might come
In Chapter 7, the passengers must downgrade their comforts
into conflict with hostile Indians along the route.
once again. This time, they trade in the stagecoach for the
unromantic, unreliable "mudwagon," which breaks down almost
immediately. Luckily, the party is invited to partake in an
adventure—the buffalo hunt. George Bemis takes center stage
Chapters 9–11
here, and the reader is able to learn more about his personality.
He is obviously a big talker who embellishes the facts with
enticing impossibilities. In fact, his story is a tall tale, a story of Summary
exaggerated or unbelievable elements. A horse can't kick a
saddle 400 yards in the air, nor is it probable that the saddle
would land precisely in Bemis's tree. A buffalo probably Chapter 9
couldn't be hung from a tree, either—the rope or branch would
likely break. Never mind the fact that buffaloes can't actually The party reaches the Black Hills after passing Fort Laramie
climb trees to begin with. Twain and his companions know that (Wyoming) and they are now officially in "hostile Indian
Bemis is full of hot air, but although they goad him with their country." Several dangerous run-ins happen nearby, while their
doubting queries, they allow the story to unfold for its coach has a bullet hole in it from its last trip along the route.
entertainment value. Besides, as Twain's anecdote about the Anxiously, the group proceeds, always expecting an attack and
coconut-eating cat shows, sometimes-unlikely stories turn out sleeping on their firearms. That night, they are startled out of
to be true. This anecdote once again shows his world travels, their sleep by "a ringing report" and "a long, wild, agonizing

shriek." The driver cries out for help, while an answering voice rules and "force was the only recognized authority," with
shouts, "Kill him! Kill him like a dog!" Two shots are fired, and murders happening in broad daylight and for the slightest
amidst the confusion of trampling feet, shouts, and "several provocations. Slade again makes quick work of the
heavy, dull blows, as with a club," the coach gets away. The desperadoes, hanging and shooting offenders left and right
incident happens so fast that passengers inside don't see what until the rest of the bunch "respected him, admired him, feared
has happened, and they are left to wonder and worry as the him, obeyed him!" So notorious is Slade that he is even profiled
coach escapes. "We fed on that mystery the rest of the night," in a book Twain quotes from: The Vigilantes of Montana, by
Twain writes, as the conductor would not stop to tell them Thomas J. Dimsdale. Dimsdale writes of "Slade's hanging men,
what had occurred. The passengers speculate they've been and of innumerable assaults, shootings, stabbings, and
attacked by Indians, though they can't account for the fact that beatings," as well as his adoption of a "little half-breed boy"
the attackers spoke "such good English, if they were Indians." after killing the boy's father. Slade shoots a bartender at
pointblank range, burns up an entire family in their home, and is
In the morning, they learn that the attack happened at a busted out of jail by his own wife. Then lo and behold, Slade
station, and that the driver was in fact killed by outlaws, not comes upon his old enemy Jules in the mountains. He ties the
Indians. The conductor drops the name of Slade, a notorious man to a post overnight "and then went to bed, content to wait
desperado, and Twain's interest is immediately captured. till morning before enjoying the luxury of killing him." This he
Stories of the man's "ghastly exploits" have followed them does, but first he torments the man by "nipping the flesh here
along the trail. He is "a man whose heart and hands and soul and there" and shooting off a finger or two.
were steeped in the blood of offenders against his dignity" and
"an outlaw among outlaws." Yet, he is "the most valuable Twain's party stops for breakfast at a stage station, and who
citizen" of the region, for he is also the most feared and most should be dining with them but "SLADE!" Twain is bowled over,
effective division agent on the Overland route. writing "Here was romance, and I sitting face to face with it!"
He finds Slade to be "so friendly and so gentle-spoken" that it
is hard to believe the harrowing tales told of him. However,
Chapter 10 when the coffee runs down to the last cup, Twain declines a
refill so that Slade can have it. "I was afraid he had not killed
Twain relates the story of Slade, an Illinois native who had anybody that morning, and might be needing diversion," he
killed a man and then fled west. He joined a wagon train but explains.
shot one of the drivers dead, and then escaped once more,
"fighting Indians and avoiding an Illinois sheriff" who was
hunting him down. Slade gained a reputation for being both Chapter 11
ruthless and fearless, qualities that made him the perfect
candidate to take on the division agent post. "Gangs of Twain relates how, a few years later, he hears that Slade has
outlaws" had been harassing and robbing the coaches, and the been hanged in Montana. He offers several pages of
previous agent, Mr. Jules, had been unable to rein the outlaws excerpted text from the Dimsdale book (The Vigilantes of
in. Slade "made short work of all offenders," beginning by killing Montana), which tell of the incident. Montana, virtually lawless
several men, though "the world was richer for their loss," says at the time, had created "a People's Court" and a "Vigilance
Twain. Jules hates Slade for outshining him, and the two begin Committee" to try to establish order. Slade, writes Dimsdale,
a deadly feud, stalking each other in the street armed with was both "a kind husband, a most hospitable host and a
loaded guns. After wounding each other, both are carried away courteous gentleman" and a drunken, violent "fiend incarnate."
to recover, and Jules sneaks away as soon as he is able. He He had become a public nuisance, drinking too much,
hides out in the Rocky Mountains for months, and eventually destroying property, and causing trouble for local businesses.
everybody forgets about him—except for Slade, who still wants Slade had been given many warnings about his destructive
him dead. behavior, and though he always paid for any damages he
caused, he nonetheless made enemies.
The coach company then transfers Slade to the Rocky
Mountain division, "the very paradise of outlaws and After a particularly drunken evening in which Slade and his
desperadoes." It is an entirely lawless land where violence friends "had made the town a perfect hell," the sheriff came to

arrest him. Slade tore up the warrant for his arrest. The of bravery. He would not give up seeing his true love again
Vigilance Committee acted swiftly to prevent Slade from without a fight, and the weapons he used were tears. Tears
retaliating against them, backed by a large group of miners might stir his captors to compassion, while brave defiance
who wanted to see him hanged. Slade "wept bitterly at the never would. In the end, Slade's tears are for nothing, and the
gallows, and begged for his life with all his power." He begged reader can't help but feel sorry that he and his wife are unable
to see his "dear wife," but she arrived too late—her beloved to reunite before his death. Somehow, Twain manages to make
husband was already dead. Twain then ruminates on Slade's this bloody killer sympathetic to the reader, a real feat of
character. Although the man had cried and begged for his life writing. (That being said, it's also hard to blame the Vigilance
piteously in the end, he had proved many times that he was no Committee for hanging him while they have the chance.)
coward. On the other hand, many cowardly villains had seemed
outwardly brave when they were executed. Twain cannot
figure out this "conundrum." Chapters 12–16
Analysis Summary
While Twain does have a tendency to exaggerate and tell tales
in his writing, Chapter 9 shows that his stories aren't just all
talk—sometimes he is in real danger in the West. Twain builds
Chapter 12
drama in his writing by withholding details of the stagecoach
Twain's party continues on the overland route, overtaking a
attack (what really happened) and instead offers titillating
wagon train of emigrants and passing various local landmarks
speculation about Indians to tease the reader. While it doesn't
along the way. "We were in the heart of the Rocky Mountains
turn out to be an Indian attack, outlaws are almost as romantic
now," Twain writes, and they are also entering into Mormon
a notion when it comes to the West. The topic of outlaws also
territory. They exchange news with the mayor of South Pass
provides a perfect transition for Twain to talk about Slade in
City, who is also "the hotelkeeper, the postmaster, the
Chapters 10 and 11. Compared to most of the people in the
blacksmith," and several other small-town jobs. The travelers
book, who are merely mentioned in passing, Slade's character
marvel at the wonder of snow on the mountains in summer
is examined in great depth. Twain offers multiple perspectives
("Seeing is believing," notes Twain) as they reach the summit of
on the man, rather than just giving his own opinion. The primary
the Rockies. The passage seems like "a suspension bridge in
source he borrows from (Dimsdale's book on Montana)
the clouds," so high are they above the deep valleys and plains
corroborates his own accounts of Slade, lending a sense of
below. When they overtake another emigrant train, Twain
authenticity to his commentary.
recognizes a childhood friend amongst the party, and they
catch up on news before parting again. The coach rides
Slade is a "conundrum" to Twain, both in life and in death. On
through a landscape of endless graves and skeletons (horse
the one hand, Slade seems to be a heartless killer who tortures
and oxen), and at night these bones emit an eerie,
his victims for pleasure. On the other hand, he deeply loves his
phosphorescent glow. A terrible rainstorm begins and the
wife (and in turn inspires her devotion and love), and he also
driver loses the route, almost plunging the coach into a gulch.
allegedly adopts an orphan boy (though only after killing the
The next day, now ten days out from St. Joseph, they cross the
boy's father). Slade roughs up the town regularly, but always
Green River, pass Fort Bridger, and reach Echo Canyon. A
seems contrite afterwards and pays for the damage he has
fight between U.S. soldiers and 400 Indians has just happened
caused. He's an outlaw on the run, but also a valued division
the day before, with more fighting possible, so the coach
agent. Slade's execution adds to the mystery of who this man
hurries ahead on its way. As they approach Salt Lake City, the
really is. One would expect this fearless man to put on a brave
coach pauses to admire a great rainbow arching over the
face at his death, but Slade instead cries and pleads to see his
mountains. They have supper with a Mormon "Destroying
wife. Twain cannot understand it, for he knows that Slade does
Angel" (Twain describes these as persons who "conduct
not lack courage. It is worth considering, perhaps, that it might
permanent disappearances of obnoxious citizens" for that
require more courage to show one's true feelings to a hostile
Church). Multiple wives serve the supper, Twain's first
crowd. Slade did just that, rather than putting on a false front

encounter with polygamy, that "peculiar institution" of the Mormons should not be judged for the practice.
Mormons. That night, the coach arrives at Salt Lake City, "the
capital of the only absolute monarch in America."
Chapter 15
Chapter 13 Twain recounts the subjects local Gentiles like to discuss, such
as other Gentiles who've been assassinated by Mormons, as
Salt Lake City is a "fairyland" to Twain and the other well as polygamy. He writes that younger wives may supplant
passengers, who gawk at the local Mormons with curiosity. older wives in their husband's favor, and that the women allow
They are introduced to other "Gentiles" (non-Mormons), and the practice because they believe bigger families gain higher
Bemis gets drunk on "valley tan," a local whiskey made by the standing in heaven. Brigham Young is said to have dozens of
Mormons. Twain notes that public drinking saloons are not wives and over 100 children, who live together in the "Lion
permitted "in the kingdom of Brigham Young," so the faithful House." Mr. Johnson, who breakfasted there once, tells Twain
don't imbibe—except for valley tan. The next day, the travelers how Young couldn't tell his children apart nor remember his
see the sights of the city, a clean, industrious, and prosperous wives' names. Johnson also relates how Young had to buy
community. The following day, they meet Mr. Street and have decorative pins for all of his wives to wear after gifting a pin to
an audience with Brigham Young himself, who "seemed a quiet, (wife) "No. 6." Young had complained to Johnson that "once a
kindly, easy-mannered, dignified, self-possessed old gentleman gave one of my children a tin whistle," and then all
gentleman." Twain becomes annoyed when Young ignores him. the children had to have one, too. He also told of a woman who
Young then "put his hand on my head and beamed down on had foisted her child off onto him by swearing "that the child
me" and asks his brother, "Ah—your child, I presume? Boy or was mine and she my wife." Johnson's final tale is that Young
girl?" once built a single bed for his 72 wives, but the snoring was
"deafening" and nearly shook the house to pieces. The wives
would all breathe in at once "and you could actually see the
Chapter 14 walls of the house suck in," Young supposedly said. His final
advice to Johnson was, "Take my word for it, ten or eleven
Twain describes Mr. Street's "vast work," which is to oversee wives is all you need." Twain questions whether Johnson is a
the construction of telegraph lines over "eight hundred miles of reliable storyteller, but he is nonetheless entertained by the
rugged mountains and dismal deserts." Street has hired a crew tales.
of Mormons to do the hardest part of the building work.
However, when the workers discover the job isn't worth the
money or effort, they all quit—even though they "were under Chapter 16
written contract." The workers refuse to heed this "Gentile"
contract, which is essentially "worthless" in Utah. Street is at Twain obtains a copy of the Mormon Bible, which he calls "a
his wit's end, as it looks as though his project will now fail, but pretentious affair" and so dull that "it is chloroform in print." He
then he is advised to "Go to Brigham Young!" Young reviews finds the book to be full of "imaginary history" and poorly
Street's contracts and finds they are without flaw, and he modeled after the Old Testament. Its language is a jumbled
commands the workers to appear before him. They arrive, and mess of modern speech and outdated scriptural language,
Young instructs them to live up to the bargain they've struck in Twain maintains. Moreover, he says, the phrase "and it came to
the contracts, even "if it makes paupers of you! Go!" The pass" is heavily, comically overused by the book's writer,
workers do as he bids without question. Street observes that, Joseph Smith. Twain quotes several passages from the book
even though there are government officials from Washington in to back up his opinion, such as the title page, which includes
the state, "Utah is an absolute monarchy and Brigham Young is "The Testimony of Three Witnesses." These witnesses claim
king!" Twain then switches subjects to polygamy. He remarks that "we know of a surety that the work is true" because God
that he better understood the practice when "I saw the "hath declared it unto us." They further testify that an angel has
Mormon women ... poor, ungainly, and pathetically 'homely' shown them a set of engraved golden plates sacred to their
creatures." He then states that "the man that marries one of religion. Twain declares that such testimony nearly convinces
them has done an act of Christian charity," and so the him of its truth, "no matter whether I ever heard of that man

before or not, and even if I do not know the name of the angel, about his own personality. Twain wants to grill Young "on
or his nationality either." In another passage, eight additional federal politics and his highhanded attitude toward Congress,"
men swear to having seen the plates, which have "the but Young dismisses him as only a child. It is unclear whether
appearance of gold" and "the appearance of ancient work." Young truly thinks Twain is a child, or whether he pretends this
Twain comments that with such testimony, "I am convinced." in order to avoid Twain's pestering. "He merely looked around
Twain notes that the Mormon Bible has 15 books, the first of me," Twain writes, and the author lapses into angry silence at
which tells how the "children of Lehi" leave Jerusalem and being ignored. Thus, Twain is forced to use features of
wander for nine years. Their leader Nephi builds a ship "in a Mormonism other than the leader's opinions to describe the
single day" (which Twain likens to Noah's ark) and they all set faith. Readers are not interested in a dialogic treatise; they
sail. The people aboard then want to party, so they tie up want a travelogue.
Nephi, but the Lord sends a storm to frighten them, so they
untie Nephi. They then reach the "promised land." Twain's account of Mormons in Chapters 13 through 16 is
unflattering, to say the least. He and his companions seem to
Twain then writes of various subjects from the book. Polygamy, view Mormons as an alien species to be examined and
he says, "was added by Brigham Young after Joseph Smith's analyzed rather than real people. He calls Salt Lake City a
death" even though the Mormon Bible calls it an "abomination." "fairyland" in which he stares at every "creature" that may be a
He also quotes passages which state that Jesus chose twelve Mormon. He invasively peers into private homes as if they are
Mormon disciples and that angels appeared to 2,500 people in mere peepshows, hoping to get "a good satisfying look at a
a vision of fire. The Book of Ether recounts ancient "history," Mormon family." Somehow, though, his interest does not seem
including a massive battle in which millions of people are genuine. It seems his mind is already made up about Mormons
slaughtered. In the end, only the opposing leaders Shiz and before he ever meets any. His curiosity seems aimed at finding
Coriantumr are left standing, and they too die. Twain information that reinforces what he already believes, rather
concludes that while the Mormon Bible is "rather stupid and than truly understanding Mormons more deeply. Twain does
tiresome," its moral teachings are sound, since they have been make note of some positive characteristics of Mormons, such
plagiarized from the New Testament. as their industriousness and the cleanliness of the city itself.
However, the majority of his observations relate negative
characteristics or profile less-than-admirable people. Twain
Analysis tells of a murderous, slovenly "Destroying Angel," a man
supposedly directed to assassinate those opposed to the
Chapter 12 returns to travelogue mode as Twain describes the church. (Such incidents may or may not have taken place; the
small towns, landmarks, and wonders he passes for the reader. historical record is unclear.) He points out the hypocrisy of
His amazement at seeing snow on the mountains in the Mormons drinking "valley tan" despite their prohibition against
summer may seem quaint today. However, it is worth alcohol. And he mercilessly satirizes the Mormon Bible both for
remembering that in Twain's time, there was neither television its content and its language (a prominent theme throughout
nor Internet for learning about the world. Twain's comment that the text).
"seeing is believing" is ironic because he uses it to testify to the
truth of his own experience, while it negates the possibility that Twain also uses low humor to try to make the reader laugh, for
his readers can believe him because they haven't seen what he example in insulting how Mormon women look, calling the
has seen. Thus, it makes an interesting introduction to a whole lot "homely." Twain makes little attempt to actually
section describing a different faith than the Christianity with understand Mormon women, but instead is content to make
which many of his readers were familiar assumptions and write stereotypes about them. He claims that
these women accept polygamy to improve their future in
The "monarch" Twain mentions at the end of Chapter 12 is heaven, but it does not appear that he speaks to a single
Brigham Young, sometime governor of Utah and leader of the Mormon woman in person, perhaps because of contemporary
Mormon church, whom Twain discusses further in the following social conventions. Most discouragingly, he turns the religion's
chapters. Twain has the opportunity to meet the legendary leader and their practice of polygamy into tall tales of the most
man in person, but the meeting doesn't go as he had imagined. ridiculous sort.
The way Twain chooses to portray this episode reveals much

Chapters 17–20 Chapter 19

Next the travelers arrive at Rocky Canyon, where they
encounter "the wretchedest type of mankind I have ever seen,"
Summary says Twain. The Goshute Indians are, by his account, "inferior
to all races of savages on our continent" and beyond. He
characterizes them as dirty, sneaky beggars who eat scraps
Chapter 17 that hogs wouldn't touch and make no contributions to society.
Twain tells of their attacks on coaches and stations, and
The travelers leave Salt Lake City without satisfactorily
though he is "an Indian worshiper," he finds them disgusting in
understanding the Mormons, for they've heard conflicting
the extreme. He pities the "poor creatures" and advises
stories from the different factions around town. Twain gives
readers to have compassion for them, or at the very least, not
the example of the "Mountain Meadows Massacre," for which
to throw mud at them.
the Gentiles, Indians, and Mormons are all blamed. (As it turns
out, Twain writes, it was the Mormons.) Twain is satisfied,
though, that now "we were at last in a pioneer land, in absolute Chapter 20
and tangible reality." His proof of this is the outrageous prices
charged for nearly everything, which must be shipped in from The travelers cross the Great American Desert, where the
somewhere else. While pennies are used in the East, the sand is so deep they have to get out and walk so that the
smallest coin in Salt Lake City is the quarter—and everything mules can pull the coach. The desert is littered with wrecked
costs at least that much. Twain tells of his own first gaffe with wagons, wagon wheels, and the bones of dead horses and
money in town. Ignorant of local ways, he tries to pay an Indian oxen. They come to Carson Lake, called a "sink" because
shoeshine boy five cents, not knowing the shoeshine is a water flows into it by river but none flows out—the water "sinks
twenty-five cent job. The boy hands the pathetic coin back with mysteriously into the earth." Twain then diverges in his writing
an insult. Twain claims that he scalped the boy then and there to tell a popular anecdote about Horace Greeley, a famous
for the insult, amidst the "roar of vulgar laughter" at his journalist. (So popular is this story that Twain has heard it is in
expense. The travelers have also figured out that the locals the Talmud and was used in the inquisition in Rome.) Greeley
look down on "emigrants," who know nothing of mining and has such a bumpy ride across the desert that his coat buttons
can't even swear properly. pop off and his head busts through the ceiling of the coach. At
first, Twain finds the story funny, but soon he realizes that
everyone knows and tells this same story during travels in the
Chapter 18 West. The travelers hear the story again and again and get
quite fed up with it. The final straw comes when they pick up a
The coach travels through an alkali desert that stretches
stranded, nearly dead man in the desert. After they revive him
nearly 70 miles with only one watering stop along the way. At
with a bit of brandy, the wanderer begins to tell the same tired
first the travelers are excited about the prospect. Twain writes
Greeley story. Twain cuts him off midsentence and asks him
that "this was fine—novel—romantic—dramatically
not to tell the story, so the stranger refrains. The strain of
adventurous—this, indeed, was worth living for, worth traveling
keeping the anecdote in, though, is too much for the man, and
for!" Their enthusiasm quickly fades thanks to the scorching
he dies.
August sun and thick dust everywhere. The mules struggle
getting through the deep dust, traveling only 2.5 miles per hour,
an agonizingly slow pace. The travelers run out of water, and
Analysis
the alkali dust cracks their lips and makes their noses bleed.
They are so thankful to arrive at the station on the other side The land of the Mormons, as unusual as Twain found it, turns
of the desert that Twain can hardly describe their happiness in out to be the last "civilized" stop on their voyage West. Now,
words. Twain and his companions are in a truly wild and lawless land
where even nature contains unprecedented dangers. They are

not sure who to believe when it comes to local lore, for experiences the "Washoe Zephyr," a large wind that kicks up
everyone has a different version of the same story. Money is enormous amounts of dust every day around 2 p.m. Next, he
also shockingly different, with both coins denominations and and his brother visit the governor's state palace, a one-story
prices being far higher than in the East. house. The brothers lodge with Bridget O'Flannigan, a
supporter of the governor, where white cloth "walls" are used
Unfortunately, Twain's callous attitude toward those different as partitions to create their "room." Their room is considered
from himself, first seen with the Mormons, continues in this fancy because they have a rug and a washbasin, but Twain
section, and indeed throughout the remainder of the memoir. soon moves into a dormitory-style room with 14 beds. Most of
He claims to scalp an Indian boy for mocking him over his five- the residents are supporters of the governor who hope to be
cent piece. He decries the Goshute Indians as savages who appointed to political offices themselves. The governor
have no place on the land or in society. And he embeds a eventually directs these men to survey the land nearby in
sardonic tall tale in the narrative of a man who died from hopes of building a railroad—a job meant mostly to keep them
refraining to tell a story. If this is humorous, it is very dark busy. For a week, they do this job and enjoy the novelty of it,
humor indeed. More likely, these are the bitter reflections of a bringing home nearly a dozen tarantulas as pets to the
frustrated reporter making very little money on a far tougher boarding house. When the men realize that the job is only
assignment than he imagined. Sadly, they may also reflect the meant to occupy their time, rather than to actually accomplish
attitude of the time toward Indian life in general as worthless anything, they stop work. One night during a great windstorm
and rather a nuisance toward those white men trying to get that disturbs their sleep, one of the men knocks down a shelf,
ahead in America. and the tarantulas get loose in the dark room. The terrified
men all jump up on beds or trunks until Mrs. O'Flannigan arrives
Twain continues his travelogue of exotic places and amusing
with a lantern. "I had rather go to war than live that episode
events in Chapter 20. He tells of the strange "sink" lakes, like
over again," Twain writes. The men stay up the rest of the night
Carson Lake, that exist in the West. In such lakes, incoming
for fear of going back to bed in the dark, but the tarantulas are
water evaporates or is absorbed into the ground rather than
never found.
flowing out from a different outlet. Then Twain relates a
popular anecdote about Horace Greeley. Greeley gained fame
beginning in the 1830s as a successful journalist who founded
Chapter 22
the New York Tribune. Twain pulls the reader's leg with the
story of Greeley's coach ride, since the stories are Twain has grown to like the region and decides to stay awhile
anachronistic—historically impossible because occurring in longer than planned. He starts to dress like a local and begins
different centuries. These are mentioned purely for comic work as his brother's private secretary, though he earns no
effect, to give an exaggerated idea of the popularity of the money for this. He actually has nothing to do, so he plans a trip
anecdote about Greeley. to Lake Tahoe with some of the men from the boarding house.
After an 11-mile trek on foot, they are rewarded with a beautiful
view of the lake and its surrounding mountains. They take a
Chapters 21–25 boat to an old campsite the boarding house men have used
before and cook supper from the supplies they find there.
Twain lets Johnny do most of the work, from rowing to
Summary cooking. They settle in for a chilly night of wonderful solitude,
for there is almost no one else around the lake. Twain praises
the "wholesome medicine" in sleeping outdoors there, and
Chapter 21 claims the climate could bring an Egyptian mummy back to life.
The next morning, the men claim a piece of land and mark the
The travelers arrive at Carson City, their final destination. They area with a rough fence of cut trees. They also build a crude
are introduced to Harris, who excuses himself mid-sentence to shelter out of saplings and brush in order to establish
start a gunfight with a rival. He is promptly shot and rides home residency in accordance with the law.
with blood leaking out of several wounds. Twain then

Chapter 23 Chapter 25
The men spend a few weeks at the lake, enjoying the solitude Twain tells a bit of history of Carson County, which is now part
and beauty, sleeping on the shore, and exploring by boat. The of Nevada but used to be part of Utah. The people who settled
water is brilliantly clear, and the men often drift in silence on there were both Mormons and "orthodox Americans" from
the still waters. They fish but rarely catch anything and have California, and the two groups didn't get along terribly well.
lazy afternoons smoking pipes and reading novels. Campfires When silver was discovered in 1858, though, more Americans
and euchre (a card game) fill up their evenings. Soon the men arrived and soon became the majority. A new territorial
start to run out of supplies and have to go back to the old government was created, and Brigham Young was renounced
camp to fetch more. Upon returning to their claimed plot of as leader of the region. The first governor, Roop, was
land, Twain lights a fire for dinner and leaves it unattended eventually replaced by Governor Nye, who was sent by
momentarily. As the fire blazes out of control and begins to President Lincoln to the new "Nevada Territory." Other
burn the dry pines around them, the men seek safety in the government officials were sent by Washington, and the locals
boat. They watch helplessly while the fire spreads from ridge resented being governed by outsiders rather than people from
to ridge for four hours until it disappears over a mountain and their own territory. Worse, Congress had allotted very little
out of sight. The men now have no home, no food, and no money for Nevada's support, so there was no money for a
gear—only the blankets have survived the fire. They try to row state legislature building. Luckily, Old Abe Curry saves the
to the old campsite, but a storm blows them off course. They fledgling legislature by offering a building rent-free. Even then,
spend the day wet and shivering after the boat overturns on a the state government has trouble getting the federal
distant shore. The next day they reach the camp, and they government to pay for legitimate expenses, including costs
gobble up the rest of the food supplies. Finally, they return to incurred by Twain's brother, the Secretary of the territory. The
Carson City, where they pay back their boarding house friends Secretary is ordered to print journals and pay for their writing,
for the supplies and damages to camp. but doesn't have money to do both. He has no choice but to
stop printing them—and he is then reprimanded for stopping.
Moreover, the federal government makes no allowances for
Chapter 24 the much larger cost of living in Nevada. It also continues to
unfairly deduct expenses from the Secretary's salary, even
Twain is eager to buy a horse, and a stranger convinces him to though he is trying to do his job honestly and economically.
buy "a Genuine Mexican Plug" that is known for bucking. The The one measure the Nevada legislature manages to pass is
horse immediately bucks Twain off and runs away. A young the creation of private toll roads. The locals hope to get rich
Californian boy chases it down and takes it for a ride into the from these roads, just as they had formerly hoped to get rich
surrounding countryside. Meanwhile, a crowd of townspeople from the silver mines.
offer their sympathies, and Old Abe Curry points out that
Twain has been taken advantage of by the horse salesman.
Everyone in town knew the horse was bad from the start, it Analysis
seems, except for Twain. The Californian returns with the
horse, which Twain then loans to other people to ride. He is Twain's adventures in his new home provide ample fodder for
hoping that the horse will be injured or killed so he can "make entertaining the reader, and he doesn't spare himself in writing
the borrower pay for him," but that never happens. Twain can't about his foolish, costly mistakes. Even when Twain seems on
sell or trade the horse, either, as no one wants it. Even worse, the verge of success, he somehow manages to make a mess
he has to pay for the horse's food and board at a nearby stable of things. One disaster after another befalls him, from the
at a cost of $265. At last, he fobs the horse off onto an escaped tarantulas to burning down the forest at Lake Tahoe
emigrant passing through town for free. to buying a bum horse in a bad deal. Twain's descriptions of his
new lifestyle also provide insight for his readers into what life in
the West is really like, from the clothes he adopts to the living
arrangements at Mrs. O'Flannigan's boarding house. The land
itself is part of the challenge of adapting to life in the West,

with its constant winds and dust storms. Story by story, Twain richest mineral region upon God's footstool." The persuasive
chips away at the romantic vision of Western life by telling how article boasts of silver, cinnabar, coal, and other rich lodes of
it really is: the good, the bad, and the ugly. minerals just waiting to be discovered. Twain speculates that
the worth of the ore is up to $350 per 100 pounds. This is far
Chapter 22 relates the difficulties of launching a new state in greater than the ore from nearby Gold Hill, which is valued at
the West. While law and order seem to be desired by the only $1 to $2 per 100 pounds. The same journalist later reports
people of Nevada, the new government has quite a bumpy again on the potential riches to be had from various mines in
beginning. The federal government is far away in Washington, Humboldt. He also writes of how the towns there are empty,
D.C., and does not truly understand how things work in Nevada. for everyone is away prospecting. Twain and three
Twain's brother, the Secretary, does his best to fulfill the companions decide to head immediately for Humboldt to cash
government directives. Unfortunately, he is stymied by in on the phenomenon while it lasts.
Washington bureaucrats who stick to unfair rules rather than
making allowances for the reality of the situation. At best, the
new legislature seems fairly ineffective in its first session of Chapter 27
governing. At worse, it seems destined for failure if
circumstances don't change. Twain travels to Humboldt with a blacksmith, Mr. Ballou, and
two lawyers named Clagett and Oliphant. They load 1,800
Twain's errors set side by side with those of the government pounds of provisions in a two-horse wagon, but the horses are
show how people are the same the world over. Twain, like the so weak that the men have to get out and walk. Soon, they find
federal government, enters a new territory and tries to live his it necessary to push the wagon, a task that continues for the
life the way he always has, not appreciating the fact that life is entire 200 miles of the 15-day trip. Twain takes note of Ballou's
different in Nevada. The terrain is different, the flora and fauna propensity to use big words he doesn't understand, which
are different, and so are the people. Thus, different measures makes him incomprehensible at times. However, Ballou is also
must be adapted for survival in this land. Twain's mistakes are kind, unselfish, and a hard worker. The men sleep side by side
comical. Those made by the government are maddening and on the trip to stay warm at night, and they enjoy the many small
threaten real harm to the people of Nevada and the nation if pleasures of being on the road. Each night they wolf down
reform does not begin quickly. bacon, bread, and coffee then sing songs and tell tales around
the campfire. Twain claims they travel 50 miles through the
Great American Desert in one day "without halting to eat, drink,
Chapters 26–28 or rest." The party also stops at the "Sink of Humboldt," an
alkali lake, but the water is too bitter to drink. Luckily, they find
a spring of fresh water, where they settle down for the night.
Summary
Chapter 28
Chapter 26
The party of four travels through a snowstorm to reach their
destination, Unionville, a town of 11 cabins surrounded by
Eventually, Mark Twain catches "silver fever" and believes that
looming mountains. They build a rough cabin with a canvas
prospecting will bring him the riches he desires. He lists
roof and steal firewood from Indians when they can; otherwise
numerous mines that have produced rich payouts of ore, such
they endure the cold. Twain writes, "I confess, without shame,
as the "Gould and Curry," the "Ophir," and many others. To
that I expected to find masses of silver lying all about the
Twain, it seems like everyone in the territory is quickly getting
ground." He eagerly imagines he'll be rich within a week or two.
rich from silver mines, and rags-to-riches stories abound. The
As soon as he can, he slips away from the cabin to look for
local newspapers report on the happenings at the mines, with
silver. The search is a "delirious revel" that brings Twain "the
two new mines particularly making headlines, "Esmeralda" and
nearest to unmarred ecstasy" he has ever experienced. When
"Humboldt." Twain includes an excerpt from the Daily
he finds a "bright fragment" on the ground, he is certain he's
Territorial Enterprise which describes Humboldt County as "the
struck it rich. He pockets the find and keeps looking, next

discovering "shining yellow scales" in a stream—surely a gold expectations and the delirious joy of searching for gold and
mine, Twain thinks. He spends an hour scooping up the flakes silver, Twain returns to the cabin with only worthless rocks. His
then returns home certain he is rich. Back at the cabin, he naiveté and inexperience show clearly here, especially when
keeps his find quiet for a while, asking Ballou's opinion on the compared with the miner Ballou. Ballou seems to be the voice
region's prospects for mining. Ballou, an experienced miner, of reason in the bunch, likely because he is both older and
isn't that impressed, saying they'll never get rich there. Twain more experienced at mining than his three young companions.
begins to hint that a rich deposit lies very nearby, and the men
press him for details excitedly. In triumph, he tosses his rock
specimen onto the table and the men scramble to examine it. Chapters 29–33
Ballou bursts Twain's bubble, though, and pronounces it
"nothing but a lot of granite rubbish and nasty glittering mica."
Crushed, Twain notes that "all that glitters is not gold," to which
Summary
Ballou retorts that "nothing that glitters is gold." Real mined
gold is dull in color, he explains.
Chapter 29
Analysis Mr. Ballou leads the mining expeditions, but the men find no
silver and their enthusiasm begins to wane. After much heavy
Young Twain seems to notice only the success stories when it
toil, they find one promising vein of quartz with flecks of silver
comes to mining, rarely mentioning the countless miners who
and gold in it. They post a claim notice and name the mine
tried and failed at the venture. His "silver fever" is whipped up
"Monarch of the Mountains." Ballou explains to his partners
even further by encouraging newspaper reports that seem
that the mine's riches may be hundreds of feet below the earth.
designed to lure prospectors to places like Humboldt. Twain
They will need to dig a shaft or tunnel to reach it, but they can
has nothing to lose by giving mining a shot, since he is mostly
only dig about five feet per day. Once they reach the rich
idle and doesn't earn a salary as his brother's assistant.
deposits, they'll have to dig, haul, and process the ore at a
Somehow, he always seems to find the money for new
distant silver mill. Twain laments, "Our fortune seemed a
ventures, though, such as chipping in on 1,800 pounds of
century away!" but nonetheless, they start work on digging a
provisions to stock the wagon. It is unclear where Twain picked
shaft. Picks and shovels are set aside for blasting powder as
up his traveling companions; they may be fellow residents at
the rock gets harder and harder, but the explosives hardly
his boarding house or even total strangers that he met in town.
make a dent in the stubborn rock. After a week and only twelve
There seems to be no shortage of men looking to join a mining
feet of progress, Mark Twain, Clagett, and Oliphant all quit,
venture, and they all seem equally eager and certain of their
deciding that a tunnel will be easier to dig. After week of
imminent wealth. Twain's expectations are particularly high and
digging the tunnel, they give that up, too, and stop work on the
unrealistic, and each story he hears makes his expectations
Monarch entirely. They stake new claims elsewhere, trading
(and greed) grow.
"feet" of their own mines for "feet" in other people's mines,
accumulating over 30,000 "feet" each. The men are sure
The party's trip across the desert is highly entertaining, as
they're going to get rich, but they have nothing to show for
Twain jokes about pushing the wagon and about Ballou's
their time and effort but worthless rocks. In truth, they are "in
ridiculous vocabulary. The trip also affords a peek at the simple
debt to the butcher" and have no credit at the grocer's either.
pleasures of Western life, especially in Twain's descriptions of
nights around the campfire. His claim of traveling nonstop for
50 miles in one day is certainly an exaggeration, though, given
Chapter 30
the difficulty of the terrain and the tired horses.
Miners all over town try to trade away "feet" of their mining
The men's new abode in Unionville is barely a shelter at all;
ventures for cash, producing specimens of gold-flecked rock
they are truly "roughing it" in the cold December weather of
as proof of the mine's worth. The miners have their claims
Humboldt County. Chapter 28 hints that mining is a fool's
assayed, or evaluated for worth, but they're a bit sneaky about
errand, and that Twain is the fool. Despite his sky-high

it. They tend to "hunt out the richest piece of rock" for shore. The men and horses make it ashore, but their saddles
evaluation, thus making the claim seems more valuable than it are lost, and they are all soaked. They return to the inn for the
really is. Twain and his partners decide that the real way to get night, acquire replacement saddles, and set out again the next
rich isn't through hard labor, but rather by selling their mines to morning despite a raging snowstorm. Visibility is terrible, but
others. Meanwhile, Twain, his brother, Mr. Ballou, and Ollendorff is certain he knows the way to Carson City, so the
Ollendorff return to Carson City to check in on their "feet" in men are happy enough to follow him. Soon they come upon
the Esmeralda mine. They stop for the night near the Carson fresh tracks which seem to indicate that they're on the right
River at a remote inn, which is crowded with dozens of wagon path. Cheered, they keep going, trying to catch up to
drivers, vagabonds, and others. Nearby, a group of Indians are whomever is before them. Strangely, though, the number of
packing up their camp in a hurry, believing that a flood will soon footprints ahead of them increases as the time passes. Finally,
be coming. This seems ridiculous to Twain and his Ballou realizes they have been going in circles for two hours,
companions, since the weather looks perfectly clear, so they following their own tracks, and he cusses Ollendorrf out. They
go to bed. As predicted, though, a huge flood begins to rise are back where they started, with the inn visible just across the
during the night, and the men fly about to rescue the horses river. The Overland stage passes by, though, so they decide to
and wagons. The mud-brick stable melts away in the deluge, follow its tracks. They can't keep up, though, and night falls
and soon the inn is surrounded by water as far as the eye can quickly around them as the wheel tracks are covered with
see. For eight days, Twain's party is stuck at the inn with the snow. After wandering aimlessly for a time, they become
boisterous crew of drinking, swearing, gambling strangers. worried and dismount to look for the trail.
Chapter 31 Chapter 32
Two of the men at the inn are quite annoying to Twain. One is a The party fears they are lost, so they decide to stop where
young Swede who constantly sings the same song and the they are to build a sagebrush fire for the night. They try
other is a belligerent drunk named "Arkansas" who always starting the fire with guns first, then by rubbing sticks
wants to fight. Arkansas tries to provoke everyone, though together—tricks from books they've read—but neither method
most refuse to take the bait. One morning, he tries to start a works. Meanwhile, Twain stops minding the horses and they
political argument with the landlord Johnson, who stammers wander off into the snow. Mr. Ballou finally finds a few
apologies and flatters Arkansas to avoid trouble. Johnson matches, but each one goes out as soon as it is lit. The men
offers a round of drinks to everyone and a toast to Arkansas, truly begin to lose heart, and "a sad-voiced conversation
who is mollified for the moment, but the peace doesn't last began" in which they all admit they expect to die that night.
long. The irrational Arkansas picks another fight with Johnson, Ollendorff apologizes profusely for his part in their misfortune,
this time because the landlord is reminiscing about his father and he begins to cry. Soon they are all crying and making
rather than talking about the people who are present. "Ain't this amends with one another. Ollendorff then swears off whiskey,
company agreeable to you? Ain't it?" he demands, asking if the wishing he could live longer "not for any selfish reason, but to
landlord is trying to get rid of them all. Arkansas draws his gun, make a thorough reform in his character." He would help the
shouting that Johnson plans to murder him, and he begins to poor and sick! He would preach against alcohol and be a role
shoot. As the men scramble to escape, Johnson's wife model for youths! He throws his bottle away after this speech,
appears, brandishing a pair of scissors. Arkansas balks, and the other men all follow suit with their own vices. Ballou
backing away from her as she gives him a thorough scolding throws away his playing cards and Twain tosses out his pipe,
until he is quite humiliated. The room bursts into applause, and finally feeling "free of a hated vice." Each man is completely
after that, Arkansas keeps to himself around the inn. sincere, for they are facing death and have no hope of living
until morning. The men huddle together in tears, awaiting icy
By the eighth day, the water has receded some, and Twain's death and saying their goodbyes, until at last they lose
party can't bear staying at the inn any longer. They set out consciousness.
during a snowstorm to cross the swollen river by canoe, the
horses following behind. The dangerously swift water frightens
Ollendorff, who upsets the boat as they near the opposite

characters of the West, especially the "ruffian" Arkansas.

Chapter 33
Twain's records of his interactions with other guests at the inn
Miraculously, Twain awakens at dawn to Mr. Ballou's voice, show Arkansas's deft ability to turn any conversation into an
who asks bitterly, "Will some gentleman be so good as to kick argument. He is a classic desperado, spoiling for a fight and
me behind?" Twain sits up and sees the stagecoach station ready to do anything to get it. Poor Johnson, on the other hand,
very close by, where the still-saddled horses have taken seems like an average Joe who is simply trying to make a living
shelter in a shed. The men, embarrassed and angry, unsaddle and enjoy himself with his guests. He does everything he
the horses and take shelter themselves. After breakfast, they possibly can to pacify Arkansas, tactfully avoiding a fight at
begin to feel better, but Twain gets fidgety when he realizes he first. However, the outlaw is determined to escalate the
wants to smoke his abandoned pipe. He sneaks away to find it, situation no matter what the landlord does or says. The
guiltily recalling his vows of the previous night to reform his unexpected twist to the story is the landlord's wife, who
ways, but can't resist the urge to smoke. He sneaks behind the fearlessly shouts down the trigger-happy bully with nothing but
barn to light his pipe and there discovers Ollendorff drinking a pair of scissors. Twain is partly making fun of Arkansas's
his whiskey and Ballou playing with his cards. They agree to "tough guy" image in this scene and partly showing the
speak no more of what has happened. At last they make their toughness of women in the West. Despite Arkansas's bravado
way to Carson City, where they stay for a week before heading and weaponry, his spirit is broken by words alone, and the
to Esmeralda. words of a housewife, at that. His humiliation is complete.
Twain and his companions make more poor choices when they
decide to leave the inn. Because the river is still quite swollen
Analysis with floodwaters, Ollendorff panics and they lose their saddles
and get soaked to the bone. This isn't warning enough to delay
Mark Twain's youthful, naïve enthusiasm takes another hit as
their departure, though, and they set out into the barren desert
he begins to understand just how much work it takes to "get
in the middle of a December snowstorm. Their foolish trust in
rich quick." He begins with unrealistic expectations of how
Ollendorff leads them in circles, a truly ridiculous circumstance
easy it will be to find silver, imagining it will simply litter the
that would likely be funny to them if conditions weren't so
ground. When it becomes clear that they'll have to dig for it, he
miserable. Twain and his companions are possibly the worst
doesn't seem to understand the enormity of the task ahead of
survivalists ever. They lose their horses, have no clue where
them. Throughout the story, he has hinted at his own lazy
they are, and can't even get a fire going to save their own lives.
streak when it comes to physical labor. Now his lack of stamina
The scene in which they prepare to die is both sobering and
is proven when it's time to start actual digging. He is impatient
hilarious. Obviously, at least Twain would have to survive, or
to be rich with as little effort as possible, and the idea of having
the book would never have been written. Even so, his sorrow
to put in the time and expense to mine, haul, and process the
and regret are poignant and sincere; the reader can feel how
ore frustrates him greatly. His two lawyer companions are no
truly he believed he was going to die. The "dying" men
better at sticking to the plans to dig. Only older, experienced
stereotypically repent at the end, swearing to give up their
Mr. Ballou understands the reality of mining and the amount of
awful ways and become model citizens if only they could live.
work it requires to make a living at it. The young miners then
Their own hypocrisy is revealed in less than a day, for the very
turn to speculating with their shares of the mines, again hoping
next morning they give up their vows. Here again, Twain shows
to strike it rich without actually putting in any work. Twain
that he is only human. He makes mistakes, but he is not afraid
admits, though, that they are penniless and can't even afford to
to show his flaws to the reader truthfully—if exaggerated at
buy food. Twain excuses his foolish choices by pointing out
times for humorous effect.
that everyone else in town is doing the same thing.
The description of the flood at the inn creates excitement. It

also hints at the mystifying knowledge the Indians seem to Chapters 34–37
have of nature—how they knew a flood was coming is a
complete mystery to Twain. The men's forced stay at the inn
also offers Twain the opportunity to profile a few colorful

Summary Chapter 35
At last, Mark Twain and his companions depart for Esmeralda,
Chapter 34 along with Captain John Nye, the governor's brother. Nye gabs
incessantly on the 120-mile route, and he seems to know how
Twain relates how landslides occur as snow melts from the to do everything from sewing to mending a broken leg.
mountains in the spring around Carson City. A bizarre landslide Moreover, he has a knack for solving tricky problems for
nearby pits neighbor against neighbor in the case of Hyde vs. everyone around him and seems to have personal connections
Morgan, two ranchers in the Washoe valley. Dick Hyde's ranch wherever he goes. Twain offers an example, telling of their
lies just below Tom Morgan's, and a landslide pushes Morgan's arrival at an inn that has no beds available and no food to spare
property down the slope, where it buries Hyde's ranch nearly for man or horse. When the party is told to move along, Nye
40 feet deep. Hyde maintains that Morgan is trespassing on dismounts and breezes into the house anyway, where he chats
his own now-buried property, but Morgan's home remains up the people there. In almost no time, he discovers several old
intact, and he refuses to leave. Hyde hires General Buncombe acquaintances, a connection to the landlord's mother, and
to represent him in court. Buncombe is the new United States recognizes the landlord's wife as "a lady whose life he had
Attorney for Nevada, an Easterner eager to prove himself saved once in California, by stopping her runaway horse." He
locally. Buncombe is amazed, saying that Morgan has no case, solves multiple problems around the inn, as well. In the end,
but Hyde points out that everyone in town is taking Morgan's beds are found for the travelers, as well as a delicious dinner
side. The snobbish locals are delighted at the chance to play a and food for the horses.
practical joke on the newly arrived attorney.
The party finally arrives at Esmeralda and they discover that
The case opens that afternoon under the judgment of the ex- their claims are totally worthless. Although they've been paying
Governor, Roop. He is so serious in demeanor that his fellow "assessments" to keep the claims up and running, the board
pranksters wonder whether he really understands the trial is a members in charge of the operation have been pocketing the
joke. Roop, his sheriffs, witnesses to the case, and onlookers money instead. Twain and his companions then stake
all play their parts to maintain the ruse, with the witnesses all numerous other claims around the area and try to sell them off
offering testimony in favor of Hyde. Morgan's lawyers offer a at a profit. They have no buyers, though, and Twain can no
weak case at best, and then it is Buncombe's turn to make his longer feed himself as his money dries up. At last he throws in
argument. "With exultation in his face," Buncombe pleads the towel on mining and finds work as "a common laborer in a
Hyde's case passionately, haranguing the crowd and pulling quartz mill, at ten dollars a week and board."
out all the stops in his rhetoric. He quotes poetry and history,
uses sarcasm and calls for sympathy, and ends "with a grand
war whoop for free speech, freedom of the press, free schools,
Chapter 36
the Glorious bird of America, and the principles of eternal
Twain finds working at the quartz mill to be "dreary and
justice!" Buncombe is confident he has won, but Roop shocks
laborious." He describes the mechanical process of extracting
him by finding for Morgan instead of Hyde. Although Roop
silver from ore, which involves various machines, chemicals
admits that the evidence favors Hyde, he calls the landslide an
such as quicksilver, water, pans, wire screens, and troughs. It is
act of God and says they should not "meddle with the decrees
muddy, exhausting work that yields only small amounts of
of Heaven." Buncombe tries to convince Roop to reverse his
silver, which are poured into solid bricks of varying purity. The
decision, but Roop will only concede that Hyde has the right to
bricks are tested by "fire assay" to determine the amount of
dig out his property from beneath Morgan's. Buncombe gives
gold, silver, and other metals in each one. In this process, a
up, and it takes him two months to figure out he's been played
small flake of the metal is weighed and melted down to obtain
for a fool.
pure gold and silver, which is then reweighed and remelted to
obtain gold only. (The silver dissolves and is recovered in a
separate step of the process.) Twain notes that many miners
have the most valuable specimen tested to make the worth of
their mine seem greater. They then sell the "utterly worthless

mine" based on the misleading assay results. Twain also points

out that some assayers are "not strictly scientific and capable,"
Analysis
and sometimes make a lot of money by producing false results.
Chapter 34 demonstrates once again the local Westerners'
One such charlatan was exposed when his rival assayers
disdain for those who have arrived from the East. The
secretly sent a sample of "a carpenter's grindstone" for him to
elaborate practical joke of the Hyde vs. Morgan case is meant
analyze. After he claimed the stone was rich with silver and
purely to put the pompous General Buncombe in his place.
gold, his deceit was published in the local paper, and the man
Only a newcomer to the region could believe such a ridiculous
quickly left town. Twain gets himself fired after just a week at
story, but Buncombe falls for it hook, line, and sinker. Twain
the quartz mill when he demands a raise from $10 to $400 per
seems to consider himself a local at this point, as he too makes
month.
fun of Buncombe. Twain brings the reader in on the joke right
away, creating a feeling of humorous conspiracy in which only
Chapter 37 Buncombe is outside the loop. Twain especially satirizes the

lawyer's language, a prominent theme in the book. Buncombe's
Twain hears about "the marvelous Whiteman cement mine," a argument in court is stuffed with bombastic rhetoric that has
supposedly rich gold mine rumored to be near Mono Lake. Its nothing to do with the case itself, such as calling on "free
owner, Whiteman, keeps a low profile when he passes through speech" and blind patriotism to sway the jury. The judge calls
Esmeralda on the way to his mine. Nonetheless, hordes of on the one authority that Buncombe can't dispute with mere
miners try to follow him to discover the mine's secret location. words: God. Twain may be making a satirical jab here at
Twain then tells the legend of this mine, explaining how three religious believers who adhere to the Bible even when it seems
German brothers had discovered it 20 years ago while lost in ludicrous as applied to real life.
the desert. They made a map of the area and then continued
In Chapter 35, Captain John Nye is the type of larger-than-life
onward to California, seeking to avoid death through
character Twain loves to profile to entertain his reader. The
starvation. Two brothers died along the way, but the third
description of Nye is almost certainly exaggerated, though
reached safety, although he was exhausted and "deranged by
perhaps not quite reaching tall tale proportions—no one man
his sufferings." Nothing could convince him to lead a party
could achieve all the feats Twain ascribes to Nye in a single
back to the region, and instead he gave the map to Whiteman.
evening. Nye seems to have the magic touch at all he does,
Twain notes that Whiteman had been looking for the mine for a and his friendly persuasiveness suggests the moral that honey
dozen years, but no one knew if he had ever found it. However, catches more flies than vinegar.
Twain's new partner Higbie and his friend Van Dorn claim that
Twain's stint in Esmeralda shows just how far the mighty have
Whiteman has invited them along on his next expedition. One
fallen. Despite his delusions that he'll find riches and grandeur
evening, Higbie spots Whiteman, so the men quietly prepare to
in the mining enterprises, Twain is forced to get an actual job
leave town to meet him at Mono Lake. They load down a horse
to feed himself. His informative descriptions in Chapter 36 of
with provisions and set out, traveling in silence so as not to
the dirty and dangerous process of extracting silver from ore
alert the townsfolk. Twain, who is leading the overloaded
have no romantic overtones whatsoever. There is no way for
horse, brings up the rear and begins to fall behind as the
Twain to idealize such grueling, fruitless work, and he loses no
reluctant packhorse balks. When he prods the packhorse into
time in getting himself fired from the loathsome toil. This
a trot, it drags him off his own horse and both he and the cargo
incident exposes Twain's work ethic once again, which seems
clatter to the ground. Several miners nearby hear the ruckus
to be pretty low when it comes to manual labor. He doesn't
and investigate, and although Twain escapes undetected, the
seem to be cut out for such work, as he quits every venture
damage has been done. The next morning, a crowd of miners
that requires too much physical effort.
swarms Mono Lake, hoping to pick up Whiteman's trail. Twain
and his party know their venture is hopeless now, so they In the Chapter 37 story of Whiteman's "cement mine," the word
decide "to make the best of our misfortune and enjoy a week's "cement" is used to mean a specific type of rock, rather than
holiday on the borders of the curious lake," sometimes called cement as it is known today. Twain's attempt to cash in on
the "Dead Sea of California." Whiteman's mine is one more example of his failed financial
ventures in the West.

(Twain manages to avoid rowing by claiming that he can't leave

Chapters 38–41 the steering oar during the storm, lest the boat should
capsize.) The boat flips over just as they reach the mainland,
and though the water burns, it does no lasting harm to them.
Summary Later that week, they go on a fishing trip in the Sierras and
then return to Esmeralda, where Mr. Ballou departs alone for
Humboldt.
Chapter 38
Twain then tells of an accidental explosion that happens when
Mono Lake, surrounded by desert, is the huge crater of a a neighbor hides gunpowder in an unused oven. A "half-tamed
dormant volcano that has filled with water. It has two barren Indian" who is hired to do the washing lights a fire in the oven,
islands in its center. The landscape is appropriately bleak, and it explodes, destroying part of the roof of the shed nearby.
scorched, and covered with ash. Twain observes that its alkali The unfazed Indian merely remarks, "Mph! Dam stove heap
water is great for doing laundry and washing hair, as it is gone!" Twain explains that "heap" means "very much" in "Injun-
"nearly pure lye" and lathers up well. Otherwise, the water is English."
dangerously caustic and completely lifeless, with no fish or
other creatures except for one species of small, white worm.
Twain claims that once, after their camp dog jumped into the
Chapter 40
lake, it was in such pain that it turned somersaults backward
Twain next tells of "the most curious" episode he had yet
and forward in its madness. The dog then ran off at an
experienced during his "slothful, valueless, heedless career."
estimated 250 miles an hour and was never seen again. Twain
The "Wide West" mine suddenly begins producing rich ore, and
jokes that the lake water is sometimes drunk by the Indians,
crowds of townsfolk visit the mine to scoop up specimens of
which "is not improbable for they are among the purest liars I
rock, including Higbie. The mine's stock skyrockets in value,
ever saw." (This joke, he tells the reader, is supplied at "no
and the management puts a stop to the specimen gathering.
additional charge," though a charge may be applied if he has to
Twain sinks into depression, for it pains him to hear of others'
explain it.) Sea gulls migrate from the Pacific coast to the
good fortune while he has no money to his name. Meanwhile,
islands to lay eggs. Twain finds this amusingly convenient,
Higbie, declares that the rock specimen he had gathered was
since there is a spring of boiling water on the largest island for
"not Wide West rock," or at least, not the rock the Wide West
cooking the eggs. The climate of Mono Lake is often winter-
has produced in the past. He decides to sneak into the
like due to the high altitude, and it snows every month of the
mineshaft to examine the rock more closely. There, he
year, even during hot summers.
discovers that the new strike of ore is indeed coming from a
different vein that cuts across the Wide West shaft. "I knew it!"
Chapter 39 he informs Twain with glee, "We are rich! It's a BLIND LEAD!"
Such an unclaimed vein was, by law at the time, up for grabs to
Higbie and Twain decide to take out a rented boat and explore anyone.
the islands of Mono Lake, twelve miles out, with Higbie rowing.
Twain and Higbie recruit a third man, the Wide West foreman,
By the time they reach the big island, the sun has spoiled the
into their scheme to claim and take possession of the new vein.
water in their canteens. They scour the ash-laden island for a
He agrees eagerly, and they each claim quickly 200 feet and
spring but find only jets of steam escaping the earth and one
register their claims. Immediately, they begin daydreaming of
lone pine tree. When the wind picks up, they remember that
wealth, fancy homes in San Francisco, trips around the world,
they haven't tied the boat securely so they hurry back to find it.
and other luxuries. The news spreads fast the next day, and
Alas, the boat is drifting offshore; they are now stuck on the
people offer to buy the shares for exorbitant amounts of
island since the water is too caustic to swim across. After an
money, but the men won't sell. Twain then informs the reader
hour, the boat drifts near the shore and they manage to catch
that in order to maintain their claims, the three men must "do a
it. By then, a late-afternoon storm is brewing and they debate
fair and reasonable amount of work" on the property within 10
whether they should risk returning to the mainland. Their thirst
days. They are to start work the next day, but Twain is called
drives them to try, and the waves soak them as Higbie rows.

away to attend on Captain Nye, who is dangerously ill. He Indians are "liars" in Twain's view, they must be washing their
leaves a note for Higbie at their cabin and departs to Nye's own mouths out with soap—a classic punishment for telling
ranch. lies.) Twain's bias against Indians shows clearly here once
more.
Chapter 41 Yet another life-threatening disaster happens in Chapter 39

because of carelessness when Twain and Higbie row to the
Nye is indeed quite ill, and in his worst moments, he rants and islands in the lake. While it is not their fault the canteen water
raves like a madman. Twain is too happy thinking about his spoils, they are certainly to blame for not tying up the boat,
newfound wealth to mind. He endures the caretaking patiently which then drifts away. Twain's avoidance of physical labor is
while dreaming of exotic vacations and servants for his soon- noticeable here again as he horns Higbie into doing all the
to-be home. On the ninth day, though, Nye tries to shoot him rowing. Twain doesn't say much about Mr. Ballou's departure,
during an intense fit of pain, so Twain decides to return to but the reader might reasonably conjecture that the older
Esmeralda. He arrives on the outskirts of town at a quarter to miner is tired of dealing with his heedless, unproductive
midnight and notices a crowd gathered at the Wide West partners. The anecdote about the exploding oven touches on
operation, but decides to keep heading toward home rather Twain's interest in language again when he mocks the Indian
than investigate. There, he finds Higbie "gazing stupidly at my for his imperfect English. Words such as "heap" were a part of
note" and "looking pale, old, and haggard." American-Indian pidgin. This informal language developed over
time as a bridge between Indians and English speakers. It is
Higbie announces that they are ruined—they haven't done the unclear whether the words originated with the Indians, or
work on the claims, and now the land has been claimed by whether the tribes adopted them from white settlers. At any
others. Each of the three partners had depended on the others rate, this manner of speech became stereotypically associated
to do the work, but none of them had. Higbie had been called with Indians through books, movies, and other portrayals (such
away to meet Whiteman in an unsuccessful search for the as Twain's). The term "Injun" is considered an ethnic slur today
cement mine; he had left a similar note for Twain. The foreman, by many, and it seems to have been used as such by Twain as
meanwhile, had been called away to California. The crowd well.
Twain had seen by the mine was waiting to pounce on the
claims, and so they did. A crew of fourteen armed men laid The men's blind lead fiasco in Chapters 40 and 41 showcases
claim to the vein, and the foreman managed to join in on their Twain's dream of getting rich quick without any effort. While
claim at the last minute. Later, the new vein and the Wide West Twain has characterized himself throughout the book as lazy,
are consolidated, and the foreman sells his shares for $90,000 this time he and his partners seem willing to do the work.
rather than face possible litigation. Twain bitterly regrets that Unfortunately, circumstance intervenes for each of the three
they had not worked "one little day on our property and so partners, an unlikely occurrence that ruins their fortunes. If
secured our ownership." Still, he notes that at least he was a anyone is to blame, it may be Higbie, who doesn't have to go
bonafide millionaire for ten days. off chasing Whiteman's pipedream "cement mine." Rather than
protect what he already has, Higbie greedily seeks even more.
Whether he is driven by greed or simply the desire to solve the
Analysis Whiteman mystery, it is a poor decision that costs them all. On
the other hand, it was Higbie's discovery of the blind lead that
In Chapter 38, Twain shifts into travel writer mode to offer brought fortune to the partners in the first place. Without
detailed descriptions of the exotic Mono Lake. The hazardous, Higbie, they would have neither gained nor lost a fortune. Easy
bizarre lake may seem like a fictional place, but in this case, come, easy go ... and back to the drawing board for Twain.
Twain is hardly exaggerating the strangeness of the locale.
The features and characteristics he describes are accurate,
with his usual exaggerations being reserved for personal Chapters 42–46
anecdotes of their visit. The dog's speed is inflated to 250 mph
to make the reader laugh, and Twain also attempts humor with
his "joke" about Indians drinking the soapy water. (Because the

ups' at the quartz mills, and inquests." Twain's biggest rival in

Summary reporting is Boggs, a Union reporter with a tendency to
drunkenness. Boggs has an advantage over Twain because he
has access to the monthly public school report while Twain
Chapter 42 does not. Twain bribes Boggs with the promise of a drink if
Boggs will let him copy the report, and Boggs agrees. Boggs
At a loss for what to do next with his life, Mark Twain tells the
gets so drunk on the boozy punch while Twain copies the
reader how he had to strike out on his own at age 13 after his
report that he doesn't make it back to his own office. Thus, the
father's death. He had tried (and mostly been fired from) a
report doesn't make it into the Union and is instead published
series of jobs, including grocery clerk, blacksmith, printer, and
in the Enterprise (Twain's paper), for which "Boggs held me
riverboat pilot on the Mississippi. Now he longs to return to the
accountable." Twain thinks all is well between them, but Boggs
riverboat life, feeling so ashamed of his recent failure he is sure
pays Twain back when they both go to investigate and report
he'll never return home "to be pitied—and snubbed." He
on the "Genessee" mine one day. Boggs lowers Twain down
decides to give mining another try with Higbie, but gives up
into the mineshaft by rope so he can gather rock specimens.
almost immediately after dumping rock down his own back
He then leaves Twain stuck down there while he goes to fetch
with a shovel. He returns to the cabin, where he finds a letter
the school report. (Twain is rescued after an hour by passing
inviting him to become city editor on the Daily Territorial
workmen.) Writes Twain, "We had no school report next
Enterprise, a newspaper in Virginia City. Though he feels the
morning; but the Union had."
weight of his previous failures and questions his own fitness
for the job, he can't pass up the salary of $25 per week. Twain then relates the "flush times" that begin in the region,
which furnishes ample content for his newspaper. Virginia City
He goes to Virginia City and begins the job, finding that he
bustles with mining operations, various businesses,
must trade his rustic style of dress for "a more Christian
entertainment, parades and political rallies, violence, whiskey
costume" in the city. The owner, Mr. Goodman, instructs him to
and breweries, jails and policemen, and a large number of
"get the absolute facts" when investigating the news. He is not
government officials. Mining still drives the local economy in
to use phrases such as "It is rumored" or "We understand" in
many ways, and it is a nonstop operation that employs huge
reporting, for these show an uncertainty which may undermine
numbers of citizens. Sometimes Twain feels the mining blasts
the readers' confidence. Twain admits, though, that in his early
shake the ground in the center of town, for the tunnels of the
days of reporting, he often embellished the facts when there
"Comstock" are located directly below. Twain also describes
wasn't much news to write about. He wanders about town
how the city is laid out on a steep slope and its atmosphere is
trying to scare up stories, writing about the hay wagon trade
thin due to the mountainous elevation.
and turning the sole hay wagon about into sixteen for
publication. News is so scarce he's even glad when a
desperado murders a man so he finally has something to write
Chapter 44
about. Then he writes about emigrant wagons that have
passed through Indian country, making up a story of an attack Twain gets a raise to $40 per week, though he rarely draws his
and murders that never happened. Satisfied with his work, salary. Instead, he lives on gifts (bribes) of money and mine
Twain comments, "I felt that I had found my legitimate stocks ("feet") from people who want to influence his reporting.
occupation at last." Everyone is caught up in the mining frenzy, trading stock "with
a feverish avidity" and expecting to get rich at any moment.
Twain pities these miners, for their incessant labor and hopes
Chapter 43 will likely come to nothing. With each new claim, Twain is
offered "feet" to publish favorable news of the mine. He obliges
Twain makes inroads in the publishing profession and develops
with vague reports of the mines' tunnels, machinery, and
relationships with colleagues on other newspapers. They
management, never mentioning the main point of interest: the
exchange "regulars," or common sources of readily available
ore's possible value. Twain regularly sells stock to raise cash,
news, in order to cut down the reporting work for everyone.
selling when its value reaches a thousand dollars a foot. Offers
These news sources include "courts, bullion returns, 'clean-
of gifted stock, though, don't last long and must be accepted

right away. Twain tells of several residents who miss out on a stories abound. One such is John Smith, a former hay farmer
great deal of money because they don't accept stock quickly who strikes it rich. Smith travels about Europe, where he
enough, including himself. For example, Twain is offered a gift admires England's hogs, Spain's sheep, and the cattle of Rome.
of stock worth 10 dollars a foot, but he neglects to pick up the Twain offers several stories in which mine owners sell or trade
stock in a timely manner. The offer is then withdrawn when the their shares just before the mine hits a rich lode, including the
stock suddenly increases to $150 in value. Gould & Curry mine and the Ophir Company. In another case, a
telegraph operator in Virginia City gets rich using insider
Twain also describes how claims are staked anywhere and information; he buys and sells stocks according to the reports
everywhere, including in the middle of public streets, in he reads on the telegrams. Other scams are related, "But why
exposed rock in cellars, and other ridiculous places. Many of go on?" says Twain; there are too many stories to tell. Most of
these claims are never meant to be mined; they are established the rich nabobs lose their money and return to "poverty and
solely to sell stock as a moneymaker. Miners might also "salt" obscurity" again. Twain offers one last story of Colonel Jim and
their claims with rich, imported ore to make their mines seem Colonel Jack, two Nevada nabobs who go on an adventure in
valuable when they are actually worthless. In one case, the New York. The unsophisticated Jack tries to hires a public city
owner of the "North Ophir" even melts down silver coins into bus for the day, thinking it is a grand private carriage. As the
lumps to make his mine appear valuable, though the ruse is driver stops for other passengers, Jack graciously welcomes
discovered and the mine's worth plummets. them aboard and insists they keep their money. Soon, the
confused passengers understand what's going on, and they
watch the proceedings with quiet amusement. Jack declares
Chapter 45 New Yorkers to be incredibly friendly, and as the bus fills up,
people begin to chuckle. As Jack and Jim exit the bus, Jack
The "flush times" continue in Virginia City. Twain tells of the
invites the driver to stop by his hotel later if further payment is
humble beginnings and success of the Territorial Enterprise,
required.
founded by Mr. Goodman, his boss. The "Gould & Curry" mining
company is building an expensive new mill, and everywhere,
"Money was wonderfully plenty." The United States Sanitary
Commission ("the sanitary fund") begins soliciting donations
Analysis
"for the relief of the wounded sailors and soldiers of the Union,"
For the first time, the reader learns something of Twain's past
and people are wild to contribute. Around the same time, a man
in Chapter 42, and it helps to illuminate his character. He has
in Austin named Reuel Gridley auctions off a 50-pound sack of
had to fend for himself since age 13, and has never had any
flour to benefit to the sanitary fund. The winner of the auction
money to spare. Knowing this, his constant hustling and quest
redonates the flour, and it is sold again to another bidder for
for riches are more understandable. Twain's reluctance to
charity. This continues until the sack has been sold to 300
return home may in part be because his father was a failure in
people, raising $8,000 ... and Gridley still has the "Sanitary
business when he died, and Twain doesn't want to be judged in
Flour Sack" in his possession. When the Virginia City residents
the same way. The job offer from the Enterprise is a godsend
hear of this, they invite Gridley to auction the flour in their city,
when Twain needs it most. The job provides a steady income
as well. So begins a three-month fundraising tour, with stops in
at a profession that actually uses his talents, unlike mining, for
Gold Hill, Silver City, Dayton, Carson City, San Francisco, St.
which he is ill-suited. (He has neither the physical stamina for
Louis, and many other locations. Each city tries to outdo the
the work nor the patience for the time it requires to make a
others in generosity, with telegrams spreading the news and
profit.)
upping the level of excitement from city to city. In total,
$150,000 is raised, making the flour worth $3,000 a pound. As Twain takes up the editor job, the theme of language comes
to the forefront again. His boss has definite beliefs about the
sort of language that should be used in reporting—strictly
Chapter 46 factual—yet Twain deviates from the facts without hesitation
as needed. He doesn't seem to consider his exaggerations or
Next Twain profiles "nabobs," suddenly rich miners who are
fabrications as lies. Instead, he creates something to write
often of a working-class background. These rags-to-riches
about, which is what he's being paid to do, in his mind.

Ironically, Twain's journalistic lies are rewarded with a raise. His you can't take the country out of the boy. When Smith travels
competition with rival Boggs seems more good-natured than to Europe, it isn't the museums or cathedrals or monuments he
not, with each enjoying besting the other and printing the news takes note of, but rather the livestock.
first. Twain tells of his own triumphs but also of how he is
tricked by Boggs, proving that he can take a joke as well as
anyone. Chapters 47–51
The "flush times," an era of general prosperity and easy wealth,
are a high point in Twain's experience in a Western mining
community. Virginia City sounds just as exciting as any
Summary
metropolis back East, and perhaps even more so, with the
chance of instant riches always just within reach. The people
are generous with their cash, as demonstrated in the Chapter 47
heartwarming story of the Sanitary Flour Sack's extraordinary
Funerals, writes Mark Twain, tell a lot about a community, and
charity tour. Civic pride is shown there, too, with cities
the most noteworthy funerals in Virginia City are for "the
competing to top each other in the amount of funds raised.
distinguished public benefactor or the distinguished rough." As
Despite these and other positive indicators of civilized life,
an example, he describes the funeral of Buck Fanshaw, a
though, Virginia City is still somewhat wild and unregulated.
respected saloon owner, politician, miner, and fire department
Miners are allowed to blast underneath busy city streets, and
officer. The entire town goes into mourning, and various
absurd claims (such as mines located in cellars) are never
townspeople resolve to make a grand funeral for him. Local
questioned. Bribery seems rampant, with untold numbers of
rough "Scotty" Briggs is appointed to meet with the minister, "a
people buttering Twain up by offering him complimentary
fragile, gentle, spiritual new fledgling from an Eastern
shares of stock. (Twain's attitude to mining has changed
theological seminary." Meanwhile, Twain explains to the reader
greatly by now, though, as he pities the eager miners he was
how "slang was the language of Nevada," since everyone who
once exactly like.) Corruption and deceit are not uncommon,
has moved there has brought their own regional slang with
such as with the North Ophir owner who "salts" his mine with
them. This diversity of language presents a problem for Briggs
melted-down silver coins.
and the minister, neither of whom can understand what the
Bad timing and ill luck continue to plague Twain when it comes other is saying. Briggs's speech is peppered with local idioms
to wealth, and Virginia City is no different in this regard. and phrases from cardplaying or bowling, while the minister's
Though he is rolling in pocket money and shares of (mostly language consists of large vocabulary words and formal
worthless) mines, he misses out on a few golden opportunities grammar. At last the clergyman understands that Briggs wants
that could have made him rich. As has happened before, it is him to write an oratory for the funeral. Briggs sings Fanshaw's
usually Twain's own neglect that causes him to miss these praises, such as being good in a fight, holding his whiskey well,
opportunities. He delays accepting mining stocks that then and having a glass eye. The minister asks whether Fanshaw
become valuable, thus missing out on potential windfalls. Twain had any religious beliefs or was "a good man." Briggs tells how
seems to take some consolation (or perhaps amusement) in he quelled a riot the previous year by beating up 14 men, saying
the fact that he's not alone in this predicament, pointing out "He was always for peace, and he would have peace." Fanshaw
others who have lost fortunes within their grasp. He also took good care of his mother, Briggs adds, buying her a house
makes fun of those people who do strike it rich with his and looking after her when she had the smallpox. The minister
"nabob" stories. Each anecdote makes the nabob either look agrees to deliver the sermon at Fanshaw's funeral (complete
like a crooked cheat (such as the telegraph operator who gets with a grand military parade), and he does so. In the end,
rich through insider trading information) or an ignorant rube Briggs is converted to religion and even teaches Sunday
(such as country bumpkin Colonel Jack, who has never been to school. Twain notes that he once heard Briggs tell the story of
a big city). Twain's stories taste a bit of sour grapes here—if he Joseph to his pupils, and jokes that the reader must imagine
can't get rich quick, he'll make fun of those who do—but they for himself what such a retelling was like.
are still entertaining. John Smith's story, for example, proves
the old adage that you can take the boy out of the country, but

gotten drunk in a "hurdy-gurdy house" (music hall), where

Chapter 48
Williams then robbed him at gunpoint of $70. Twain notes that
Killing a person is a badge of honor in Virginia City, where "the Williams, although an officer the law, had "the common
first twenty-six graves in the Virginia cemetery were occupied reputation of being a burglar, a highwayman, and a desperado"
by murdered men." Twain writes that the men are all eager to who had several times robbed citizens. Five months after that,
gain respect by killing someone, and they may kill on the Williams was assassinated while playing cards by one of his
slightest pretext. (The most respected members of society are fellow desperadoes, Joe McGee. McGee was, in turn,
saloonkeepers, followed by bankers, lawyers, editors, and murdered within a year. A third newspaper report tells how
successful desperadoes and gamblers.) Desperadoes are Tom Reeder is badly injured during an argument with George
more respected the more men they kill, and people treat them Gumbert about Williams's assassination. Gumbert stabs him
with great deference—even like royalty. Twain names many and then turns himself in to the police. Justice Atwell releases
well-known desperadoes, who are more famous locally than him "on his own recognizance" and orders him to appear in
the governor or prominent businessmen. Twain points out that court that night. Meanwhile, Reeder gets his wounds treated
these criminals mostly kill each other, rather than private and then hunts Gumbert down and threatens to kill him. When
citizens, since it's no challenge to kill a civilian. They also hope they part, Gumbert procures a gun and goes after Reeder,
to die in a gunfight themselves, "with their boots on." Twain finds him in the street, and shoots him twice. Onlookers were
relates how, one time at a restaurant, a stranger is challenged "much excited and laughing—declaring that it looked like the
to a duel for sitting on a man's hat. The stranger offers to let 'good old times of '60.'" Gumbert is marched off to jail again
his challenger off the hook, for "I am more than a match for all (but is never charged with a crime), while Reeder dies two days
of you," he boasts. To prove his skills, he then picks up a table later of his wounds. Twain laments that justice is lacking in
with his teeth, bites through a glass, and shows off his knife- Nevada, where at least a hundred men have been murdered
and bullet-scarred chest. Then he gives his name—and he is a but only two murderers have gotten the death penalty. In
famous desperado. The challenger promptly backs down, and addition, a handful of murderers "who had no money and no
in fact, invites him to dinner. political influence" went to jail, though none for longer than
eight months.
Twain also harangues the local justice system, maintaining that
trial by jury does not work like it was intended to originally.
When such trials were instituted by Alfred the Great of Chapter 50
England, honest and educated jurors could be easily found
who had not heard of the case. Now, contends Twain, the fast Twain digresses into a story from 20 years prior about Captain
spread of news by telegraph and newspapers ensures that Ned Blakely (a fictitious name the author uses to protect his
most educated, respectable citizens already know about the identity). Blakely, who captained ships out of San Francisco,
cases. This eliminates them from the jury pool, leaving "juries was an honest, admirable, and hardheaded man who hated the
composed of fools and rascals." Twain concludes that the red tape of business and law. To him, "the first and last aim and
system now promotes ignorance and stupidity while excluding object of the law and lawyers was to defeat justice." On a
"men of brains and honesty," and it's no wonder justice is voyage to the Chincha Islands (Peru), Blakely hears of a local
sometimes miscarried. ruffian Bill Noakes who terrorizes the island. Noakes pays a
visit to Blakely's ship and challenges him to find out who is the
"better man," so the Captain promptly beats him up and throws
Chapter 49 him into the water. About a week later, Noakes shoots
Blakely's crewman, a "Negro" man Blakely holds very dear.
Twain offers excerpts from several local newspapers to give Noakes retreats to his ship to avoid any consequences for the
readers a glimpse into the lives of Virginia City desperadoes. crime, but Blakely is furious and decides to take justice into his
The first excerpt relates the inquest of Billy Brown, who had own hands. He kidnaps Noakes from his own ship at gunpoint
started shooting in a saloon while drunk and spoiling for a fight. and prepares to hang him at the harbor in the morning. He is
Brown was shot dead by Deputy Marshal Jack Williams, who stopped, however, by local sea captains, who convince Blakely
also appears in the next newspaper story Twain shares from that a trial is needed, even though many of them witnessed
four months later. A German named Charles Hurtzal had

Noakes's crime themselves. Blakely reluctantly agrees and begin throwing heavy gear overboard, including 200 pounds of
escorts Noakes to the trial himself. Noakes is found guilty and glue, "a cow, / a violin, Lord Byron's works," and other
Blakely then gives him the opportunity to confess and repent miscellaneous objects. The boat turns a corner of the canal,
of his crime. Noakes scowls and keeps silent, and Blakely and a farmer lays a plank of wood from the shore to the boat,
hangs him. and the crew is miraculously saved.
Chapter 51 Analysis
Mark Twain and several colleagues become contributing Once again, the differences between locals and outsiders in
writers to the Weekly Occidental, a new literary journal in the West are brought into focus by Twain in Chapter 47, this
Virginia City. Together, they decide to write a serial novel, with time through the theme of language. Twain quotes both Briggs
each writer contributing one chapter in succession. The writers and the minister extensively, giving readers a thorough
dream up a cast of ludicrous characters (a blonde heiress, a opportunity to compare the styles of speech for themselves.
scheming lawyer, a French duke, and a "mysterious Nevada is a melting pot of slang that fascinates Twain, and
Rosicrucian") who become embroiled in love, drama, and Briggs's speech is particularly colorful and full of localisms that
danger. The story proceeds successfully through several illuminate the culture. Briggs's use of phrases from playing
authors until a new writer joins the crew. The new writer writes cards or gambling, for example, indicates that it was such a
his chapter while drunk, and the result is a chaotic mess of common activity that most locals would understand his
marriages, scandal, wickedness, hallucinations, suicides, meaning. The minister was not only from a different regional
illness, long-lost relatives, and hell itself opening up to swallow culture (the East), but he likely did not play cards at all. (Playing
the Rosicrucian. All of the original characters are killed off, cards was often viewed as a vice in the era, as seen in Chapter
leaving only one survivor and the devil. 32 when Mr. Ballou throws out his deck.)
The other writers are outraged and lambaste the new writer, Twain's boasts about killers and bravadoes are common Old
who is bewildered at their anger and tries to appease them. He Western fare. But Twain takes great pains to ensure his
offers to rewrite the chapter, but alas, he gets drunk again and gunmen are as, or even more, respectable than local
writes an even wilder version than before. The convoluted businessmen or politicians, both fulfilling and furthering the
story shifts into a love-triangle, a long sea voyage in which the pastoral ideal of a lawless but democratic society where the
boat burns and sinks, a storm that drives the two true lovers thieves are all Robin Hoods and the sheriffs are all corrupt.
more than a thousand miles apart, and the lawyer being
swallowed by a whale and then coughed up just in time to stop The sidenotes about the jury system serve Twain well as a way
the blonde's wedding to the hated duke. Furthermore, the of touting his own reputation as a newspaper man. He implies
writer supplies "extravagant" footnotes to the story in an that newspapers have become so ubiquitous that they serve
attempt to show that the events are all possible. The other an irreplaceable function within a democratic society. At the
authors throw the manuscript at his head and kick him off the same time he praises his readership for being the only ones
team, but it is too late to save the struggling literary journal, with enough brains to keep up on the news and thus become
which ceases publication. unfit for jury service.
Twain then offers the reader an original poem titled "The Aged Twain's literary journal is about as successful as any other
Pilot Man," in which a boat on the Erie Canal is beset by a business venture he has gotten into up to this point. No group
terrible storm. The captain fears he will never see his family, of men he encounters can be relied upon to remain sober,
while the frightened mules pulling the boat carry on through sane, or even-tempered, or to work with a good will for any
the heavy rain. The refrain is spoken by the pilot, Dollinger, who reasonable period of time, and writers are no different. Of
says "Fear not, but lean on Dollinger, / And he will fetch you course, the narrative calls into question the veracity of his own
through." The boat passes beneath a scary low bridge, and account. He is admittedly a terrible horseman, gunslinger, and
people along the canal fear for the lives of those on board. The miner. So why should the reader believe he fared any better as
crew huddles together in fear of the boat sinking, and they a memoirist?

Chapters 52–55 Chapter 53

Twain's pals urge him to hear miner Jim Blaine tell the story of
"his grandfather's old ram," and that the time to do so is when
Summary Jim is drunk. At last, Jim tells a group the story at his cabin. He
rambles on about a vast number of people who are only
remotely connected to the ram. There is poor Miss Wagner,
Chapter 52 who has to borrow a glass eye, a wig, and a wooden leg. And
there's Jacops the coffin peddler, who lurks around the homes
It is 1863 now and at the height of "flush times" in silver mining
of the sick like a vulture waiting to pounce. He tells about
country. Mark Twain takes the opportunity to explain some of
Maria, daughter of the widow Billings, who "married a
the logistics of local business to the reader. Shipments of
missionary and died in grace—et up by the savages." The
goods travel to and from Virginia City to California by
stories continue until Jim nods off to sleep, and the men cry
stagecoach or by wagons drawn by mules over the mountains,
with laughter. Twain figures out that he's been tricked, for
a distance of 150 miles. Twain lists the prices of various
whenever Jim starts to tell the story of his grandfather's ram,
tonnage of freights, noting that it's significantly more
he never finishes it.
expensive to ship goods during the winter. Much of his
information comes from a local Wells Fargo agent (a
stagecoach company and bank). The figures show that the Chapter 54
company expects to ship $6 million in bullion that year from
Virginia City alone. Six stages run constantly on the route, Mark Twain now profiles the Chinese population of Virginia
carrying not only silver, but also passengers and other express City, whom he admires as hard-working, peaceful, clean-living
shipments. One estimate holds that Nevada produced $20 folks who bring many benefits to the town. About 1,000
million in bullion that year (roughly $1 million for every 800 Chinese live in a separate "Chinese quarter," marked by one-
residents), with even greater numbers expected upon the story wooden buildings crowded together and very narrow
completion of a new tunnel at the Comstock Lode. streets. Twain offers an excerpt of an Enterprise article he
wrote about the quarter, Chinatown. He describes "yellow,
There are mining tunnels that run for 30 miles beneath the city,
long-tailed vagabonds" smoking opium listlessly and a grocery
supported by wooden frameworks made of giant timbers.
store with birds' nests, duck eggs, and jugs of imported
Shafts can run 1,000 feet deep (and sometimes miners fall
alcohols. There are multiple lottery schemes going at any time
down them). Up to 6,000 miners swarm the tunnels, climbing
in the quarter. One Chinese man tells Twain, "Sometime
ladders, traveling by cramped boxcars, and moving ore in tubs,
Chinaman buy ticket one dollar hap, ketch um two tree
bins, and wagons. Regular citizens may also visit the mines,
hundred, sometime no ketch um anyting." Twain visits a "fancy
where they carry candles and pocket souvenir samples of rock.
store" which offers feathered fans, perfumes, and jade watch-
Cave-ins happen at the mines sometimes, and Twain says "it is
charms and then eats lunch with chopsticks.
worth one's while to take the risk of descending into them" to
see the great force a mountain exerts as it presses down The main occupation of the Chinese men is washing clothes,
under its own great weight. Twain offers an excerpt from a which costs $2.50 per dozen garments—a cheap price. The
piece he published in the Enterprise about this experience, men (and some of the women) are also house servants, and
which happened at the Ophir mine. He witnesses "vast masses Twain characterizes them as obedient, quick, fast learners.
of earth and splintered and broken timbers piled confusedly They can read, write, and do math; they are frugal and let
together," with bits continuing to fall nearby. Other timbers can nothing go to waste; and they are sometimes swindled by tax
be heard cracking and look as if they are about to break, which collectors. The Chinese immigrants also observe the practice
makes Twain uneasy. They come to a flooded area and must of ancestor worship. In China, deceased relatives are often
backtrack, eventually emerging from the mine "all dripping with buried on the family property, and many of the Chinese in
candle grease and perspiration." America insist on being buried in China. Twain notes that at
one time, every ship sailing from San Francisco took with it a
great cargo of Chinese corpses. (Regulations ended this

practice, mostly "as a neat underhanded way of deterring

Chinese immigration," says Twain.) Twain ends the chapter by
Analysis
saying that the only people who treat the Chinese poorly are
Twain becomes a tourist in his own city in Chapter 52, where
the "scum" and "policemen and politicians, likewise, for these
he leads the reader on a guided tour of the mines after a cave-
are the dust-licking pimps and slaves of the scum."
in. The author brings the visit to life using sensory descriptions
that help readers imagine themselves there. He writes of the
Chapter 55 cracking sound of overburdened timbers, the vision of dark

tunnels lit by flame, the feel of candle grease, and the smell of
Feeling bored with his own town and region, Twain is antsy to perspiration. For reasons of suspense, heightened interest,
travel to San Francisco or some other new place. He is also and personal bravado, Twain emphasizes the tremendous
wary because a state constitution is up for approval, and he danger undergone by miners. It also shows his sarcastic
fears it will ruin the region's prosperity through imposed taxes. streak, as clearly the rewards are not worth the risks, and
(Twain further proposes that much money could be raised for certainly not for tourists. Twain has certainly done his research
the government if only they would institute a fine for murder.) about the mining industry, drawing on helpful locals for
He hopes to sell his mining shares for $100,000 and get out pertinent information (such as the Wells Fargo agent). The
while the getting's good, but he bides his time instead. facts and figures Twain cites offer perspective on the
Meanwhile, Mr. Goodman leaves him in charge of the paper for enormous importance of mining to the Nevada economy at the
a week, and Twain botches it up thoroughly. He complains of time and in the near future.
how difficult it is to write editorials, for it is a strain to think of
Chapter 53 is a comic interlude meant to further showcase the
new topics to write about every single day. It is much harder
character of the West. Jim Blaine perfectly fits the
work than simply gathering and relaying facts, as a regular
stereotypical role of the funny, rambling drunk who falls asleep
reporter does. Even so, Twain disdains to return to the lowly
in his cups while telling tall tales. Jim's tales certainly seem far-
position of reporter now that he's been in charge, so he
fetched. To know even one of the outlandish characters he
resigns. "I could not serve in the ranks after being general of
describes would be unusual, but to know so many of them
the army," he says. Luckily, he is offered an opportunity to
seems impossible. Once again, though, it is actually Twain who
travel to New York to help two men sell a silver mine, an
is the butt of the joke. The other listeners take pleasure both in
opportunity that is sure to make him a fortune.
Jim's story and in having suckered Twain into listening to it. It is
The men have not yet arrived in town, so in the meantime, a story that has no actual story, and Twain is the only one who
Twain decides to go to San Francisco. A colleague at the doesn't know it.
newspaper promises to send the two men along to him. At a
The Chinese population depicted in Chapter 54 adds an exotic
stop along the route, a vagabond with a false leg tricks the
flavor and welcome change of pace to the text. For once, it
stagecoach workers into giving him two bottles of brandy. This
seems that Twain approves of a race that isn't Caucasian,
reminds Twain of other drunks, and he and his companions tell
assigning the Chinese immigrants all sorts of positive qualities.
stories of drunk men for a while. Upon seeing the flag atop
(This is in marked contrast to his previous assertions about
Mount Davidson as they leave town, Twain recalls the time the
Indians, in particular.) Some of the scenes he portrays are
flag was lit up by the sun during an ominously dark, rainy day. It
unflattering, such as that of the opium smokers. However, for
was the same day Vicksburg had fallen back East and the
the most part Twain seems to greatly enjoy his visit to
Union army had won the battle of Gettysburg. The telegraph
Chinatown and to approve of what he finds there. Still, he is no
operator was not allowed to reveal these incidents that day,
less stereotypical or racist in his descriptions, even if flattering.
though, since the news had to go to California first. Twain
His comments on their language, professions, and religion
thought this a shame, for it would have been a great excuse for
show no real understanding of their culture.
revelry in town and saluting the lit-up flag of Mount Davidson.
As in previous chapters, Twain includes a few samples of
speech to give the reader an idea of how the Chinese
communicate. He uses incorrect spellings and improper
grammar on purpose to imitate their imperfect English. Their

speech is but one more example in Nevada's vast melting pot

of language and slang. Twain also offers a bit of insight on the Chapters 56–58
religious practices of the Chinese community, a topic he hasn't
commented on much since he passed through Mormon
country. He explains the customs surrounding ancestor Summary
worship and burials in a fairly straightforward matter, hardly
mocking it at all. Moreover, Twain seems genuinely outraged at
the injustices the Chinese in America have faced, from being Chapter 56
cheated at taxes to poor treatment at the hand of "scum."
Twain's name-calling at the end of the chapter is a bit Mark Twain describes the "grave and somber" landscape of
shocking, as it departs from his usual humorous style. California, with its "monotonous" conifer trees, "imposing"
However, he leaves the reader in no doubt as to his true mountains, and sandy plains covered with "vindictively straight"
feelings on policemen and politicians, and perhaps that was his grasses. He can't understand why people rave about the
intent. state's supposed beauty when compared to the "lavish
richness, the brilliant green, the infinite freshness ... that make
Twain relies heavily in this section on previously published an Eastern landscape a vision of Paradise itself." He doesn't
newspaper pieces, in violation of his contract to deliver 600 find the climate of San Francisco all that agreeable either, for
pages of original text and illustrations to his publisher. For this all the months are relatively the same temperature. There are
reason, he includes complaints about how difficult it is to write eight months of cloudless sunny days followed by four months
new material. And some of the rambling storytelling of his of constant rain, and both wear on Twain's nerves after a while.
characters appears to be rambling storytelling of his own, The weather is so dull that he even misses thunderstorms and
inserted to divert the reader from the fact that he's not longs for a "playful earthquake." The city's sand hills and
providing any new information about life on the road. climate do, however, promote the lavish blooming of flowers
that are hard to grow in the East. Twain then compares various
Just when it appears Twain has finally settled into life in
spots around the state. San Francisco enjoys an "eternal
Virginia City, his restlessness returns and he starts looking for
spring," Sacramento sweats through an endless summer, and
an exit in Chapter 55. This time, it's San Francisco that lures
Mono Lake shivers under constant winter. Fort Yuma is so hot
him; it seems to be on his bucket list of places to see. Instead
that legend tells of a soldier who died and went to hell, but
of cashing out his mining stocks and simply moving there, he
"telegraphed back for his blankets." He concedes the loveliness
takes a gamble that they'll be worth more in the future. (Once
of the Sacramento Valley when viewed from a distance aboard
again, Twain has an opportunity to make some actual money,
the Pacific Railway as it winds through icy mountains above. It
but he fails to grab it while he still can.) If Twain weren't itching
is "a dreamy, exquisite glimpse of fairyland," its hazy warmth
to leave town, he might have deigned to return to his reporting
"infinitely softened and spiritualized by distance."
job. Since he wants to leave anyway, it doesn't really pain him
to quit. His pride (or even arrogance) has a bit to do with it too,
for now that he's been the boss, he doesn't want to backpedal. Chapter 57
Yet another get-rich-quick scheme lands in his lap, this time in
the New York venture. Twain takes a risk by traveling to San Much of the early gold mining of California happened in the
Francisco anyway, rather than waiting for the two men in Sacramento Valley, notes Twain, some 15 or 20 years ago.
Virginia City, but risk seems to be his game. The offhand Now what remains are scraped hillsides and empty meadows
mention of Civil War battles reminds readers that all of this is where booming towns once stood. The men who once lived
taking place while the nation fights bloody battles. These are there were strong, capable, brave, and energetic, "peerless and
battles that Twain avoids while living it up in the Wild West. magnificent," with no "weaklings," women, children, or elderly.
Now they're all gone—either killed in street fights or "dead of
disappointed hopes and broken hearts." Twain laments such a
waste of human potential, commenting that this breed of men
is what earned California its reputation for daring new ventures
and astonishing accomplishments. Those times were full of

rough living—whiskey, gambling, fights, fortunes gained and them to tumble down at any moment. After a while, life
lost in a day—and the people were "unspeakably happy." There resumes its course, and one day Twain picks up a copy of his
were few women around, and once, a crowd gathered simply old paper, the Enterprise. In it is a report of the mining party in
to look at an emigrant woman passing through via wagon. The New York, who have sold 6,000 feet of mine for $3 million.
men were so gratified at seeing and hearing her that they Twain writes, "Once more native imbecility had carried the day,
donated $2,500 to the family and sent them off with cheers. and I had lost a million! It was the 'blind lead' over again." He
One miner even paid $150 for the privilege of kissing a toddler. falls into such a depression that his work suffers. He is asked
("That anecdote is true," declares Twain.) Twain himself even to resign from the newspaper, at least saving him the
once lined up for a chance to peek through a crack at "a humiliation of being fired.
genuine, live Woman," a 165-year-old, toothless woman flipping
pancakes.
Analysis
Chapter 58 In Chapter 56, Twain offers a visual tour of California, with
plenty of his own opinion thrown in—this is no unbiased report.
Mark Twain spends a few months of idleness in San Francisco, He contrasts the region's features to Eastern landscapes to
falling in love with the friendly city. As he expects to be a rich help readers get a better idea of what the state is really like. To
man soon, he spends money freely and lives high on the hog. Twain, there is no comparison: the East is a beautiful, lush
Then word comes back that the state constitution has passed paradise, while California's nature is dull and off-putting. The
its vote in Nevada. Despite his earlier worries that the economy descriptive adjectives Twain uses have mostly negative
will come crashing down, Twain decides to hang onto his connotations: "grave," "somber," "monotonous," "imposing," and
mining stock there. Everything continues to rise in so forth. Even the wild grasses are spiky and unwelcoming. He
value—people are mad with trading and speculation—but dislikes the weather, too, missing the four seasons of the East.
suddenly the bottom drops out. Everyone is ruined, including In profiling the various regional climates of California, Twain
Twain, who quickly moves out of his expensive hotel and into a highlights its great diversity of landscapes. And as usual, he
boardinghouse. He finds work as a reporter, still hoping to hear manages to throw in a dash of humor in the anecdote about
back about the New York opportunity, but needing money in the Fort Yuma man who finds hell too cold for his taste.
the meantime. One day when he misses work, a note comes to
the office asking him to meet that evening about the mining Twain again romanticizes the old West in Chapter 57, feeling
venture. Twain doesn't get the note until the next day, and by regret that the manly men who once thrived there are now
then, the mining party has already sailed East. Twain kicks gone. He idealizes the rough life of times gone by, finding
himself for leaving such an important matter in another man's glamour in its whiskey glasses and lost fortunes. When Twain
hands and for missing work on the one day that mattered. He characterizes the people as "unspeakably happy," this
returns to his "slavery, resolved to put up with my thirty-five probably tells more about his own daydreams than about how
dollars a week and forget all about it." life really was for these pioneers. He imagines only the most
attractive (to him) aspects of life, never comparing this
A month later, Twain experiences a powerful earthquake while idealized vision with his actual experiences of mining life in
walking down the street. The stillness of the scene is broken Nevada. The lack of women and children makes the region
by shockwaves that roll the ground, shaking it up and down. seem like another world. The miners almost deify women, and
Brick buildings collapse into heaps of dust and smoke, and having a glimpse of one serves to remind them of a gentler life.
people pour out of houses into the street. Some are half- Twain writes that the miners view the passing emigrant woman
shaved from the barber chair, and others are clothed only in "with the look of men who listened to a memory rather than a
their undergarments or a towel, fresh out of the bathtub. present reality." This implies a nostalgia for the women of their
Churches empty of worshippers as organ pipes fall, and many past, be they mothers, sisters, daughters, or wives. Perhaps
people become seasick from the "rolling and pitching of floors they also dream of a day when women will again be present in
and streets." their daily world—the dream of a thriving, diverse mining
community with a full contingent of citizens. Of course, when
For several days, people eye the cracks in buildings, expecting
Twain steps up to get a peek at "a genuine, live Woman," the

joke's on him—it's an old lady rather than a peepshow beauty. Twain walks the streets one night, he meets another
unfortunate soul who looks "so homeless and friendless and
Twain makes more poor decisions in Chapter 58. He hangs forsaken" that Twain feels drawn to him. "Misery loves
onto mining stock in the greedy hope that it will go up in value, company," he quotes, and the two men become "inseparable"
even though his gut tells him the market is going to crash. He once they discover their common misfortunes. The man,
also loses the New York opportunity because he didn't have Blucher, is a former journalist who lost his job and became
the patience to stay in Virginia City and take care of the matter homeless, living in boxes or barrels along the wharves. Once,
himself. Twain is young, restless, and constantly pushing his when he hadn't had a bite to eat in 48 hours, he had found a
luck—usually to his own detriment. He seems to have blind faith dime. He spent hours debating how to spend it until hunger at
that somehow his dreams of riches will come true, despite last drove him out into the city. As he passed Martin's
numerous failures and bad decisions. On the one hand, the Restaurant, an old haunt of his, a near-starving man ("a very
reader must admire this optimism and determination; on the allegory of Hunger!") approached him and begged for money
other hand, it's hard not to think, "Will Twain ever learn?" If to buy food. Blucher escorted the man back to Martin's and
even once he had done the sensible thing, he could have been had him order whatever he wanted. "Charge it to me, Mr.
a rich man many times over. Much as his failures pain him, Martin," he told the owner, who agreed. Blucher watched the
though, he never dwells on them overly long but continues to poor man wolf down $6 in steaks and coffee, and then went
press forward, "resolved to ... forget all about it." Twain's self- down the street for a ten-cent modest meal "and feasted like a
pitying description of his job as "slavery" seems rather king!"
facetious, considering the Civil War and slavery were real
issues in the United States at the time. He is far removed from
those events, though, still playing at life with his self-focused Chapter 60
attitude. Twain lives in such a dream world of imaginary riches
that he loses touch with real life. He allows the real blessings A miner friend takes Twain to the washed-up mining camps in
he does have (such as a paying job) to evaporate as he Tuolumne, where they live in one of a half-dozen cabins. A
wallows in his own misery. town of thousands had once stood there, but nothing now
remained of it. The few miners who had stayed were devoid of
hope for a better life, or even of returning home; they had
Chapters 59–61 "forgotten the world and been forgotten of the world." Here,
Twain tries out "pocket mining," hunting for random deposits of
gold on the surface of the land, a hit-or-miss enterprise. The
pocket miners may go for months without finding any, living on
Summary
credit, and suddenly strike a pocket worth hundreds or even
thousands. They then pay off their debts and, inevitably, blow
the rest in a single night of revelry. Pocket miners search for
Chapter 59
gold on hillsides, using pans to filter the sediment in search of
gold flakes. These flakes often lead to a loaded pocket, which
The young Mark Twain stays afloat by selling articles to
may be a single shovelful containing gold nuggets or a large
various publications, but some of them shut down and the work
haul that takes weeks to clear. Local hogs also help root out
is unsteady. At one point, he spends two penniless months
gold as they turn over piles of dirt in search of food. The rain
avoiding everyone, not paying his rent, and "slinking" around
washes the dirt away, exposing any gold flakes. Twain tells of
town. He self-consciously eats the meals his landlady provides,
two passing Mexican "greasers" who discovered a $120,000
pawns his possessions, and feels "meaner, and lowlier, and
pocket in an area two local miners had been searching for
more despicable than the worms." He has one dime to his
years. He then explains he has described pocket mining
name, and holds onto it as a talisman against committing
because it is an unusual subject not often seen in print, and he
suicide. He also receives regular calls from a bill collector, to
hopes its "novelty" will interest the reader.
whom he owes $46 for a loan he had generously given to an
old schoolmate in Nevada. They smoke cigars and gab
together, and Twain actually looks forward to his visits. As

childhood homes. Perhaps, as Twain himself felt in Chapter 42,

Chapter 61
they can't bear the thought of returning as failures rather than
Miner Dick Baker tells Twain of his former pet cat, Tom Quartz, rich men. Their existence is hand-to-mouth. The story of the
whom he claimed was born for pocket mining. The cat would Mexicans highlights how much dumb luck has to do with
tag along on outings, turning its tail up and heading home if he fortune when it comes to mining. The two men who've been
sensed the spot had no gold. At promising spots, the cat would mining there for years find nothing, while the passing Mexicans
stick around and inspect the pans of dirt for shiny flakes. Once strike it rich. Twain's comment at the end of the chapter plainly
Dick and his partner dig a shaft, and the curious cat follows states his goal in writing the book: to provide "novelty" to
them inside and lays down for a nap. They forget he's there entertain the reader.
and set up explosives to blast the rock. The cat "shot up 'bout
The story of Tom Quartz in Chapter 60 reminds readers that
a mile an' a half into the air," sneezing and tumbling wildly, until
miners are regular people, too—they love their pets and enjoy
it lands with a thump two minutes later. Battered and soot-
bragging about them, too. Dick's tale is obviously
covered, the disgusted cat coolly stalks off toward home,
exaggerated—the cat was probably not blasted a mile and a
giving Dick the cold shoulder.
half into the air. (And if it had been, it certainly would not have
Twain mines for two months in the area, but the pockets are all survived the return to earth!) However, the personality of the
empty, "as barren as our own," he writes. For several weeks cat comes through clearly and makes the reader smile. Who
they try new locations, wandering in the mountains and hasn't known a prissy cat that thinks it is a human? The cat
sleeping outdoors. They enjoy the hospitality of other miners, creates a connection between the reader and the miners,
just as other miners have found a meal at their own cabin when making their lives seem more real somehow.
passing through. Twain ends the chapter with a footnote that
Unfortunately, Twain's pockets are as empty (of money) as the
provides a glossary of common mining terms, including placer
mining pockets are of gold. He gains nothing but experience
diggings, pocket diggings, quartz, prospecting, indications,
for his many months of labor, though at least he can use this
panning out, and prospect.
experience as material for a book. His inclusion of a mini-
glossary in a footnote is curious. Why now? It would have made
more sense to include the mining definitions far earlier in the
Analysis text, when stories of mining country first appeared. This
footnote serves as an example of Twain's overall writing style
Twain hits rock bottom in San Francisco, but even in his sorry
for this book, which is episodic and with an informal structure.
state, there are friends to be had and people who have it worse
When Twain thinks of an anecdote or bit of information, he
than he does. He still has a roof over his head and a generous
simply drops it in wherever he is in the writing.
landlady who continues to feed him, far more than the
homeless Blucher has. Blucher's story of the starving man
shows, though, that there is even greater misery than his own.
His incredible generosity in buying an extravagant meal for the
Chapters 62–66
poor wretch (while spending only a dime on himself) shows the
goodness humanity is capable of. Even one as down and out
as Blucher has heart enough to help those less fortunate than Summary
himself. Twain describes the man as "a very allegory of
Hunger;" an allegory is a story about a character, place, event,
or figure that reveals a message or moral, thus furthering the Chapter 62
theme of language in the text.
A penniless Mark Twain returns to San Francisco and picks up
In Chapter 60, Twain offers something new: a description of work as the San Francisco correspondent for his old paper,
the ugly downside of the mining boom. The men who live in the the Virginia City Enterprise. He tires of the work, though, and
Tuolumne mining camps are shadows of their once-hopeful wants a change. Luckily, he scores a job that sends him on a
selves. Their dreams have turned to dust along with the once trip to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) to write letters for the
bustling town; they are too forlorn even to return to their

Sacramento Union. On the sea voyage there, he meets "the old

Chapter 63
Admiral," who is not actually an admiral. He has been bestowed
the title by the islanders, who admire him greatly. A retired The ship arrives at Honolulu, and Twain admires its straw huts,
seaman from a whaling ship, the Admiral is sometimes white cottages with green shutters, lush foliage, and
fearsome on the outside but tenderhearted on the inside. He abundance of flowers. There are fat, contented cats
champions the underdog, hates drunkenness (though he everywhere, and the people are mostly "almost as dark as
himself drinks a great deal of whiskey), and is covered in Negroes." The women are exotic and beautiful, wearing loose
sailors' tattoos. He dotes on his terrier, Fan, and reads only one dresses and flowers in their hair. Some of the men wear only a
newspaper, a paper supporting the South's secession from the breech-clout and a stovepipe hat, while some of the children
Union. The Admiral also completely makes up history to suit his are "clothed in nothing but sunshine." It is a calm place,
own arguments, and he is such a formidable speaker he usually fragrant with flowers, offering tall, green mountains and cool,
gets away with it. His political rants often clear the room, as deep valleys. The ocean and shore, too, have their charms, and
listeners flee from his profanity, table-pounding, and chair- fresh fruits are abundant. However, "these enchanted islands"
kicking antics. People on the ship begin to avoid him when it also have scorpions, mosquitoes, tarantulas, and poisonous
looks like he is spoiling for an argument. centipedes that make it impossible to sit on the grass or get a
good night's sleep.
At last, though, the Admiral is challenged by a quiet passenger
named Williams, who questions a "fact" the Admiral had
previously stated about the Civil War. (This "fact" was that two
Chapter 64
Northern clergymen had precipitated the secession of South
Carolina by burning Southern women and children alive.) The Twain arranges a pleasure excursion by horseback to Diamond
other passengers are amazed at his deliberate baiting of the Head with a party of nine ladies and gentlemen. He is running
old sea captain and watch with interest as he responds. The late to meet them, so Captain Phillips gives him a carriage ride
Admiral erupts with profanity and indignation while Williams which covers a half mile in sixteen minutes. "That's over three
waits calmly for his turn to speak. Unexpectedly, he thanks the miles an hour," Phillips crows. When he arrives at the meeting
Admiral for clearing up the confusion on the matter at hand spot, the American Hotel, they've already departed, so Twain
and confirming its authenticity again. The Admiral is entirely tries to catch up by horse. The horse has a mind of its own,
pleased, for "nobody had ever received his bogus history as taking him from one home's gate to another while a frustrated
gospel before," and he is left speechless. Williams then Twain sweats in the hot sun. The horse falls asleep walking,
continues by laying out an even more preposterous piece of and after Twain wakes it up, it tries to climb over a high stone
made-up history to counter the Admiral's original story. He wall. They come to a grove of coconut trees, a plant Twain
cites a similar but earlier episode in which two South Carolina describes as "a feather duster struck by lightning."
clergymen burned at the stake a Northern widow and her
adopted, epileptic orphan child. "You are too well informed a Not far off is the ruin of "an ancient heathen temple—a place
man not to know all about that circumstance," he says to the where human sacrifices were offered up" in the past. This
Admiral. This incident caused the Northern clergymen to act in happened well before the missionaries arrived to make the
retaliation, he claims, and he charges the Admiral to admit that native islanders "permanently miserable," says Twain. The
it is so, for "it is only fair." The Admiral is flummoxed and must missionaries taught of heaven (and how hard it is to go there)
concede. He does not know how to argue against "his own and of hell (and how easy it is to get to). They also encouraged
invincible weapon—clean, pure, manufactured history, without a the islanders to work for money to buy food (instead of fishing
word of truth in it." He makes an excuse to leave the room, and for food and then taking it easy). The temple is made of lava
the passengers erupt in cheers and laughter. The Admiral blocks and once had three altars, and according to hearsay,
stops talking politics on the ship entirely, and the people are thousands were sacrificed there surrounded by "naked and
left in peace to enjoy the voyage. howling savages." Further, King Kamehameha was said to have
impaled the heads of his enemies on the temple's walls after
he invaded and conquered the island (Oahu). Twain writes that
Kamehameha forced the people to do his bidding and then had
them killed "for trifling offenses" or as sacrifices. He then notes

that, in contrast, the missionaries fed, clothed, and educated their native language, and they love to go to church. Strangers
the islanders. Moreover, the missionaries had gotten rid of the visiting are always thought to be either preachers or whaling
"tyrannous" chiefs and introduced laws and punishments that captains, which "form one-half of the population." (The
were equal for all. remaining population is one-quarter common native islanders
and one-quarter high-ranking government officers, notes
Twain.)
Chapter 65
Twain and the party come to an old battleground, where they Analysis
gather "the bleached bones of men" as souvenirs from the
ground. The place is a mystery, its story unknown. Some Chapter 62 provides a humorous look at human nature through
believe it is an ancient site, while others say Kamehameha the personalities of the Admiral and Williams. Politics is never
fought there. One legend holds that defenders of the island an easy topic to discuss when people have differing opinions,
drew a line on that very field and swore never to let and a person like the Admiral makes such discussion even
Kamehameha's army cross. They failed, and either died there harder. His ranting and violence intimidate those around him,
or were driven over a nearby cliff. The party returns to town at and it is impossible to disprove his made-up stories. While the
nightfall, quite worn out. Twain then relates how difficult it is to opinionated Admiral may be admired in Hawaii, he is an
hire a reliable horse on the island. He does not trust the unpleasant annoyance on the ship. Mild-mannered Williams
"Kanakas" (native islanders), whom he claims will overcharge finally decides to put him in his place—possibly to show that
or otherwise cheat a person given the chance. The horses are the seemingly meek can indeed defeat the mighty through
overworked, and some have open sores or other defects (such cleverness. Williams handles the seaman deftly, flattering him
as being blind in one eye). It is cheap to buy a horse, though, and making a big deal out of his extensive (false) knowledge of
and hay and grain to feed it are also cheap. The saddle and history. By validating the Admiral's statements completely
bridle, though, are expensive ($20–35), but these can also be (saying they are true when he knows they are not), Williams
rented for much less. sets up a situation in which the Admiral must do the same or
lose face in front of everyone. The Admiral will never admit that
he hasn't heard of the case Williams mentions, and he can't
Chapter 66 disprove it either—just as no one could disprove his own earlier
fabrication. He is defeated by his own "weapon" of untruths
Twain goes to the crowded marketplace on Saturday
and the cleverness of Williams. This story may also be a
afternoon, where native girls ride up and down the street in
reminder from Twain to the reader not to take everything they
colorful clothing, from flowing scarves to silk robes. There are
hear at face value, particularly when it comes to politics.
a few "heathen" islanders from the South Seas, with blue-
tattooed faces and "light yellow skin." Poi merchants sell the In Chapters 62 through 65, Twain returns to straightforward
paste-like food by the gallon in gourd bowls. Made from the travel narration, relating his observations on the landscape,
taro root, poi is a nutritious, starchy staple of the local diet and people, customs, and history of Hawaii. His role now, though, is
is eaten with the fingers from a community bowl. Also for sale purely as a tourist rather than as a resident, so most of what he
is the awa root, which is used to make an alcoholic drink that is writes about are tourist attractions or oddities. He depicts the
believed to have medicinal properties. Fish, too, can be had at native islanders as exotic and not quite civilized, with naked
the fish market, though "the native ... eats the article raw and children running about and a history of human sacrifice and
alive! Let us change the subject," says Twain. He then tells how illiteracy. There is clearly a line of separation between the
Saturday used to be a "grand gala day" when everyone came native islanders and the whites and missionaries who came
out to feast and dance "the lascivious hula-hula." This tradition, later. The whites seem to have the upper hand, controlling the
which interferes with "labor and the interests of the white islanders both subtly (through religion and education) and not-
folks," has been mostly killed by various laws implemented by so-subtly (through legislation against local traditions such as
the white community. Missionaries have also done their share the hula dance).
to change the culture of the islands through the Christian
religion and education. The islanders can all read and write in Twain's stance on the missionaries is unclear. On the one

hand, he notes the benefits they brought to the islanders, such neatly and handsomely dressed; a high-minded, elegant
as education, religion, and clothing. On the other hand, he says gentleman; a traveler." Kekuanaoa became royalty through
the islanders became "permanently miserable" after learning of marriage to Kamehameha's daughter.
heaven and hell and getting jobs to earn money. The "benefits"
of the modern world may not really be benefits after all, but just Though the people have now been "Christianized," many still
a different form of misery or oppression. Before the make offerings to the Great Shark God during difficult times
missionaries came, the islanders presumably lived naked and (such as during a volcanic eruption). Many still believe old
free, gathering food from nature, enjoying life, and occasionally superstitions, such as the idea that an enemy can "pray you to
being sacrificed to the gods. After the missionaries came, they death," notes Twain. Both men and women used to have
had to learn to wear clothes, go to school, get jobs, and so multiple spouses (polygamy), a practice that is no longer
forth, leading to a life full of work and out of touch with nature. followed. In the past, women were confined to strict gender
(And though their bodies weren't sacrificed anymore, there roles (do the housework, make the food) and were restricted
was always the threat of going to hell looming.) Whatever his by taboos from eating with their husbands, consuming certain
personal beliefs, Twain makes the most of a sensational fruits, and so on. Twain states that the missionaries "liberated
subject, throwing in plenty of phrases like "naked and howling woman and made her the equal of man," as well as putting a
savages" to titillate the reader. Just as it does today, gore and stop to infanticide when their families had become too large.
war made for exciting entertainment, so Twain throws in a Islanders today still retain the ability to "lie down and die
battle story and the bones of dead warriors, too. whenever they want to," asserts Twain. In rural Hawaii, young
women often bathe naked in the sea or streams. Nakedness
Twain also writes a great deal about horses. Horses were not was common before the missionaries, who gave the women
merely ridden for pleasure on the islands, but were a viable robes to wear and "begged the people not to come to church
mode of transportation. There were few roads and no naked." The people started wearing clothes, but incorrectly—a
railroads, so people got around on foot, by boat, or by horse. shirt with no pants, a robe slung over the shoulder, a hat and
Twain slides a few jokes into these descriptions, too, such as gloves and nothing else. Men would wear ladies' bonnets and
the one about the proud Captain Phillips, whose horse can trot women would wear men's shirts, for the articles were all
at "over three miles an hour!" (An average person can walk a foreign to them.
mile in about 20 minutes ... three miles an hour.) Twain's
inability to control his headstrong horse also adds a note of Twain then names the various people associated with the king,
comedy. noting that Hawaii plays "empire" like children play house. The
king lives in a two-story "palace," and the royal family gets
around by horse or on foot, like everyone else. Several royal
Chapters 67–71 appointees, such as the royal Chamberlain, the Commander in

Chief of the Household Troops, the royal Steward, the Grand
Equerry in Waiting, and the First Gentleman of the
Bedchamber do very little official work. Other positions with
Summary more responsibility are the Prime Minister (a pompous lawyer
from New Hampshire), the Imperial Minister of Finance, and the
Minister of War. Many other officeholders are named, with brief
Chapter 67 descriptions of some of their duties. Each such officer has a
unique court costume to wear to official functions, which are
Mark Twain tells more of the customs and institutions of
so loud and colorful Twain says they surpass circus clowns.
Hawaii, beginning with its government. The national legislature
is composed mostly of native islanders with a handful of white
men, and it has as its president the king's father, His Royal Chapter 68
Highness M. Kekuanaoa. This 80-year-old man was a warrior
under Kamehameha I before the missionaries arrived, and he Twain witnesses the funeral of the king's sister, Princess
followed the old taboos and worshipped the old gods and idols. Victoria, a grand affair. A printed program for the procession
"And now look at him," Twain marvels," an educated Christian; lists the participants, including several schools, a fire

department, royal appointees, military companies, servants, beautiful sight of the moon glittering on the sea. The wind and
clergy, government officials, and others. The royal family follow the sea foam are exhilarating as the boat cuts through the
the princess's hearse in carriages. When the procession waves. The boat arrives and Twain catches his first glimpse of
arrives at the royal mausoleum, the crowd wails and honorary the incredibly tall Mauna Loa mountain and its icy summit. He
rounds of ammunition are fired, and a very few mourners are and some companions go ashore at Kailua to make a
allowed to enter the mausoleum along with the coffin. The king horseback journey across the island. They will meet the boat
is the first to come out again, and he is treated with great again in another location. They ride through a dense,
deference by all. enchanting tropical rainforest and then pass a thousand-tree
orange grove, the trees loaded with fruit. Next they pass
Twain compares the princess's funeral to that of Kamehameha, several sugar plantations, where the land produces around two
who died fifty years prior in 1819 before the arrival of the tons of sugar per acre—far more than plantations in Louisiana
missionaries. One account tells how three hundred dogs were and other sugar-growing locales.
sacrificed "in lieu of human victims," and how the king's burial
site was lost or forgotten in due time. Another account tells of
his sickness and death and the customs observed surrounding Chapter 70
it. A special house was built for his recovery, but he continued
to worsen. The king was encouraged to turn to a certain bird The riding party stops at a plantation where they encounter a
god, Pua, for renewed health, but this too failed. He could no strange, middle-aged preacher named Simon Erickson, whom
longer eat, and at last his ministers ask for his final advice. He the locals say is crazy. The deluded man breaks into their
is too weak to speak, but bids them farewell and dies later that conversation to tell an unbelievable story in which Horace
day. One of the chiefs proposes that they eat his body, but one Greeley is responsible for starting a war in Italy. The preacher
of his widows reserves the body for his son, the next king, also believes Queen Victoria has corresponded with him
Liholiho. The body is moved to a special house reserved for regarding the matter. He proceeds to tell how a Mrs. Beazeley
such rites, where a sacred feast is offered to the dead king. A had written him a letter regarding her son William, who was
priest announces the rules for human sacrifices that may be obsessed with growing turnips in the form of climbing vines.
offered in his honor, which may be up to 40 men. Then, they The boy's health was suffering, and he had become depressed
decide where the new king will take up a new residence, for he because he had failed to achieve a vine-growing turnip. Mrs.
cannot stay where the old king died. The people mourn, and Beazeley asked the preacher to write to Mr. Greeley for advice
Liholiho departs by canoe for his new residence. Twain then on how to make the turnip grow in vines, so he did. Greeley
explains that after a royal person's death during that era, the wrote back a completely illegible, nonsensical response, which
people would enjoy several days of lawless saturnalia. Violence the preacher tries for days to decipher. At last he decides he is
and injuries, drunkenness, burning of houses, murders, and offended by the letter and he writes again to Greeley to tell him
sexual indulgence would follow, practices that Twain finds so. Greeley writes back with a legible copy of the original letter,
horrifying. which does indeed address the original question (the answer:
turnips cannot grow on vines). Unfortunately, the boy has died
by this time, buried "with a turnip in each hand."
Chapter 69
Twain sails from Honolulu to the Big Island aboard a small Chapter 71
schooner. He stays in a tiny, dark cabin that has access to a
deck that is reserved for "quality folks." The native islanders That afternoon, the riding party crosses an old field of lava
cram onto a separate deck, where they lay on the deck amidst which has hardened impressions of coconut trees that fell into
their dogs and blankets and fleas and smoke and socialize. A the original lava flow and were burned up. They then come to
rooster on board crows most of the night and keeps Twain Kealakekua Bay, where the famous Captain Cook was killed by
awake, and he finds enormous cockroaches on his pillow. He native islanders. They pass beneath a beautiful double rainbow
tries to sleep on the floor, but more cockroaches and a rat and view a wall of lava more than 1,000 feet high. Some native
pester him, and then he finds there are now fleas, too. He gives islanders still believe the god Lono descends this wall to earth
up sleep and goes up on deck where he is rewarded by the at times. As the sun sets, Twain stands near the shore on the

stone where Cook was killed, trying to imagine his death at the state and royal processions elsewhere in the world. The
hands of "fifteen thousand maddened savages." Mark Twain comparison with Kamehameha's death and funeral allows
notes that, according to historical records, Cook probably Twain to relate many former customs that are no longer in
deserved his death, for he took advantage of the natives' practice, such as the sacrifice of human victims. Tabu (taboo)
kindness and betrayed their trust. Cook encouraged them to is an important concept in Chapter 68, which Twain defines as
think he was their god Lono "for the sake of the limitless power "prohibition or sacred." A broader definition is that a taboo is
it gave him." He then killed at least three of the people and an act that is forbidden, often (but not always) for sacred
wounded several others. The natives soon discovered that he reasons. There are numerous local taboos that Twain shares
was only a mortal man, and they executed him in wrath, from Kamehameha's time, such as the king not being allowed
stripping and burning his flesh and hanging his heart on to eat in the room where he sleeps. Twain also mentions
display. The stump of a coconut tree is the only monument that taboos women formerly had to follow, such as not eating with
commemorates the spot. By midnight, the party's ship has their husbands (Chapter 67). Twain then writes about
arrived in the bay, and they reboard and fall asleep on deck cannibalism and the "saturnalia" periods that once followed a
beneath the moon. royal death, sensational topics probably meant to titillate the
reader.
Analysis Chapter 70 offers a bit of humor through the character of

Simon Erickson, an odd man with an even more bizarre story.
Twain visits Hawaii (the "Sandwich Islands") nearly 100 years His repeated mistranslations of Greeley's letter are indeed
before it becomes a state (1959), and it is truly a foreign humorous, as is the fact that he takes offense at the letter by
country to him. His attitude toward the native islanders has a his own error—he has hugely misinterpreted the letter's
colonial overtone to it that many readers today find distasteful. language. This anecdote could serve as commentary on
His regular use of the word "savage" dehumanizes the common sense, of which neither William nor his mother seem
population and makes them a mere curiosity for tourists to to have any. But it also shows the danger of being away from
gawk at and judge. It seems that Twain feels superior to the home for too long—Twain may be starting to feel the danger
"Kanakas." For example, in Chapter 69, he calls the non-native himself. This happens again in Chapter 71 with the sensational
passengers aboard the schooner "quality folks," as opposed to story of Captain Cook's death at the hands of the native
the regular native island passengers. Twain also thinks islanders. Twain shows more fair-mindedness toward the
Hawaii's modest "empire" is laughable. The army and navy are natives here than previously. He concludes that Cook got what
small, the government budgets and salaries are low, and he he deserved for tricking them and impersonating a god, not to
finds the number, titles, and comportment of government mention killing and injuring several of the islanders.
officials ridiculous (such as their clownish costumes). He
One element of Hawaii that Twain can't fault is its landscape,
disparages the ancient customs of the people, mocks their
which he consistently finds beautiful and inspiring. It is easy for
nakedness and ignorance of clothing, and finds their beliefs
the reader to visualize the fragrant, tropical sites he visits
and superstitions downright silly (for example, the notion that
thanks to his detailed, sensory descriptions. From abundant
an enemy can "pray you to death"). Twain's stance on
orange groves to ruins hiding in thick jungles, Twain takes the
missionaries seems much clearer in these chapters, as he
reader on an armchair adventure that makes one long to visit
praises them for bringing civilization to the islands. His
the islands for oneself.
description of His Royal Highness Kekuanaoa is a good
example of this; Twain characterizes him as a once-savage
warrior who is now a well-dressed, educated, Christian
legislator.
Chapters 72–77
The funerals Twain writes about bring the theme of death to
the forefront again. He takes an anthropological interest in Summary
Princess Victoria's funeral, describing its various features,
attendees, and customs. While the funeral procession certainly
has a local flavor to it, it doesn't seem much different from

once and gives up after ingesting "a couple of barrels of

Chapter 72
water." At last they arrive at the ruins of the "City of Refuge." In
Twain's party visits the ruined temple of Lono, whose high ancient times, murderers could escape here to sanctuary—if
priest was uncle to Obookia, "a young native of fine mind" who they could outrun the vengeful relatives of the murdered
was taken to New York along with three other young native person. Rebels, too, could come here to confess and be
boys. Obookia converted to Christianity and received an absolved by the priest, after which it was taboo to harm them.
education, but died before he could return home with the first Criminals were killed at a stone tower nearby. Twain notes that
group of missionaries. There are several "pagan" temples in the the temple walls are a mystery similar to the pyramids of
area, as well as wooden idols carved from logs. One temple is Egypt, "constructed by a people unacquainted with science
said to have been built by dead men in a single night, and it is and mechanics." How did they quarry, transport, and raise the
still avoided at night by the islanders. The god Lono started out enormous blocks of lava, he asks? The stones are fit together
as a much-loved king who was promoted to a god. In a fit of precisely, with no cement used, yet the temple has lasted for
anger, he killed his wife, the goddess Kaikilani Aiii. Regret for centuries. A high chief of the temple once brought an 11-foot
his actions drove him mad. He then wandered the land boxing stone to the temple as his own personal lounger to nap on. He
and wrestling, but inevitably killed his mortal opponents. He was supposedly fifteen feet tall and snored loud enough to
founded the makahiki games in his own honor, and then sailed wake the dead. Twain's party then walks an old cobblestone
away from the islands, saying he would return some day. (This road said to have been built by Kamehameha, which reminds
is how the people came to accept Captain Cook as Lono, says him of the ancient roads of Rome. They seek out a 50-foot lava
Twain.) Twain also notices a group of native women swimming flow that resembles a waterfall, "a petrified Niagara" and
in the nude, and he "sat down on their clothes to keep them explore lava tube tunnels that end in cliffs high above the sea
from being stolen."
Twain then relates how, while the first missionaries were on Chapter 74
the voyage to Hawaii, King Kamehameha died and his son
Liholiho took the throne. Liholiho disliked the old taboos, as did Twain next sails to Kau, where his party buys horses to ride to
the widowed queen Kaahumanu, who felt the taboos were the Kilauea volcano, a leisurely two-day journey. As they
overly restrictive and degrading to women. Drunk with whiskey approach the volcano, they begin to see cracks in the earth
and encouraged by Kaahumanu, Liholiho had shocked the that emit sulfurous vapors. The volcano's crater dwarfs that of
crowd at a feast when he sat down to eat with the Vesuvius, writes Twain, with a circumference of ten miles
women—and wasn't struck dead by lightning! "The tabu is (Vesuvius' diameter is only 1,000 feet). After nightfall, they hike
broken!" the people proclaimed. "It was probably the first time to the crater, overhung with hazy fog "splendidly illuminated by
whiskey ever prominently figured as an aid to civilization," the glare from the fires below." They then arrive at a tiny,
writes Twain. The people then realized that "their gods were a thatched lookout house on the crater's rim and view the
weak and wretched swindle," and destroyed many sacred incredible glowing crater floor below, where an eruption is
idols. Infuriated, the pagan priests rose up in revolt but were taking place. Much of the floor is dark, hardened lava, but a
crushed by the king's army. The old gods and idols were mile-square of it is "streaked and striped with a thousand
abandoned—"the nation was without a religion"—just in time for branching streams of liquid and gorgeously brilliant fire."
the arrival of the missionary ship. White-hot lava bubbles and spurts, and the party watches as
broken chunks of cooled earth break off, float down flaming
rivers, and are consumed. The lava makes sounds as it flows,
Chapter 73 rushing, hissing, and coughing, which Twain likens to the sound
of steam boilers. "The smell of sulfur is strong," he notes, "but
Mark Twain's party hires a local to take them by outrigger not unpleasant to a sinner."
canoe to the ruins at Honaunau. They view the sea reef below
them, the distant shoreline "honeycombed with quaint caves
and arches and tunnels," and a pod of playful porpoises leaping
through the waves. They also see a co-ed group of naked
islanders "surf bathing" (surfing), a pastime Twain attempts

then sails onward to Maui, where he lounges for several weeks.

Chapter 75
He picnics in the valley of a lush gorge and visits the Haleakala
The next night, Mark Twain's party visits the crater again, this volcano with friends, taking two days to climb to the summit. At
time to hike to the North Lake (lava pool) at the bottom of the dawn, they look out over the vast terrain 10,000 feet below
crater. The eruption has now finished, but though the crater which, by a trick of the eye, seems to float above the mountain
floor looks hard and black, it is still hot underfoot. Everyone peak. They roll great rocks down into the dusty crater for fun.
decides to turn back, including the local guides, with the The crater has a 27-mile circumference, large enough at the
exception of Twain and a man called Marlette. The pair streaks bottom to hold a great city like London. A bank of clouds then
across the hot floor until they reach a cooler spot, then wander moves in below the peak, blocking out the view of the land and
through a dark, "gloomy desert" of black walls and chasms. ocean entirely. The party falls into awed silence at the sight,
Marlette then realizes they've lost the path through the crater. and Twain feels like the "Last Man" on earth, left behind after
They proceed gingerly, "surrounded with beds of rotten lava Judgment. A splendid sun rises in the East, "the sublimest
through which we could easily break and plunge down a spectacle I ever witnessed," says Twain.
thousand feet." At last they find the path and reach the North
Lake, where they watch the boiling lava, squinting into its
blinding glare. Spurts of lava shoot upward out of lava
Chapter 77
chimneys around the edge of the pool, the "gossamer veil of
In Maui, Twain and his companions encounter a man named
vapor" making the scene appear "fairylike and beautiful."
Markiss, who breaks into their private conversation, babbling
Suddenly, a piece of the rock ledge they are sitting on
about the smoky chimney in his house. Two weeks later, the
overlooking the lake breaks off and tumbles in. The men
same man listens in on Twain's conversation and once again
skedaddle in a hurry, get lost again in the black maze of lava,
butts in, this time boasting about a tree that is 415 feet in
and finally make it back to their hotel at 2 a.m. Twain then tells
diameter. A man in the party objects that Markiss had taken
how the volcano had erupted in 1840 and surged over the land
him to see this legendary tree, but that in reality, it was a very
in a path five miles wide, 200 feet deep, and forty miles long.
ordinary tree of no great size. Markiss then claims that the tree
had been stripped down over the years for building North Seas
whaleships. Ten days later, Markiss again breaks in on Twain's
Chapter 76
conversation about a horse, boasting about his own mare,
Mark Twain's party rides 200 miles around the island over the Margaretta. This horse was so fast, he claimed, that she once
course of a week. The trip is slowed by their "Kanaka horses," outran a storm for 18 miles—with his dog "swimming behind the
who stop at every house and hut. They're conditioned to do wagon all the way!" Twain grows to loathe the sight of Markiss
this, says Twain, because the islanders are such gossips that and avoids him, but he is everywhere. He intrudes once again
the horses are used to making frequent stops. (This reminds as Twain speaks about a merchant who is stingy paying his
him of a previous humiliating incident in his life, when he had workers. Markiss condescends to him terribly, calling him
hired an old milk-delivery horse to take a young lady on a drive. "ignorant as the unborn babe!" He claims to have known a
The horse stopped at all the houses along its old route, miner who was blasted into the air for sixteen minutes and the
refusing to obey Twain whatsoever and vastly amusing the company "DOCKED HIM FOR THE LOST TIME!" Twain
young lady at his expense.) On the journey they see a excuses himself and writes "another night spoiled" in his diary,
breathtaking 1500-foot waterfall, as well as a pack of wild then leaves the island the next day. Years later, Markiss is
horses in the mountains. Twain claims the horses had never found hanging in his own bedroom, with a note in his own
drank water before, but subsisted on dewy plants instead. handwriting stating that he has committed suicide. The jury,
They offer the horses pails of water, which they try to bite however, finds that it must have been murder, for Markiss had
rather than drink. The same horses balk at crossing a running said nothing for 30 years that wasn't a lie.
stream, for they've never seen one before.
They end their journey at Kawaihae, where Twain sells his

horse for a $1 profit. "It was the first commercial transaction I
had ever entered into and come out a winner," he writes. Twain

His description of himself as the "Last Man" left on earth refers

Analysis to the biblical idea of the final Judgment, as embodied in Mary
Shelley's novel of the same name. At Judgment, sinners will be
Religion is front and center in Chapter 72, with Twain relating
left behind on earth while the faithful will go to Heaven. In
the transition from pagan worship to Christianity. When King
Shelley's novel, a plague of unknown origin has ravished the
Liholiho upset the long-held taboo by eating with women, he
earth and left the "Last Man" bereft of company struggling to
may have opened a bigger can of worms than he intended to.
determine the nature of his sin. Twain implies that he too must
This one act showed the people that their gods were not what
determine what he has done wrong and how he may perform
they believed, with destructive results. The priests, a powerful
penance to return to civilization. Twain also continues to inject
class with high social standing, are so threatened by this turn
humor with exaggeration (the high chief who snored loud
of events that they raise their own army. Liholiho, though,
enough to wake the dead) and jokes (his jest about the smell of
manages to stay in power (and possibly come out looking like a
sulfur not being unpleasant to sinners). And he continues with
hero) by defeating them. Social progress and women's equality
the tall tales, such describing horses who've never drunk water.
is a significant aspect of the story here, with Kaahumanu
Markiss of Chapter 78 takes the cake for tall tales, however,
encouraging the king to raise the status of women. Twain
outdoing everyone around him with his annoying one-
rarely comments on women's rights in the text, so this tidbit is
upmanship.
noteworthy. Twain deftly explains how the missionaries arrive
at the perfect moment to capitalize on the fall of the old Not once thus far on his trip to the Sandwich Islands has Twain
paradigm. The new religion of Christianity could much more mentioned his work—the reason he is there in the first place. In
easily take hold with the old religion in disgrace. fact, Twain wrote 25 letters about Hawaii for the Sacramento
Union, the newspaper that footed the bill for his exotic
In his usual style, Twain adds humor to the chapter with his wry
excursions. Twain also lectured about the islands after his
commentary, such as the joke about whiskey being "an aid to
return to the United States. Again, he must rely on recycled
civilization." Twain's comments on the nude ladies swimming
material here to round out the book, a fact that neither he nor
reminds the reader that he was a relatively young man himself
his publisher is eager to advertise.
(age 31), with an eye for the ladies. His somewhat lecherous
behavior is meant to be humorous, though (and may not have
actually happened).
Chapters 78–79
Chapters 73–76 are mostly straightforward travel narrative,
with Twain giving in-depth descriptions of the fascinating and
exotic places he visits. He frequently uses comparison to paint Summary
a picture for the reader, such as comparing the size of local
volcanoes to each other and to the famous Vesuvius (Italy).
Moreover, his sensory descriptions are very effective in Chapter 78
creating a sense of realism for each location he describes. This
is particularly true as he describes the various volcano visits, Mark Twain boards a ship return to San Francisco "after half a
with their hissing sounds, sulfur smell, blinding lava, and the year's luxurious vagrancy" in Hawaii. Their ship hits a two-week
feel of the heat beneath his shoes. Twain shows his reckless dead calm on the return trip with no wind to propel them. The
side again when he and Marlette venture into the dangerous passengers amuse themselves by throwing bottles at whales
Kilauea crater the day after an active eruption. One can't fault and chatting with the passengers of another boat that is
his courage, but his common sense may be in question. The becalmed quite nearby. Back in the city, Twain is again without
episode makes for exciting reading, though, taking the reader employment or money, so he cooks up a public lecture to try to
to an otherworldly place in a unique adventure. Twain goes raise some funds. His friends think it will be a failure, but an
beyond sensory descriptions, though, offering insight on how editor encourages him to try it: "Take the largest house in
these adventures made him feel. Some were exhilarating, while town, and charge a dollar a ticket." Twain can't resist this bold
others inspired quiet awe, such as the sunrise view from the plan, so he books the opera house at $50 (on credit) and
top of Haleakala (Chapter 76). spends $150 on advertising. The event poster notes, "Doors

open at 7 ½. The trouble will begin at 8." Unfortunately, Twain gets a terrible cold that leaves him sick
for three months, so he now dislikes practical jokes.
Worrying that he won't make his money back, Twain is so
stressed he can't sleep. He manages to sell 200 tickets to his Twain returns to San Francisco and then onward to New York,
friends, but then he's afraid they won't come. Worried that his his old home. On the boat there, a cholera epidemic kills
material won't get laughs, Twain asks three loud friends to sit several passengers a day. Twain finds New York dismal now,
in the audience and laugh at appropriate times. He also for too much has changed with his old friends. Many are dead,
persuades a popular citizen and his wife to attend and be in jail, or have moved away. Thus ends his "three month" trip to
seated in prominent box seats, where all will see them. The Nevada, which has stretched into seven years. The final moral
wife promises to laugh if Twain turns to her during the of the story, writes Twain, is this: people who are hard workers
performance and smiles. Twain even gives a free ticket to a should stay home and make good of their lives, while the lazy
drunk named Sawyer who approaches him on the street with, should leave home "and then you will have to work."
"if you knew how bad I wanted to laugh, you'd give me a ticket."
The evening of the performance arrives, and despite his Analysis

extreme anxiety of failure, Twain finds the house completely
packed. He quells his stage fright by seeking friendly faces in After bouncing from career to career for the last several years,
the crowd and begins to speak. Twain's allies perform Twain finally seems to find a profession that's well-suited to his
beautifully, supporting weak jokes with gales of laughter that skills and talents. He's an entertainer at heart, and thanks to his
incite the crowd to laugh, too. Twain then delivers a serious bit gift of storytelling, the lectures are a huge hit. The book's
of lecture that he hopes will affect the audience emotionally, theme of language is demonstrated here again, this time as the
and it does. However, he accidentally smiles at Mrs. ----, and means for Twain's success. Twain demonstrates his knack for
she "promptly delivered a mellow laugh" that sets the entire drumming up interest and making things happen with ambition
audience roaring. His show gets fabulous reviews the next day, and passionate energy. Rather than simply letting the cards fall
and Twain reaps "an abundance of money" from the venture. where they may, he sets the stage for success by planting
ringers in the audience to help get the laughs going. His
intriguing poster with its unusual message, "the trouble will
Chapter 79 begin at 8," is titillating and raises interest in the San Francisco
lecture. For the first time in the book, Twain finally experiences
Twain begins a career as a lecturer, one of the first to do so on
"an abundance of money." This comes to him through his
the Pacific Coast, and he tours for a few weeks in Nevada and
natural talents rather than through get-rich-quick schemes,
California. He lectures in Virginia City just two days after a
such as mining, that don't really suit him.
daring stagecoach robbery, and then lectures in Gold City
nearby. On the hike back from Gold City over a hill, Twain and There are still problems and dangers along the way, from the
his agent Mike are accosted by a half dozen armed bandits. "robbery" outside of Gold Hill to the cholera epidemic on the
One demands his money and watch but at the same time boat. Twain, who is usually good-natured about being the butt
insists that Twain keep his hands up in the air. With six pistols of a joke, ceases to see the humor in practical jokes after the
in his face, Twain calmly tries to explain the problem. At last armed hold-up. Sadly, his nostalgia for New York evaporates
the men search him and Mike, taking their money and with the reality of how life there has changed while Twain was
valuables, then demand they remain motionless with their away. His seven-year story, which has rambled on and
hands in the air for 10 minutes while they make their escape. digressed for more than 400 pages of stories, ends with a
Twain then reveals that the robbery is all a practical joke, with simple, humorous moral. In retrospect, Twain realizes that,
Mike in on it, and only himself believing it to be real. Although it despite his own lazy tendencies, being on his own in the world
is freezing atop the hill, Twain insists they remain with their has forced him to work to make something of himself. His
hands up longer than required. Twain finds some satisfaction in moral is a gentle warning to the starry-eyed that adventures
the fact that the "robbers" had waited for them in the cold for are not always what they're cracked up to be; they can be a lot
two hours. He then claims they hadn't really frightened him that of hard work. It may be easier to simply stay home and build a
much, he was only afraid their guns might go off accidentally. good life there.

Mark Twain here reminds the reader that for 40 years, the
Appendixes Mormons had been persecuted simply for trying to live
according to their own religion. Therefore, he says, their hatred
of the United States and Gentiles is perhaps understandable.
Summary As the church grew strong in Utah, the United States tried to
retain power by sending its own territorial officers from the
East. Nobody paid heed to the laws they enacted, however, nor
Appendix A: Brief Sketch of Mormon the judgments passed down by Gentile judges in the Utah
courts. Over time, these Eastern officers either gave in and
History became "despised tools and toys of the Mormons" or were
scared out of the territory. Brigham Young was the only leader
Mormonism is about 40 years old at the time Twain is writing.
with any power in the region—a de facto monarch who ignored
He explains how Joseph Smith, who discovered the Book of
the laws and directives of the United States.
Mormon and founded the religion, was run out of one state
after another initially. Brigham Young joined Smith's church in
Ohio and began to attract new converts to the religion. He was
Appendix B: The Mountain Meadows
then named as one of the Twelve Apostles and continued to
rise in prominence. The Mormons were then driven out of Ohio Massacre
and went to Missouri, where they were again driven out. They
settled in Nauvoo, Illinois, and built a temple but once again Mark Twain declares that the Mormons, angry at having to
were harassed by the locals due to polygamy, a practice Smith endure the interference of an outside government, repaid
denied. Meanwhile, Young had traveled to Britain and persecution with persecution. The Mountain Meadows
established a branch of the church there. When he returned to Massacre was a shocking event that stunned the United States
the States, he brought hundreds of converts with him. Joseph and was perpetrated by the Mormons, says Twain. A small
Smith was then killed, and a Mormon named Rigdon took over number of discontented Mormons, hoping to escape life in
the presidency of the church. Rigdon attempted to make Utah, joined an emigrant train passing through Salt Lake City.
prophecies, but Young denounced him as a false prophet and The Mormons took this as an excuse to attack the train—which
was elected president himself. Young decided to move the also happened to be rich with desirable property such as
group westward to unoccupied wilderness, so he set fire to the livestock. Brigham Young ordered the attack on the train,
temple, and they marched out of Illinois in the cold of February. declaring this command to be a "revelation" from God. The
They camped in western Iowa for two years, during which attackers were to disguise themselves as Indians and kill the
many died from cold, illness, and hunger. Young traveled ahead entire party of emigrants, and then send the teams of livestock
and in 1847, founded Great Salt Lake City in a land beyond the back to Young. His followers obeyed and attacked the train,
boundaries of the hated United States. Soon thereafter, which defended itself effectively for five days. The Mormons
though, Mexico lost the war and ceded this same territory to then tried "military strategy," removing their Indian disguises
the United States. Congress then created the "Territory of and approaching the encamped wagons waving a truce flag.
Utah," ignoring the fledging "State of Deseret" that Young had The emigrants welcomed the white men with cheers, and the
proclaimed in 1849. However, Young was named governor of Mormons promised to escort them safely back to settled lands
the new territory. if they would leave their possessions behind. Wishing to save
their families, the emigrants agreed, and an armed escort
Great Salt Lake City thrived as emigrants passed through on began marching them away from the wagons. A mile out, the
the way to California. Young added polygamy as a recognized armed Mormons mowed down the entire group of 120 settlers,
tenet of the church, claiming this had been revealed to Smith leaving only 17 very young children alive.
nine years prior. Young then proclaimed himself as a god, and
announced his own heaven, to which all faithful Mormons Mr. Cradlebaugh, the federal judge in Utah at the time,
would gain admittance. The more wives and children a family attempted to investigate the massacre, but the Mormon-
had, the higher its prominence in heaven would be. packed juries would not indict anyone. He then dismissed the
juries and began arresting people and examining witnesses by

himself. As new information came to light, many of the top show that he is not a coward.
leaders of the church were implicated in various murders and
robberies committed against Gentiles. However, Cradlebaugh Wiegand then retells the events that had occurred in detail. On
did not have the support he needed to make any charges stick, Thursday, Wiegand was beaten in the street over the accounts
since the current governor, Cumming, worked against him to he had published. On Saturday, Winters sent word wanting to
protect the Mormons. Twain then quotes a summary of the see Wiegand in his office. Wiegand, unsure of his safety, had
testimony given against Brigham Young and the Mormons. The taken along a neighbor as a witness. The neighbor, however,
evidence cited includes Young's failure to report the massacre had already heard that Winters was threatening to beat or kill
as Superintendent of Indian Affairs, the testimony of the Wiegand, so he didn't want to go. Instead, he arranged to have
surviving children, and the fact that property from the emigrant Winters meet Wiegand at Wiegand's office. Wiegand then
train was found in Mormon possession the day after the attack. invites Sheriff Cummings to his office to wait for Winters, who
never arrives. However, Lynch does arrive, stating that Winters
is in Lynch's own office and will see Wiegand there. Wiegand
Appendix C: Concerning a Frightful reluctantly agrees, but makes sure the sheriff will be near at
hand in case he should call out for help. When they arrive,
Assassination That Was Never Wiegand is led to a private room below and fears he has been
Consummated tricked. "Traps commonly are not set for benevolence," he
remarks ominously.
Mark Twain profiles Conrad Wiegand, the Superintendent of
In the room are Lynch and Winters, who asks Wiegand to
the Gold Hill (Nevada) Assay Office, a man full of his own self-
retract in writing his "damnably false charges" against himself
importance. Wiegand also preaches his own religion and
"in that infamous lying sheet of yours." In a very threatening
publishes his own paper, the People's Tribune. Wiegand
manner, he demands that Wiegand sign a paper that says he
publishes an article attacking several people, who then
made the stories up with malicious intent. Although afraid,
retaliate. After this, Wiegand airs the entire affair in the
Wiegand tries to reason with Winters, asking him to point out
Territorial Enterprise, which Twain excerpts in its entirety. "It is
the articles that offend him so that Wiegand can explain any
the richest specimen of journalistic literature the history of
misunderstandings. When Winters points out the offending
America can furnish, perhaps," he states. The article is titled, "A
article, Wiegand refuses to admit having written it. He states
Seeming Plot for Assassination Miscarried," and tells the
that all articles in his paper are published anonymously, and he
following account:
then refuses to name the author despite Winters's demand
Some months prior, the editor of the Enterprise had warned that he do so. Wiegand then continues by trying to show how
Wiegand not to publish scandals concerning the local mines. the language in the article is only speculative and levels no
Doing so would only result in Wiegand's business and financial actual "charges" at Winters. Lynch supports Winters, saying
ruin, injury, and possible death. Wiegand writes that these the statements are certainly "insinuations" if not "charges."
predictions have mostly come true. His assay business has Winters again demands a retraction, cursing extravagantly and
dropped off since his publication of such scandals. His shaking his fist at Wiegand. Wiegand tries to rise from his chair,
newspaper has received almost no financial support, besides but Winters pushes him back down again. This happens
the money he himself has poured into it. Furthermore, he was several times during the conversation. It then occurs to
assaulted twice by men who objected to his publishing their Wiegand that he is helpless and unarmed, and that Lynch
names in his stories. Now Wiegand is waiting to see when "the would be the only witness should violence occur. He does not
whole of your prophecy will be fulfilled," meaning, his own wish to apologize or sign the statement, nor to reveal the
murder. Still, the "spirit of true Liberty" cries out, demanding author's identity, yet he doesn't want to die either. [Twain here
Wiegand publish the name of his attackers, and he does: John interjects, "The reader is requested not to skip the following."]
B. Winters, President of the Yellow Jacket Company, and Philip
Wiegand pretends to go along to gain his freedom, agreeing to
Lynch, owner of the Gold Hill News. Wiegand then claims that
write "a certain kind of retraction." He keeps his hands in plain
he would likely not have published the names except that
sight so the men won't think he is reaching for a weapon, and
Winters himself was bragging of the incident around town.
he remains outwardly calm. He also tries to use "mesmeric
Therefore, he feels compelled to tell his side of the story and

Roughing It Study Guide Quotes 59
power" on Winters in desperation to prevent the man from Twain's time had against Mormonism (and perhaps even
harming him. Wiegand writes not a true retraction, but a letter today). However, polygamy could be called a "victimless crime"
which he hopes will "speak the truth into Mr. Winters's mind." In in today's parlance, assuming the women were willing
the letter, he states only that he does not know whether the participants. Therefore, it is possible to see the Mormons'
allegations against Winters are true, and he hopes that they position as a reasonable one.
are disproven. This satisfies neither Winters nor Lynch, but
Wiegand refuses to write any other retraction. Winters Despite this attempt at fairness, Twain includes his own bias,
threatens to "thrash you to within an inch of your life" and which seems to be against the Mormons. He portrays the
maybe worse, and he begins to beat Wiegand with a rawhide Mormons as the unquestioned villains in the Mountain
(whip). Wiegand does not fight back, only using his arms to Meadows Massacre, based on the testimonies he has
shield his head. Winters ceases his beating and then threatens reproduced in Appendix B. Twain's sensational account of the
to cut off Wiegand's ear if he ever prints Winters's name again. massacre presents the premeditated slaughter of innocent
emigrants for revenge and for financial gain. The absolute truth
In his letter to the Enterprise, Wiegand speculates that the men of the massacre, however, has not been definitively proved to
had intended to kill him the moment he signed a retraction. this day. It has not been proved that Young ordered the attack,
Furthermore, he expects that Lynch would have testified that and some evidence suggests that Young actually advised his
Winters killed him in self-defense. He is only writing these followers not to disturb the wagon train. Some theorize that
statements now, he says, because he fears he will be killed and the attack was carried out by an independent group of
he thinks the whole situation should be made public. Wiegand Mormons, but again, definitive proof is lacking.
then surmises that it was only his own mesmerism of Winters
which allowed him to escape the room alive. Wiegand then In Appendix C, Twain lets Wiegand's writing speak for itself,
proclaims that the public should bring any scandalous stories hardly bothering to skewer the man with his own commentary.
to him which they are afraid to publish themselves. He pledges Wiegand's language is convoluted, and as Twain implies in the
to expose all villainy until the day he is murdered, in the name opening paragraph, could be characterized as thoroughly self-
of God and liberty. important. Perhaps, though, Twain influences the reader to see
things his way by his opening statements that Wiegand is full
Twain wraps up the anecdote by saying that they should have of himself. It is clear through Twain's side-commentary during
beaten Wiegand in the street where he would at least have had the newspaper excerpts that he is mocking Wiegand and finds
a chance to run. He further states that a journalist who libels a the entire account absurd. But while Wiegand's language does
citizen based on hearsay "deserves to be thrashed for it." seem overblown and self-justifying, the truth is that Twain
cannot know for certain what happened between Wiegand,
Winters, and Lynch. Wiegand's account may be entirely true
Analysis (making allowances for his odd claim that he had influenced
Winters through "mesmerism"). The reader sees two
Appendices are usually strictly factual, but as in the rest of the perspectives on the story here, Wiegand's and Twain's, but
text, Twain inserts his own opinions and interpretations of the tangible evidence is not presented to either support or
events he records. Twain does give some leeway to the discredit Wiegand's story. Twain does state that he includes
Mormons as he records their history, noting that the the story in Roughing It as an example of "journalistic
persecution they faced could indeed cause resentment and literature," so perhaps his intent is once again simply to
the desire for revenge. The Mormons had simply been trying to entertain the reader rather than to draw conclusions about the
live according to their religious beliefs, he notes. Brigham event itself.
Young had tried to establish an independent domain outside
the United States, but circumstances then shifted the land they
occupied into U.S. possession. The Mormons' desire for
freedom of religion and self-governance parallels that of the
g Quotes
founding of the United States itself.
Polygamy seems to be the main objection many people of

"What I suffered in contemplating

own journalistic practices belie his approach, democratizing

his happiness, pen cannot
the experience.
describe."
— Mark Twain, Chapter 1 "We slept, if one might call such a

condition by so strong a name—for
Upon hearing of his brother's appointment as Secretary of
Nevada Territory, Twain is jealous of his good fortune and the
it was a sleep set with a hair
adventures he will surely have in the West. He is full of youthful trigger."
exuberance and eager to get out into the world himself, but
has not had the means to do so yet.
— Mark Twain, Chapter 9
"There was a freshness and This exciting detail is part of Twain's story of a stagecoach
robbery and murder. This is exactly the type of sensational
breeziness, too, and an story his readers might wish to hear about the West. He
relieves the mundane travel details of packing, eating, traveling,
exhilarating sense of emancipation
and sleeping with the more exotic details of guns and robbers
from all sorts of cares and to keep the reader interested.
responsibilities."
"Slade had to kill several
men—some say three, others say
Twain's trip to the West feels like a new beginning to him, one four, and others six—but the world
of freedom to choose a new path in life. He is leaving city life in
"the States" and all of his old troubles behind, and he is ready
was the richer for their loss."
for whatever adventure may come his way. This is the dream of
the traveler, to escape. But Twain's narrative emphasizes the — Mark Twain, Chapter 10
way escape also implies a reprieve from social decorum and a
life outside the ruling hand of law and order.
Twain's exaggerated account of Slade's reputation is excused
in a neat double entendre. He implies that the world is a better
place for their removal from it, and that Slade is a sort of hero
"We felt very complacent and for doing so. But he also suggests that Slade profited from
their deaths. In a world outside the ordinary sense of right and
conceited ... after we had added it
wrong, both services are equally valuable, and Slade is to be
to our list of things which we had admired, even though he is a murderer.
seen and ... other people had not."

"Take my word for it, ten or eleven
wives is all you need—never go
Twain and his fellow passengers come upon a pool of alkali over it."
water as they travel overland by stagecoach. Twain's satirical
approach to travel and human nature is to characterize travel
— Brigham Young, Chapter 15
as being a way people set themselves apart from others. His

This unverified statement is supposedly made by Brigham during the gold and silver rushes of the era.
Young to Mr. Johnson, who in turn told it to Twain. Twain
includes the statement for humor, making Mormons and their
practice of polygamy the butt of a joke. He also implies that "I knew it! We are rich! IT'S A
once a taboo is broken, all bets are off: you may as well kill 100
men as 1. In a civilized society, the difference is of kind, not BLIND LEAD!"
degree.
— Higbie, Chapter 40
"Moralizing, I observed, then, that Twain's mining partner Higbie is excited over discovering a vein
'all that glitters is not gold.' Mr. of ore that promises to make them rich beyond their wildest
dreams. This story, like all the others, ends in disappointment,
Ballou said I could go further than however, when the men fail to do the work required to retain
the claim legally. In this and the subsequent New York
that [and say] that nothing that
anecdote Twain shows both that even in the "lawless" Wild
glitters is gold." West, laws must still be abided by, and that even in the "law-
abiding" East, good fortune can strike suddenly and without
— Mark Twain, Chapter 28 warning.
A naïve Twain has just shown his first discovery of "gold" to Mr.
Ballou, an experienced miner. Ballou sets him straight, saying
"The first twenty-six graves in the
his find is worthless rock. Twain tries to recover from his Virginia cemetery were occupied
embarrassment by offering a nugget of wisdom. Ballou shoots
that down, too, with his pragmatic statement. He knows that
by murdered men."
real gold is actually dull in color when discovered—it doesn't
glitter at all—and now Twain knows it, too. One of the few truly — Mark Twain, Chapter 48
valuable lessons Twain shares about travel is the way in which
the experience redefines one's expectations.
Twain highlights the roughness of life in Virginia City by
describing the local custom of murder. A man was nobody until
he had killed someone, so men killed one another to prove
"We had not less than thirty themselves and gain social standing, a cynical statement on
how far people will go to prove they belong to high society.
thousand 'feet' apiece in the
'richest mines on earth' ... and
were in debt to the butcher." "In our day of telegraphs and
newspapers his plan compels us
to swear in juries composed of
Twain is living on speculation, always expecting to get rich
fools and rascals."
from his investments in various mines, but these ventures
never pay off. He owns a potential fortune on paper, but since — Mark Twain, Chapter 48
none of the mines produce, Twain has no actual cash on hand
to spend. His riches are an illusion he continues to believe in—a
Twain bemoans the judicial system in the West, particularly its
common hope of those who went West to make their fortunes
ineffective practice of trial by jury. Those selected for jury duty

Roughing It Study Guide Themes 62
must swear that they are unfamiliar with the case. However, — Mark Twain, Chapter 76
due to the speedy transmission of news, most educated
citizens know about the cases and thus are excluded from jury
Twain witnesses a breathtaking sunrise from atop a volcano in
duty. This leaves only a pool of uneducated jurors who are
Hawaii, an experience that transcends ordinary reality for him.
uniformed of events going on around them. "His plan" refers to
He is above the clouds, and none of the land below is visible
Alfred the Great, who first introduced trial by jury to England.
except for the crater rim itself. The "Last Man" (1826) is a
reference to a little-known novel by Mary Shelley depicting a
post-apocalyptic figure stranded on earth following a plague.
"Any white man can swear a Twain had little sympathy for the native Hawaiians and the
monarchy that ruled them, whom he felt were savage and
Chinaman's life away in the courts,
pagan.
but no Chinaman can testify
against a white man."
"If you are 'no account,' go away
— Mark Twain, Chapter 54 from home, and then you will have
to work, whether you want to or
Twain points out the unfairness of the legal system, which is
slanted in favor of whites and against other races. Twain is not."
particularly affronted by this regarding the Chinese in the
West, whom he greatly admires. — Mark Twain, Chapter 79
In the last paragraph of the book, Twain delivers its "moral." He

"They fairly reveled in gold, recommends that hard-working people stay home and make
good there. However, the lazy or useless ("no account") should
whiskey, fights, and fandangos,
go out into the world to make their way. In doing so, they will be
and were unspeakably happy." forced to work hard to survive, despite their own laziness. Of
course, this is in opposition to the welcome respite from toil
— Mark Twain, Chapter 57 and care he anticipated early in his voyage. Thus, he ensures
we treat his work as he intended, satirically.
Twain romanticizes the Californian way of life, making it seem

as if it is all high living and excitement. His opinion that the
Californians were "unspeakably happy" is a bit of trumpery for
the travelogue, intended to continue to lure the reader into the
m Themes
fantasy that life on vacation and away from home is inevitably
better.
Travel and Adventure
"I felt like the Last Man, neglected
Mark Twain states that he wrote Roughing It as a form of
of the judgment, and left pinnacled
entertainment, calling it "merely a personal narrative ... of
in mid-heaven, a forgotten relic of variegated vagabondizing, and its object is rather to help the
resting reader while away an idle hour." Roughing It is first and
a vanished world."
foremost a travelogue, and it is saturated with tall tales of
strange sights, wonders, and off-the-beaten path adventures.

Roughing It Study Guide Themes 63
Just as today, many people during Twain's time did not have (An allegory is a figure or even a story that represents an
the leisure or money for pleasure travel to distant locales. And abstract concept, such as love.) In Chapter 6, he pokes fun at
of course there was no television or Internet to give glimpses his own language use after he asks an ungrammatical
of foreign lands. Books like Roughing It offered such people a question. "The grammar was faulty, maybe," he excuses
glimpse at life in far-off or exotic places. In fact, Roughing It himself, "but we could not know, then, that it would go into a
helped shape the romantic myth of the "Wild West," with its book someday." In Chapter 18, the author remarks of his
freewheeling, sometimes dangerous lifestyle of freedom and journey across the desert wasteland, "The poetry was all in the
opportunity. anticipation—there is none in the reality."
Twain never loses an opportunity to brag about the places he's The language used by characters often indicates their
been and the adventures he's had. He revels in accumulating background, from probable education level to social class. This
new experiences, proudly mentioning his "list of things which is a significant aspect of the portrait Twain paints of the
we had seen and some other people had not." Along the way, cultures he observes. A prime example of this is found in
the author wears multiple hats in his role as entertainer to the Chapter 47. "Slang was the language of Nevada," Twain writes,
reader. He is a tour guide, walking the reader through the and "each adventurer had brought the slang of his nation or his
streets of Salt Lake City to visit churches and government locality with him."
buildings. He is a naturalist, describing fantastic or unusual
plants and animals, such as the voracious coyote, "a long, slim, He then records a detailed interaction between a minister and
sick and sorry-looking skeleton." He's a journalist, passing on Scotty Briggs, a local in Virginia City, which humorously calls
juicy tidbits from local papers to readers back East. He's an out the differences in their speech. The minister is a fresh
anthropologist, recording and commenting on the customs and import from the East and is unfamiliar with the ways of the
beliefs of the various peoples he meets, from the Mormons to West. His style of speech is formal and educated. Briggs's
the Hawaiian islanders. And he's often a fearless leader, taking speech, on the other hand, is ungrammatical and thick with
the reader along on perilous adventures like trekking through localisms. Neither man can understand the other's manner of
an active, glowing volcano crater after nightfall. Wherever he speech at all because their backgrounds are so different. At
goes, Twain uses humor to enliven his travelogue and make one point, the frustrated minister asks, "Would it not expedite
readers feel like they are almost there with him. matters if you restricted yourself to categorical statements of
fact unencumbered with obstructing accumulations of
metaphor and allegory?" Briggs responds, "That last lead of
yourn is too many for me—that's the idea. I can't neither trump
Language nor follow suit." While the minister asks Scotty, in language
Scotty can't understand, to speak plainly, Briggs's style of
speech is as natural to him as breathing. He cannot change it
any more than he can change the way he breathes. The idiom
Language is in Mark Twain's blood, and this shows plainly in his
Briggs uses ("trump nor follow suit") references a card game.
manner of writing and choice of anecdotes. Twain presumes
The minister is highly unlikely to know the game, or to play
that his reader is equally literate and interested in linguistics,
cards at all. There is little linguistic common ground where the
and he devotes much of the text to recording the local dialects
two men can meet or come to an understanding.
he encounters. Examples of how deeply language is engrained
in Twain's style are sprinkled throughout the book, for he sees
and interprets life through a linguistic lens. For example, in
Chapter 2, the author comments on an overly talkative Violence and Death
passenger in the stagecoach, who "rained the nine parts of
speech forty days and forty nights, metaphorically speaking."
Her speech is full of "dislocated grammar and decomposed
pronunciation" that makes the conversation torturous for Violence is glorified in the West that Twain describes, and
Twain—but humorous in the retelling. In Chapter 5, Twain death is often the result of this violence. Even before Mark
describes the coyote as "a living, breathing allegory of Want." Twain arrives at his first destination, Carson City, he finds

Roughing It Study Guide Motifs 64
himself sleeping with his rifle in the stagecoach in case of help bring the theme of travel and adventure to life. Many
attack. And indeed, their driver is attacked and killed by people travel to see the wonders of nature, and these abound
bandits, though Twain "lost interest in the murdered driver" in Roughing It. Twain gives readers who are unable to make the
when he learns of the killer Jack Slade. Slade, a notorious journey westward themselves a strong taste of the region.
"outlaw amongst outlaws," is nonetheless hired by a Twain describes exotic plants and unknown animals, from the
stagecoach company as a division agent for a particularly coyote and "jackass rabbit" to sagebrush and palm trees.
troublesome region. His job is to prevent the frequent However, unlike other travel writers, Twain refuses his reader
stagecoach robberies, and he does so using whatever means the type of poetic waxing they might expect and instead
necessary. Slade establishes order quickly by killing "several delivers a hard-nosed, bleak, and, of course, comic description
men—some say three, others say four, and others six—but the of the natural world.
world was the richer for their loss," writes Twain. This
statement exemplifies the attitude of the region: violence and He describes sagebrush as "a gnarled and venerable live oak-
killing has its place and is often justified as an effective, tree reduced to a little shrub two feet-high." Of Lake Tahoe, he
acceptable means to an end. Outlaws are the most respected recommends its healing powers as being able to "restore an
patrons at any saloon, and newcomers to Virginia City are Egyptian mummy to his pristine vigor, and give him an appetite
nobody until they've "killed their man" to establish their like an alligator. I do not mean the oldest and driest mummies,
reputation. Twain also writes of the "Mountain Meadows of course, but the fresher ones." As for the infamously beautiful
massacre," in which emigrants in a wagon train are slaughtered Hawaiian sunsets, he likens them to a hungover prisoner: "the
in cold blood by a band of Mormons disguised as Indians. red sun looked across the placid ocean through the tall, clean
stems of the cocoanut trees, like a blooming whiskey bloat
Death in Roughing It doesn't result only from violence, though. through the bars of a city prison." These descriptions
The bones of settlers, oxen, and horses litter the route as undermine readers' expectations and while they give them a
Twain and his companions travel overland by stagecoach. sense of the sweep and grandeur of the West, they also give
These pitiful creatures may have died from lack of water, them a sense of superiority for reading about it rather than
starvation, exposure to the weather, or sheer exhaustion from taking the time to visit.
the arduous journey. Life in the West is difficult and perilous,
and anything from illness to extreme weather to mining
accidents might claim lives. Twain himself has a few narrow
escapes, including the night he and his companions spend in a Guns
raging snowstorm with no fire to keep them warm (Chapter
33). Twain's brushes with death are often the result of his own
poor planning or foolish decisions, and at times, it seems it was Guns and other weapons are evident everywhere Mark Twain
a miracle that he survives to tell the tale at all. This, of course, travels in the West and underscore the theme of violence and
is part of the adventure he describes. death as well as the type of lawlessness that is the double-
edged sword of travel. Twain packs his own "pitiful little Smith
& Wesson's seven-shooter" and jokes that it requires all seven
bullets to take down a single person. His brother carries a Colt
m Motifs revolver, and their other companions on the overland
stagecoach journey have weapons as well. Every man in the
West seems to own and carry a gun, or at least that's the
impression Twain creates. The author offers numerous
exciting or humorous anecdotes about guns, killers, and those
Natural Wonders who died. These include a shoot-out between Jack Slade and
Mr. Jules (Chapter 10) and a corrupt city officer shot dead at
cards after robbing people at gunpoint himself (Chapter 49).
Even in the Chincha Islands (Peru), far removed from the West,
Mark Twain's descriptions of the landscape, flora, and fauna sea captain Ned Blakely takes justice into his own hands by

Roughing It Study Guide Suggested Reading 65
preparing to shoot the murderous Bill Noakes.
Horses
Mark Twain travels almost exclusively by horse in his

wanderings, with the exception of boats during his journey to
Hawaii. The motif of horses represents freedom and mobility,
tying into the theme of travel and adventure. Horses pull the
stagecoaches across the plains and deserts and over the
mountain passes. Twain and his companions also ride horses
in their explorations and outings in both the West and Hawaii.
However, like the places Twain visits, these horses can be

unpredictable and sometimes present unexpected difficulties
or dangers. Twain shows his inexperience as a new arrival to
Carson City when he buys a horse notorious for bucking, "a
genuine Mexican plug," at an inflated price. The horse gives
him no end of trouble and costs far more in hay than it is worth.
In the end, Twain passes the beast off to an even greater rube
than himself, "a passing Arkansas emigrant whom fortune
delivered into my hand." This anecdote illustrates how, even
though Twain is only a temporary resident in the West, he
learns the ways of the locals the longer he stays. Taking
advantage of newcomers was a regular practice, and in
passing on the bum horse to another sucker, Twain shows that
he has truly learned something about the West.
e Suggested Reading
Camfield, Gregg. The Oxford Companion to Mark Twain.
Oxford UP, 2003.
Coulombe, Joseph L. Mark Twain and the American West. U of

Missouri P, 2003.
Quirk, Thomas V. "Mark Twain." History.com, A&E Television

Networks, 2010.
Railton, Stephen. "Mark Twain in His Times." Mark Twain in His

Times, University of Virginia Library, 2012.
"Roughing It." University of Virginia Library, n.d.

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ABOUT THE TITLE

h Key Figures ................................................................................................. 4

k Plot Summary ........................................................................................... 12

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1844). tenderhearted woman whose love of storytelling later inspired

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and His Jumping Frog," which was printed in newspapers (1969).

Twain is a somewhat naive man in his 20s when he begins the

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rowing) and also solves problems of Twain's creation (such as

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Key Figure Map

Main Key Figure

Other Major Key Figure

Minor Key Figure

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Full Key Figure List Old Arkansas is an argumentative

Higbie is Twain's close friend and his

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Boggs is a rival reporter in Virginia Eckert, an Englishman in Thailand, is

Simon Erickson is a possibly mentally

Buck Fanshaw is a Virginia City

General Buncombe is a self-​important Mr. Goodman is the owner and chief

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His Royal Highness M. Kekuanaoa is

Colonel Jack is a naive country boy Liholiho is the son of Kamehameha

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Bridget O'Flannigan is a French

Oliphant, one of Twain's mining

Miss Wagner is mentioned by Jim

Tom Reeder is stabbed and shot by Mr. Whiteman is a mysterious miner

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during a terrible rainstorm. Just before arriving in Salt Lake

As the coach travels onward, Twain recounts the "Mountain

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firewood from Indians when they can. Twain expects to get

kick themselves for their stupidity.

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For two months, Twain lives for a time as a penniless mooch,

The Return Home

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Six days later

Twain witnesses a Pony Express rider race past while on

The next night

Twain's stagecoach is attacked by outlaws and the

Mark Twain crosses the Great American Desert of 40

The next day, August

Twain arrives at Carson City, where his brother takes up

Twain stakes a land claim at Lake Tahoe but accidentally

Some time later

Mark Twain gets "silver fever" and begins his

Some time later

Twain camps at Mono Lake for a week and nearly gets

Not long thereafter

Twain claims a potentially rich mine but loses it because

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he doesn't break ground soon enough.

Twain moves to Virginia City to become City Editor for

Mark Twain leaves Virginia City and moves to San

Twain experiences a major earthquake in San Francisco.

General Buncombe is a self-important Mr. Goodman is the owner and chief