I've seen this story described as Faustian, but I don't see these people as selling their souls for this sack of gold. It seems to me they've already done that. I suppose this could be thought of as the devil coming to collect his due. The story was written in 1898 while Mark was living in Vienna, Austria. This was a time of great elitism, with the Hapsburg aristocrats, and also a time described as "notoriously, stingingly, passionately antisemitic". Mark was courted by aristocrats and also denounced in the press as either a "Jew-lover" or as a "secret Jew".

Young Mark is traveling the Ohio River, posing for the boys on shore while attempting to become acquainted with the riverboat men. He can obtain the attention of only a humbug.

All the boys in town, on the banks of the Mississippi River, grow up with an ambition of going on the river.  At first merely being a cabin boy or a deck hand is honor enough.  But finally, the aspiration of being a pilot surfaces and nothing else will do.  Young Sam runs away from home at 13 years of age in search of a place on a riverboat.

Mark faces his long list of career attempts, failures and otherwise, and must try to find something to do. He finally finds his place and becomes a professional journalist, a writer, a city editor.

From Robert Stewart - Twain-L:

Mark spends his time designing his new house on Russian Hill and mentally spending his new found wealth while tending in ill Capt. Nye, meanwhile Higbie too is called away from the claim in search of the elusive cement mine. They miss the deadline and loose the claim. Their third partner manages to hold a share of the new claim by way of a cocked revolver. This marks to end of Sam Clemens' dreams of striking it rich in the silver mine business. The next chapter finds him entering the world of journalism.

Mark Twain's partner, Higbie, discovers that a recent find is actually a "blind lead" and consequently available to be claimed. They file a claim and have ten days to do a reasonable amount of work on the claim and they will become millionaires.

Mark and his partner, Higbie, row out to the big island in Mono Lake and nearly get stranded without food or water. They manage to get back to shore through a storm that threatens to turn them into a mass of soap suds.

Mark Twain's description of Mono Lake and environs. Personally, I find the area very picturesque.

The story, or rather a story of the elusive Whiteman Cement Mine. There are a couple of other stories about this mine available on the web that offer variations from this version. Cement Gold Mine of Mammoth Mountain

A lesson in quartz milling for the extraction of silver from the mined ore bearing quartz. I wonder how many of the people involved suffered from mercury poisoning.