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".

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.

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.

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.

Capt John Nye proves to be an invaluable traveling companion. Then, we learn just how devious the operators of silver mines can be.

A practical joke played on "an emigrant".

Mark and company return to consciousness and resume their old vices. Then, on to Carson City.

Lost and alone in a storm, our travelers try some anecdotal techniques for starting a fire, but fail. Then, to sleep perchance to dream.

The Landlady defeats and humiliates a drunken bully with nothing more than a pair of scissors and verbal ability. Our heroes attempt escaping the confinement of the inn only to find themselves lost in a snowstorm.

We never touched our tunnel or our shaft again. Why? Because we judged that we had learned the real secret of success in silver mining—which was, not to mine the silver ourselves by the sweat of our brows and the labor of our hands, but to sell the ledges to the dull slaves of toil and let them do the mining!

Mark and friends wind up stranded in Honey Lake Smith's Inn due to the flooding of the Carson River.

Mark discovers just how hard mining actually is and decides that the money is actually made in buying and selling shares or feet in mines, not working them with picks and shovels. This was originally presented at Fate Gardens on May 3 but the screen capture program crashed after approximately 1/2 hour. It this point I started recording the audio track separate from the screen capture program, which is now set to capture only the video. The audio option is turned off. I found mention of this in various sites on the web but no solution.

Mark arrives in Unionville and takes up prospecting. His preconceived ideas about mining melt away when he is informed that his discovery of gold is mere mica. This does result in some philosophic gold, however, as he remarks that "I still go on underrating men of gold and glorifying men of mica".

The trials and tribulations of the journey from Carson City to the silver mines, but also the satisfaction from camping out.

The gossip and propaganda that induces Silver Fever in Mark.

Sam Clemens and friend arrive for the first time at Lake Tahoe. He claims there couldn't have been more than 15 people around the lake then. Now that's something I'd like to experience sometime. He is not at all clear on where he is exactly and there is some controversy about his camps location. The principal exponents of the two main arguments are David Antonucci and Bob Stewart. Mr Stewart has advised me he is working on a book involving gun fights, tarantulas and other features found in chapters 21, 22 and 23 of Roughing It. Mr.