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Article: Finding a voice.(Mark Twain)
- Article from:
- Cobblestone
- Article date:
- May 1, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 Carus Publishing Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Forced to give up his job as a steamboat pilot at the start of the Civil War, 26-year-old Samuel Clemens decided to head west.
His brother Orion had been appointed governor's secretary of the Nevada Territory, and Clemens went along as Orion's secretary. When he found out that his brother did not have enough work to keep him busy and did not have any money to pay him, Clemens tried his hand at silver mining. After six months, he realized that it was not going to make his fortune, but he did not know what to do next.
That's when the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, a Nevada boomtown newspaper, offered Clemens steady employment as its local reporter. ...