Thanks to Barbara Schmidt for her further references regarding the
cholera epidemic that Sam crossed paths with on his journey to New York
from San Francisco via the steamships America and the San Francisco. I was
just completing the final edits on the first of two books told from the
perspective of Mark Twain, and was able to add a comment gleaned from what
Matt had stated in a previous post.
    This first book is focused on Sam's time in the West, and how Sam
became an Author. It explores his time as an irreverent 20 something
running for his life from various towns in the West, armed only with his
wit. It's about his  relationships in particular, things he didn't discuss
much-- such as the time Sam spent with Artemus Ward, and the love triangle
with Bret Harte that had Ina Coolbrith at the apex- What an amazing woman
she was! These are things that I had been curious about, being a
Californian who lived in the San Francisco Bay Area almost all of my life.
     I was amazed at how young many of the major players were- The de Young
brothers were teenagers when they started the San Francisco Chronicle, for
example, with Mark Twain as a reporter. This was a revelation to me because
most of the pictures I had seen of the participants were of them later in
life, so I had assumed ...

    The more important work is still to come- which places Sam's earlier
travels into the context of the important events that were occurring at the
time, and in the cities he visited, and how that
affected his consciousness.
     It's mostly written, in rough form, but the devil is in the details!!!!
     I find the parallels between that time and now to be remarkable,
including the pandemic.
      Thanks again to those who have contributed!
 Peter

-- 
Life is good.

Peter