AN OPINION FROM SAN FRANCISCO:
  
  The purpose and place of the adoption of "Mark Twain" by the young Mr. Clemens is not completely solved. From my reading, the first use by him was his tag on a piece PUBLISHED in Carson, but MAILED FROM Sacramento to Nevada's capital, raising the questions of what was the postmark on the envelope of the sent piece, was he staying at the time in the California capital or just passing through or stopping for some hours, and if so - which way was he headed when he visited the Sacto post office?


    A minor additional detail might be: "Was he waterborne or sitting at a table or desk on solid land, or even rocking and rolling on the train to downhill to Sacramento  when he deliberately signed the submission with his chosen handle?" 

    Whether he was on his way to San Francisco or on his way back to Nevada is interesting, if not vital.  A transit change in Sacramento was necessary at the time: The ferries (steamboats) were busily plying the river from there to San Francisco/Oakland since the early 1848 gold rush, and the massive influx of immigrants on ships and prairie schooners the following year, called argonauts. (A publication was named for them - I don't recall if it published any Twain works)

    BRIEF HISTORY NOTE:  Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet and advisors were so gleeful that the U.S. Army had expanded the empire to include Mexico's northern lands of California and the whole-danged present SW United States, they advertised for contractors to construct the Chicago to Sacramento California trans-continental railroad, and a gang of four Sacramento businessmen that included Leland Stanford quickly formed a company to do the job halfway, starting at this end. (A partner, banker Crocker, got busy importing undocumented Chinese laborers from Shanghai to do the hard work - and dynamite duty the Irish refused to do -- another story.)


    By '63 the westernmost chunk of the original road, Sacramento to Truckee, was complete and trains were rolling in both directions, with Clemens one of its patrons.  Though still stung by seeing railroads as destroyers of riverboat travel in the Midwest, no river could get a boat over the Sierra Nevada divide. 

    

    So thedate and direction of travel when he did the posting of his first Mark Twain submission is of interest.  Also, whether it was a silly story (phunny) or serious journalism could have been on his mind, as well as whether he had any intention of keeping the name. The first Eastern Literary World submission was signed San Francisco, intended as a funny tale of gambling on a lead-filled jumping frog, of course.  You could say he really chose the name then, writing it down while sitting comfortably at a fancy hotel in downtown San Fran. He also signed the Innocents Abroad/New Pilgrim's Progress manuscript there (here). 


    WHERE WAS HE WHEN HE SIGNED HIS POST? 
    Was Twain, therefore, born as a Nevada City author, Hannibal author, or can Sacramento, San Francisco, Calaveras County, or Carson City lay claim? Or the train, or ferry to/from SF and Sacto?  Or does he belong to Hartford, Elmira or one of his other Eastern cities?  Or Hannibal?  All of the above?

(Another rumor - Southern CA humorist John Phoenix may have published under the name!)  
 
Richard R - in Oakland, San Francisco Bay   

========================


From Kevin's post:

.....

But the war came and ended his chosen
career. He was soon  off to  Nevada, and by 1863, when he visited
Carson City, he was indeed a writer and  had a body of work and
needed a nom de plume.  He abruptly adopted the name "Mark
Twain" while in Carson City in Feb 1863 and ten years later 
when  asked  about it he claimed to have gotten it from Capt Sellers
who he said had  recently died and had used the name "Mark
Twain" before him. This has been  proven factually false.
Sellers was not yet dead in Feb, 1863 and no piece by Sellers (or
anyone else) has ever been found signed "Mark Twain" before
Twain's use in Feb 1863.
.....