Scott:
   You are doing great work! Thank you!
re: Sam's first trip to New Orleans- On your website, you state that you
believed Sam's version of the facts rather than Bixby's. I did at first
also, but then came to believe that Bixby's story was what actually
happened. This from your site:
     "Although Bixby consistently indicated that he and Clemens came to
terms either at their first meeting or quite soon after, Mark Twain three
times explicitly designated New Orleans as the place where he approached
Bixby about becoming his steersman and where they reached anagreement.
Clemens’s version seems the more probable."
...
...There are several reasons why I came to believe Bixby's
rendition, including the formality of the interview that was
reported, which didn't seem to fit with Sam's scenario. I believe that that
interview occurred in Cincinnati before the first trip began.
     My beliefs were reinforced when I came to learn that Sam had already
voiced an interest in becoming a pilot when he went to Saint Louis before
doubling back up the river, and then on to Cincinnati:
       Instead, I came to believe that Sam's story that he was on his way
to South America was a cover story, and that the truth was what Sam wanted
to make sure would not be talked about for 100 years after his death. I
would sure like to know more about them dropping off armaments in Baton
Rouge on the way to New Orleans! This is of particular interest in light of
the Mississippi Militia stopping Sam at gunpoint at Vicksburg on his last
trip down the Mississippi in 1861.
     Miki's inference that Sam might have taken a side trip on his first
trip down to New Orleans doesn't appear to be supported by the reference
provided.
   Again, thanks for your excellent work in documenting these journeys!
    Peter

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There are 9 messages totalling 625 lines in this issue.
Topics of the week:
  1. Starting off for the Amazon (3)
  2. Life on the Mississippi editions (5)
  3. In re Kevin Macdonnell's post
Date:    Wed, 11 Aug 2021 12:03:37 -0700
From:    Scott Holmes <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Starting off for the Amazon
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I mapped Sam's journey from Keokuk to New Orleans, via Chicago and
Cincinnati, for those of you interested in such things.  Any commentary is
from the Mark Twain Project's collection of letters and editorials.
I'm still trying to sort out the history of the railroads involved.  I'm
discovering just how corrupt the development of railroads was.
http://twainsgeography.com/content/starting-out-amazon

If anyone knows of commentary on Sam's first trip with Horace Bixby I'd
appreciate a lead on it.  About all I know is Sam got aboard the Paul Jones
in Cincinnati, ran aground near Louisville, dropped of armaments at Baton
Rouge and discovered that passage to the Amazon was not immediately
available fro New Orleans.
Date:    Wed, 11 Aug 2021 15:51:42 -0500
From:    miki pfeffer <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Starting off for the Amazon
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Scott,
I don't know if you know of any research on a side trip Clemens might
have taken
to Schriever, Louisiana during this trip.
     Local lore and some apparent evidence suggests a visit in 1882 to
a riverboat
friend, John T. Moore, who owned Waubun plantation in Schriver along the
Southern Pacific Railroad line. The train from New Orleans still makes a
brief stop when there's someone (like my now-deceased mother when she came
to visit) who needs to disembark.
    The house Waubun still exists and is now lived in by a friend of mine
who is caretaking it at the same time he is the archivist at Nicholls
State University
here in Thibodaux, just a few miles from the house.
     Here's an article in a local paper from 2010. See what you think:
https://www.houmatoday.com/article/DA/20101229/Entertainment/608099735/HC
Regards,
Miki