If anyone still questions Twain's prejudice against the American Indian they need but reread "The Noble Red Man." Link below: twain.lib.virginia.edu/projects/rissetto/redman.html Or as the fans claim, he was merely mocking Hawthorn's overly-beatified description. JERRY VORPAHL On 8/17/13 12:28 PM, "Scott Holmes" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >Some of you may be aware of my attempts at recording readings of Mark >Twain and producing videos. I have more than 300 of them on YouTube at >this time. Lately I've been reworking my videos for the Roughing It >chapters. I became annoyed with chapter 19 and decided not to enhance my >video for it. In my mind this chapter presents Twain at his worst. It >presents Twain as prejudiced and a bigot in regards to the Indians of >the Great Basin, the “Goshoots”. The one moment of humor is a sarcasm, >that the “Goshoots” are not quite as bad as the employees of the >Baltimore and Washington Railroad Company. Chapter 20 is also a >relatively inferior production, merely repetitions of an anecdote of an >event that never occurred, Horace Greely and the stagecoach driver Hank >Monk. The chapter is saved, however, by poignant description of his >penultimate day on the road. These two chapters leave this portion of >the country without adequate description. > > >Rather than produce new videos for these two chapters (my original >videos remain on YouTube) I have created a video based on a Google Earth >Tour of the Overland Stage/Pony Express trail through the Nevada >Territory. I have included in the narration what bits exist of his >description of this territory along with material describing the >stations and something of their history. This left some rather large >gaps of dead air which I have attempted to fill with material related to >the Paiute/Pyramid Lake War of 1860. This conflict and the circumstances >that created the conflict were largely responsible for what Twain >encountered between Utah and Carson City. Bottom line is Twain was >grossly unfair in his portrayal of the Paiutes, or “Goshoot” Indians >and >he was entirely ignorant of the cause for their apparent impoverishment, >the destruction of much of their food source and the monopolization of >the water supply and grazing lands. Perhaps he can be excused a bit for >likely being ignorant of the original cause of the Paiute war, the >kidnap and rape of two Pauite girls by some men from the Williams >Station, a stagecoach stop, saloon and general store on the Carson >River. > > >The video is approximately 52 minutes long and includes some very nice >banjo music from the Heftone Banjo Orchestra (made available through the >Creative Commons ShareALike license). > > >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phpqWwNWdD0