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