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N0KFQ > TODAY 09.04.15 15:01l 48 Lines 2172 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 52514_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Apr 9
Path: IW8PGT<IZ3LSV<IR1UAW<IQ5KG<I0OJJ<N6RME<N0KFQ
Sent: 150409/1400Z 52514@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.63
1859
Mark Twain receives steamboat pilot's license
On this day in 1859, a 23-year-old Missouri youth named Samuel
Langhorne Clemens receives his steamboat pilot's license.
Clemens had signed on as a pilot's apprentice in 1857 while on
his way to Mississippi. He had been commissioned to write a
series of comic travel letters for the Keokuk Daily Post, but
after writing five, decided he'd rather be a pilot than a writer.
He piloted his own boats for two years, until the Civil War
halted steamboat traffic. During his time as a pilot, he picked
up the term "Mark Twain," a boatman's call noting that the river
was only two fathoms deep, the minimum depth for safe navigation.
When Clemens returned to writing in 1861, working for the
Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, he wrote a humorous travel
letter signed by "Mark Twain" and continued to use the pseudonym
for nearly 50 years.
Clemens was born in Hannibal, Missouri, and was apprenticed to a
printer at age 13. He later worked for his older brother, who
established the Hannibal Journal. In 1864, he moved to San
Francisco to work as a reporter. There he wrote the story that
made him famous, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.
In 1866, he traveled to Hawaii as a correspondent for the
Sacramento Union. Next, he traveled the world writing accounts
for papers in California and New York, which he later published
as the popular book The Innocents Abroad (1869). In 1870, Clemens
married the daughter of a wealthy New York coal merchant and
settled in Hartford, Connecticut, where he continued to write
travel accounts and lecture. In 1875, his novel Tom Sawyer was
published, followed by Life on the Mississippi (1883) and his
masterpiece Huckleberry Finn (1885). Bad investments left Clemens
bankrupt after the publication of Huckleberry Finn, but he won
back his financial standing with his next three books. In 1903,
he and his family moved to Italy, where his wife died. Her death
left him sad and bitter, and his work, while still humorous, grew
distinctly darker. He died in 1910.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
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