Clemens, Samuel L.

Document signed ("Sam. L. Clemens," and "Samuel L. Clemens" in the text), a mining deed with the handwritten portion of the document—about 100 words—entirely in Clemens's autograph, countersigned by F. K. Bechtel, Notary Public, and a clerk in the County Recorder's Office who certified the document, 3 pages (13 3/4 x 8 1/2 in; 350 x 215 mm), [Aurora, Mono County, California], 7 August 1862, in ink on pale blue-gray paper, a party printed form with imprint "Mining Deed —No. 1, Towne & Bacon, Printers, San Francisco"; the document comprised of the indenture page with printed text  and Clemens's autograph additions and signature, the certification page (on verso)  with Bechtel's signature and his green paper notary's seal, and the docket page with the recording clerk's notes; some very slight wear at folds, but in excellent condition.

Christie's, 17 May 1996, lot 59 (undesignated consignor) 

Document signed ("Sam. L. Clemens," and "Samuel L. Clemens" in the text), a mining deed with the handwritten portion of the document—about 100 words—entirely in Clemens's autograph, countersigned by F. K. Bechtel, Notary Public, and a clerk in the County Recorder's Office who certified the document, 3 pages (13 3/4 x 8 1/2 in; 350 x 215 mm), [Aurora, Mono County, California], 7 August 1862, in ink on pale blue-gray paper, a party printed form with imprint "Mining Deed —No. 1, Towne & Bacon, Printers, San Francisco"; the document comprised of the indenture page with printed text and Clemens's autograph additions and signature, the certification page (on verso) with Bechtel's signature and his green paper notary's seal, and the docket page with the recording clerk's notes; some very slight wear at folds, but in excellent condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Becoming Mark Twain. A rare and particularly early Clemens document  representing a crucial turning point in his life: his decision at the age of 26 to give up gold  prospecting and speculation for a full-time job as a reporter with the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise.  In this indenture "Samuel L. Clemens of Mono Co., Cal.", divests himself of his mining interests by agreeing to sell to "[Judge] George Turner, of Carson City, Nevada Territory," for $1,000 his shares in "certain veins or lodes of rock containing precious metals ... gold and silver bearing quartz, rock and earth therein."  Clemens meticulously lists the shares, which are measured in feet, in the 15 different claims in the blank space provided on the document: "Fifty (50) feet in the 'Sciola'; 62 ½ in 'Ottawa'; Fifty (50) in the 'Allamoocha'; 6 ¼ in 1^st Ex.s. 'Winnomucca'; 25 feet in the 'Tom Thumb'; 50 in the 'Fresno'; 12 ½ feet in the 'Horatio'; 100 feet in the 1^st N.E.Ex 'Fresno'; 50 feet in the 'Rosetta'; 100 in the 'Potomoc'; 12 ½ in the 'Daniel Boone'; 12 ½ feet in the 'Boston'; 12 ½ in the 'Great Mogul' ; 12 ½ in the 'Long Island'; 25 feet in the 'Mountain Flower.'"

On the very day as this document—7 August—Clemens wrote to his brother Orion (Secretary to the Territorial Governor of Nevada) that he has decided to sell his mining shares and to accept the newspaper's offer: "I have made out a deed ... and acknowledged and left it in Judge F. K. Bechtel's hands, and if Judge Turner wants it he must write to Bechtel and pay him his notary fee of $1.50. I would have paid that fee myself, but I want money now ..." (Mark Twain's Letters, ed. E. M. Branch, et al, vol. 1, p. 234).  Judge Turner had been appointed by President Lincoln to the post of Chief Justice of the Territory; in 1864 he would leave office because of a scandal.  As a result of of his debts, Clemens never saw any of the $1,000 due him from Turner.

Clemens had come west from Missouri in August 1861 with his brother Orion, who had been appointed to his Nevada post by President Lincoln, to serve as his brother's assistant at a salary of $8 a day. But he became smitten with the idea of striking it rich in gold and silver mining and soon tried his hand at prospecting, at first in northern Nevada and then, from February 1862, in the Esmeralda district in the southern part of the territory. Bankrolled by Orion, Clemens plunged into speculation in gold-mine shares (measured in feet of ore-bearing veins or ledges) in the area centered around Aurora. "The Clemens brothers ... eventually owned feet, nominally worth $5,000, in at least thirty different ledges there. They never realized anything like the face value of their holdings" (ibid., p. 187). None of the claims paid enough to support Clemens and he ended up working in a quartz mill for low wages as his debts mounted. While in Aurora, he contributed humorous letters under the pen name "Josh" to the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, the leading newspaper in the area. The publishers thought enough of his writing (and most likely of Orion's political connections) that in late July 1862 the paper offered the failed prospector a job as a reporter and editor at a salary of $25 a week.  Since this was a sum Clemens rarely realized in Aurora, he accepted the offer, sold the mining claims on 7 August in the present document, left Esmeralda and mining, and walked to Virginia City and his new literary career.  It was during Clemens's seventeenth-month stay with  the Territorial Enterprise (before he moved on to San Francisco) that he began using the pen name "Mark Twain," the first time in the 3 February 1863 issue of the paper.

This pivotal document is the only mining deed in Clemens's handwriting still in private hands. The Mark Twain Project at Berkeley  holds some forty mining deeds involving Clemens, but only two have any portion of the text in his hand. Another example in his holograph is at Vassar College, bringing the total to four.