Guests and Songs in Twain's "Letter from Carson City"

Late on Saturday, January 31st, he wrote a newspaper column in the form of a letter, reporting on the party.1 The letter was dispatched to Virginia City, arriving at the Territorial Enterprise office on Sunday. [...]a friendly game of sparring between close friends in print began to the amusement of Nevada readers. [...]Twain's mention of "The Unreliable" told readers in 1863 that the person signing the letter "Mark Twain" was reporter Sam Clemens. The legis- lative battle initiated by what the Sacramento Daily Union dubbed as "the Winters Crowd" was against the ownership of Nevada mines by corporations headquartered in California.10 Little Joe Winters had snagged a number of shares of the rich Ophir gold and silver mine for the family. Because of the distance between the mine and the corporate headquarters, stock shares could be and were easily manipulated to the Nevada miners' disadvantage. [...]the song leaves the modern researcher of the gossip behind the tunes wondering.