On this day in 1862, Mark Twain left for Carson City, Nevada, a trip which, after much varnishing, became "Lost in Snow," a tale of disaster and near-death incorporated into ROUGHING IT (1872). Twain was still young Sam Clemens at this point — a twenty-six-year-old who had gone West in the grip of gold fever, and had quickly grown tired of his pick and shovel. The trip from Unionville to Carson City was to initiate a new plan: instead of actually mining for gold, Clemens and his cronies would go into real estate, buying and selling claims for other gullibles. Between the travelers and the implementation of this new get-rich scheme lay a series of disasters — a flood, a fight, and then with night closed upon them "like a cellar door," a blinding, knee-deep snowstorm. When the horses bolted and the last, life-giving match fizzled out, the men repented their most damning sins — whiskey, tobacco, cards — and resigned to meet their Maker...
"We put our arms about each other's necks and awaited the warning drowsiness that precedes death by freezing. It came stealing over us presently, and then we bade each other a last farewell. A delicious dreaminess wrought its web about my yielding senses, while the snow-flakes wove a winding sheet about my conquered body. Oblivion came. The battle of life was done."
Then the storm broke, and the men were soon settled in a comfortable inn — it was only fifteen paces away all the time — where they drank, smoked and played cards until they felt fully restored. Source:http://todayinliterature.com/
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