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interested, and, with his brother Orion, had acquired "feet"
in an Esmeralda camp, probably at a very small price--so
small as to hold out no exciting prospect of riches. In his
next letter he gives us the size of this claim, which he has
visited. His interest, however, still appears to be chiefly
in his timber claim on Lake Bigler (Tahoe), though we are
never to hear of it again after this letter.
To Mrs. Moffett, in St. Louis:
CARSON CITY, Oct. 25, 1861.
MY DEAR SISTER,--I have just finished reading your letter and Ma's of
Sept. 8th. How in the world could they have been so long coming? You ask
me if I have for gotten my promise to lay a claim for Mr. Moffett. By
no means. I have already laid a timber claim on the borders of a lake
(Bigler) which throws Como in the shade--and if we succeed in getting
one Mr. Jones, to move his saw-mill up there, Mr. Moffett can just
consider that claim better than bank stock. Jones says he will move his
mill up next spring. In that claim I took up about two miles in length
by one in width--and the names in it are as follows: "Sam. L Clemens,
Wm. A. Moffett, Thos. Nye" and three others. It is situated on "Sam
Clemens Bay"--so named by Capt. Nye--and it goes by that name among
the inhabitants of that region. I had better stop about "the Lake,"
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