Sam L. Clemens of the Arago, 1860

While the Arago was grounded, the boat's social hall, the air thick with tobacco smoke, beckoned a naive young man, Valintine Ward, who became intoxicated through the efforts of the experienced bartender. Reports from the Arkansas were that the river was getting low, only three feet at Little R...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Mark Twain journal (1954) 2019-04, Vol.57 (1), p.133-148
Main Authors: Marleau, Michael H., CLEMENS, SAM L., HOOD, J. W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Boats
Design and construction
Drug effects
Epistolography
Foreign students
History
Intelligence
Memoranda
Paddle steamers
Pilots and pilotage
Ports
Practice
Rivers
Travel
Twain, Mark
Twain, Mark (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) (1835-1910)
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Summary:While the Arago was grounded, the boat's social hall, the air thick with tobacco smoke, beckoned a naive young man, Valintine Ward, who became intoxicated through the efforts of the experienced bartender. Reports from the Arkansas were that the river was getting low, only three feet at Little Rock, "with scant two feet to Fort Smith." Since the Arago did not return to St. Louis until May 18th, the circumstances suggest that the Arago could have made a run up the low river a distance before returning to the nowlost town of Napoleon at the mouth of the Arkansas River. The pilots went looking for new assignments.24 Goose Island is at the lower right-hand comer (Collection of the author) The bell boat, Submarine No. 3 was engaged to raise the Arago. 11 "Port of St. Louis, Departures," St. Louis Missouri Republican, July 1, 1860, p. 4; "River Intelligence, Cairo Correspondence," Louisville Daily Courier, July 2, July 3,1860, p. 4; Edgar Marquess Branch, Michael Frank, and Kenneth M. Sander- son, eds., Mark Twain's Letters, Vol. 1, University of California Press (1988) pp. 99-100; "Port of St. Louis, Cairo River News, Correspondence," St. Louis Missouri Republican, July 2, July 3,1860, p. 4; "Port of St. Louis, Arrivals," St. Louis Missouri Republican, July 4,1860, p. 4; "River News &c.," Vicksburg Daily Whig, July 6 ,1860, p. 3.
ISSN:0025-3499