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=                            Roughing_It                             =
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                            Introduction
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'Roughing It' is a book of semi-autobiographical travel literature by
Mark Twain. It was written in 1870–71 and published in 1872, following
his first travel book 'The Innocents Abroad' (1869). 'Roughing It' is
dedicated to Twain's mining companion Calvin H. Higbie, later a civil
engineer who died in 1914.

The book follows the travels of young Mark Twain through the American
West during the years 1861–1867. He joined his brother Orion Clemens,
who had been appointed Secretary of the Nevada Territory, on a
stagecoach journey west.  Twain consulted his brother's diary to
refresh his memory and borrowed heavily from his imagination for many
stories in the book.

'Roughing It' illustrates many of Twain's early adventures, including
a visit to Salt Lake City, gold and silver prospecting, real-estate
speculation, a journey to the Kingdom of Hawaii, and his beginnings as
a writer. This memoir provides examples of Twain's rough-hewn humor,
which became a staple of his writing in later books such as 'The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer' (1876), 'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'
(1884), and 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court' (1889).


                         In popular culture
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U.S. astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell read 'Roughing It' aloud
to pass the time aboard NASA's Gemini VII, a 14-day-long Earth orbital
mission in December 1965.


                            Adaptations
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Various sections of 'Roughing It' were borrowed by television series
such as 'Bonanza'. In 1960, an hour-long adaptation was broadcast on
NBC starring Andrew Prine and James Daly.

A four-hour 2002 mini-series adaptation was broadcast on Hallmark
Channel. Directed by Charles Martin Smith, it starred James Garner as
an elderly Samuel Clemens and Robin Dunne as a young Clemens.

'Roughing It' recounts midway through the book that a rich "blind
lead" gold strike was discovered and claimed by a partnership of
Twain, Calvin Higbie, and a mine foreman A.D. Allen, giving them
well-founded hopes of being millionaires.  To establish a claim, it
was required that any or all of the claimants do a reasonable amount
of work on the claimed strike within ten days.  Due to chance
happenings and failed communications between the three, the work
requirement was left unfulfilled, and the forfeited but rich claim was
quickly seized by others ten days after it was discovered.  In the
dedication of the book, Twain refers to Higbie as an "Honest Man, a
Genial Comrade, and a Steadfast Friend … dedicated in Memory of the
Curious Time When We Two Were Millionaires for Ten Days". The
prospecting story is also covered in a 1968 episode of the  syndicated
television anthology series 'Death Valley Days', hosted by Robert
Taylor. In the television dramatization, Tom Skerritt plays Twain, and
Dabney Coleman was cast as Higbie.


                           External links
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License
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License URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roughing_It