Without William H. Seward, Sarah Palin May Have Been Unknown to the World October 18, 2010

Want To See the $7.2 Million Dollar Check For Alaska Purchase?

Gov. Palin Owes Career To William H Seward?

Governor Palin’s Path is Set: Had it not been for the dogged determination of Secretary of State William H. Seward, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin may not have been the Vice-Presidential nominee of the Republican Party in 2008.  It was not an easy task, but, ultimately, Seward got Congress to simply write a big’ol check to the Russians and America had gained the final frontier.

In the 19th Century, Russia laid claim to the Alaskan territory with the establishment of the fur-trading Russian-American Company. The company was quite profitable for awhile but by the 1860′s, business wasn’t too good. In order for the company to remain viable, the Tsar would have to heavily subsidize operations.  But, only a few hundred Russians had emigrated to Alaska and the Russians had no way of defending the vast region. The Tsar and his ministers thought it was in their best interest to sell the land to the Americans rather than lose it in battle to one of the world powers, like Great Britain.

Thanks Bill! Monty Hall Would Be Proud!

In 1867. Secretary of State William H. Seward began negotiations to acquire the territory. Now, Seward was a hold-over from the Lincoln administration and was serving under President Andrew Johnson at the time. Johnson became quite unpopular due to his Reconstruction policies and some in the public derisively called the plan “Seward’s Folly”, “Seward’s Ice Box” or “Andrew Johnson’s Polar Bear Garden.” There were also facticious calls for the opening of the “Polar Bear Bureau” and the establishment of the “Superintendent of Walruses.” At the time, it was seen as a vast, empty wilderness opposed by many public figures such as Horace Greeley. But, some histories now suggest that most of the general public thought it was a shrewd deal. Political opponents in Congress who were trying to figure out how to impeach Johnson delayed approval of the $7.2 million needed to complete the deal.  Perhaps because public opposition wasn’t as great as has been advertised because Congress ratified the deal on April 9, 1867, though it did by just one vote.   The Senate’s approval opened the door for the United States to acquire an area about twice the size of Texas for the purchase price of $7.2 million, or about 2 cents an acre. Funny thing is, Congress didn’t appropriate the money until July 1868.  I’m guessing that, while the Senate is charged with approving treaties, the House of Representatives has a say in the approval of funding and I suspect that opponents in the House hoped to halt the purchase by keeping the purse strings tight.  If you notice the check above is dated August 1868 so there must have been some politicking and horse trading. Guess the Tsar didn’t care too much about the slow payment but I suppose any Americans  who were in Alaska before the check cleared could have been considered considered to be squatters. 

Bill Had a Great Catch for the US

In any event, the deal got done and the public remained generally non-plussed about the whole thing until gold was discovered in 1896 the territory’s Klondike region and suddenly the acquisition wasn’t such a folly after all. As time went on, the deal became to be on par with buying Manhattan for $24.  Today, 20% of America’s oil is found in Alaska and about half of the seafood. It also produces a huge amount of natural gas, timber and other natural resources.   Pokiness seems to be part of Alaska’s history because, after Congress delayed cutting the check, it took until 1912 to establish the Alaska Territory.  And statehood wasn’t exactly around the corner from there.

Andrew Johnson's Polar Bear Swimming Pool?

Today, it has produced “Sarah Barracuda”, the first female Republican nominee for Vice-President. Alaska became a state in 1959 which seems kinda odd when one considers that California gained statehood very shortly after it’s gold rush broke out.  Alaska is too big for just one day of recognition so there are two state holidays marking its heritage. One is “Seward’s Day” which is in March every year to mark the day that William Seward signed the treaty (Mar 30, 1867) and the other is “Alaska Day,” which commemorates this date in History when on October 18, 1867, the United States formally took possession of the 586, 412 square miles of Alaska. If this Global Warming caper goes the way that Mr. Gore suggests, then “Andrew Johnson’s Polar Bear Garden” will have to find a new name…perhaps “Andrew Johnson’s Polar Bear Swimming Pool” would be more appropriate.

Weather Bottom Line:   We need rain.  Count yourself lucky if you get it this week. Officially, Louisville has gotten .56 inches of rain since Sept 1.  Now, climatologically, Sept and Oct are the driest month in Louisville but his is a bit out of hand.  A boundary snuck through yesterday but its not too far to the south.  The previous thinking was that a wave of energy would run along that front and bring us some light rain on Tuesday.  But, the front appears to be inching farther south so when the wave goes by, the rain will be mainly in Tennessee.  That’s okay because they could use it too but…anyway, maybe a slight shot on Monday night or Tuesday but probably only if you do a rain dance in your backyard.  Cooler air filters in beginning Tuesday and we will at least be pleasant with highs in the upper 60′s Tuesday and lower 70′s the rest of the week.

Transatlantic Cable Led To Bargain AKA The Alaska Purchase March 30, 2010

How Did the Transatlantic Cable Lead to the Purchase of Alaska?

Great Eastern Steamship Dwarfed All Other Ships of the Day

On This Date in History:  In Antebellum America of  the mid 19th Century, a message could be sent from New Orleans to Maine in a matter of minutes.  But,  that same message might take two weeks to get to London as it was unthinkable to be able to lay a cable all the way across the Atlantic Ocean.  Unthinkable to everyone but Cyrus Field.  Field was a paper merchant who had been so successful in business that he was able to retire by age 34 when he came up with a plan to lay a transatlantic cable.   He thought that it wasn’t quite a difficult as it sounded because he figured that the cable could rest on an underwater plateau between Newfoundland and Ireland.  He was so certain of success, that in 1856 he formed the Atlantic Telegraph Company after meeting a Canadian from Newfoundland looking for investors for his nearly bankrupt telegraph concern.  Even though he had his own ideas, well-meaning citizens offered their own suggestions.  One suggested have floating call boxes so that passing ships could stop and send a message.  Another suggested suspending a cable by underwater balloons. 

Some Russians Were Rather Fond of Alaska

Aside from the hair-brained ideas, even the more rational ones faced some issues.  The cable weighed one ton per mile yet snapped quite easily in the rolling seas.  The North Atlantic is not exactly the calmest weather in the world so there were constant delays.  To help battle the elements and also haul the giant and heavy cable, Fields called on the service of the world’s biggest ship.  The Great Eastern steamship, at 32,000 tons was five times bigger than the next biggest ship.   After two years, a cable was finally laid and the continents were connected.  The great success didn’t last though because after an inaugural message from Queen Victoria to President James Buchanan, the line went dead.  Perry McDonough Collins saw Fields misfortune as an opportunity.  See, Collins had another idea.  He went to Western Union with the proposal to run a cable under the Bering Strait and then across Siberia to Europe.  Work was begun in Alaska but Fields had not given up on the oceanic route.  It took 12 years of effort and failure but on July 27, 1866 the Transatlantic Cable finally reached Newfoundland and this time it worked.  Well, that was the end of the Siberian route but the poor guys working on it didn’t learn they were out of job for a year due to….slow communications.

Collins' Men Didn't Know the Job Was Terminated For a Whole Year

Again, misfortune became a catalyst for unforseen success.  In order to work on his project, Collins had secure diplomatic connections fromboth Russia and the United States.  The efforts involved Secretary of State William H. Seward who, while helping Abraham Lincoln manage the Civil War, had also been involved in Collins Siberian scheme as well as the plans of Field.  While the  Bering Strait cable did not come about, conversations between the US and Russia continued.  Russia had established a presence in Alaska in the early 18th century but had been trying to unload it on the United States since around the time that Field had started his Transatlantic Cable project.  But, President Buchanan had his hands  full with a country heading to Civil War, though I’m not exactly sure what Buchanan was doing because he certainly had not done much to head off that great conflict. 

Cartoon Depicting "Andy" Johnson and "Billy" Seward Trying to Sell Alaska Ice Block to Congress

Seward really liked the idea of grabbing Alaska but the many other Americans weren’t too keen on the idea.  The nation was in debt and trying to rebuild the South after the war.  Alaska was wilderness and in a very inhospitable environment.  Many people thought that the idea was so idiotic that the plan was called “Icebergia,” “Walrussia,”  ”Seward’s Ice Box” and, most famously, ”Seward’s Folly.”  Nevertheless, on this date in 1867, William H. Seward turned his folly into reality when Russia agreed to sell Alaska to the United States for $7.2 million.  That is less than half of what was paid for Louisiana 64 years earlier.  It came out to about 2 cents per acre.   Seward had no way of knowing it, but the folly turned into literally a gold mine in just 20 years.  Gold was discovered in the 1890′s and the nations wealth increased.  Now, Alaska has oil.  The US has reaped hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties from oil produced on federal land and offshore waters of Alaska.  Then there is also the rich fishing industry in the dangerous but fruitful Alaskan waters. 

Congress Finally Forked Over the Money in August 1868

In the end what originally was a failed venture to connect North America to Europe resulted in the United States acquiring territory that initially increased it’s size by 20%.  The nation not only gained access to the obvious timber natural resources and fishing rights, but unwittingly also gained enormous access to gold.  Then when huge oil fields were discovered and the ability to bring it to market was developed, the benefit of Seward’s Folly became astronomical.  It’s hard to say which was the better deal: The Louisiana Purchase or the Alaskan Purchase.  But, one thing’s for certain, we could probably use another folly today that would bring such a huge return on investment.  But, it almost didnt’ happen.  See…Congress was leary.  The Senate has the power to approve treaties and it voted to ratify the treaty by a 37 to 2 majority.  But, the House of Representatives controls the purse strings and opponents of Seward’s Ice Box threatened to not provide the funds for the purchase.  It took a year but the Alaska Purchase Treaty was ultimately funded a year after the treaty was signed with a 113 to 48 vote.

Great Weather Ahead

Weather Bottom Line:  Enjoy the rest of the week as we move to 80 or so by Thursday and Friday.  It will be interesting to see how a weekend frontal system unfolds.  The SPC has a storm risk in Texas but I’m a bit curious about Saturday evening here.  Might be interesting but the dynamics might not come together.  Forget about it for now. Just enjoy the week.

Turn Out the Lights, Turn Up the Heat and Viva Alaska! October 18, 2008

In the 30s on Saturday Night

Hope Your Heater Works: As expected we had a much cooler day than we’ve seen in quite some time. An upper low will work its way through overnight bringing some light showers and clouds but the showers will probably not be that signficant and will end shortly after sunrise. The clouds won’t stick around long thereafter and the sun will be dominant by Saturday afternoon but area highs won’t get out of the low 60′s. Saturday night, the mercury will fall to the 30′s area wide with some places in the low 30′s. Hope your heaters work and be careful if you haven’t used yours yet this year. Check it out prior to use. Then get ready for your bill. I had figured that my gas rate had increased by 39%. LG & E corrected me. They claim its 65%!! Apparently I missed an interim increase. Natural gas prices have fallen quite a bit since they adjusted the rates in July. Hopefully when they readjust in November, they will come back down because I don’t want to have heating bills this winter like I had a few years ago…nor do you.

Tropical Storm Omar Satellite Image 1018 0245Z

Tropical Storm Omar Forecast Track 1017 11pm

Tropical Storm Omar is useless but if you want to read about it, check out below. But, at least you can find it now on the satellite imagery and is certainly much better looking that it was. It is moving over much colder water and as it continues northeast it will run into frontal zones. In short, Omar’s days are numbered. I think its still going to be interesting to see if it eventually affects Europe in whatever shape or form it is in. Remember, the role of tropical cyclones in nature is to transport heat and moisture from the tropical regions to the polar regions. They are not trying to melt the polar ice caps, they are just doing what they are supposed to do and this year, in the Atlantic Basin, they have done a very good job with several storms making it into the northern latitudes.

Want To See the $7.2 Million Dollar Check For Alaska Purchase?

Gov. Palin Owes Career To William H Seward?

Governor Palin’s Path is Set: Had it not been for the dogged determination of Secretary of State William H. Seward, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin may be be the Vice-Presidential nominee of the Republican Party.

In the 19th Century, Russia laid claim to the Alaskan territory with the establishment of the fur-trading Russian-American Company. The company was quite profitable for awhile but by the 1860′s, business wasn’t too good. In order for the company to remain viable, the Tsar would have to heavily subsidize operations. Only a few hundred Russians had emigrated to Alaska and the Russians had no way of defending the vast region. The Tsar and his ministers thought it was in their best interest to sell the land to the Americans rather than lose it in battle to one of the world powers, like Great Britain.

Thanks Bill! Monty Hall Would Be Proud!

In 1867. Secretary of State William Seward began negotiations to acquire the territory. Now, Seward was a hold-over from the Lincoln administration and was serving under President Andrew Johnson at the time. Johnson became quite unpopular due to his Reconstruction policies and some in the public derisively called the plan “Seward’s Folly”, “Seward’s Ice Box” or “Andrew Johnson’s Polar Bear Garden.” There were also facticious calls for the opening of the “Polar Bear Bureau” and the establishment of the “Superintendent of Walruses.” At the time, it was seen as a vast, empty wilderness. But, some histories now suggest that most of the general public thought it was a shrewd deal. Political opponents in Congress who were trying to figure out how to impeach Johnson delayed approval of the $7.2 million needed to complete the deal. But, perhaps because public opposition wasn’t as great as has been advertised, Congress ratified the deal on April 9, 1867 to acquire an area about twice the size of Texas being purchased for $7.2 million, or about 2 cents an acre. Funny thing is, Congress didn’t appropriate the money until July 1868. If you notice the Check above is dated August 1868. Guess the Tsar didn’t care too much about the slow payment but I suppose any Americans in Alaska before the check cleared could be considered to be squatters. Anyway, the public

Bill Had a Great Catch for the US

remained generally non-plussed about the deal until gold was discovered in 1896 and suddenly the acquisition wasn’t such a folly after all. As time went on, the deal became to be on par with buying Manhattan for $24.

Today, 25% of America’s oil comes from Alaska and about half of the seafood. It also produces a huge amount of natural gas, timber and other natural resources. Today, it has produced “Sarah Barracuda”, the first female Republican nominee for Vice-President. Alaska became a state in 1959 and there are two state

Andrew Johnson's Polar Bear Swimming Pool?

holidays marking its heritage. One is “Seward’s Day” which is in March every year to mark the day that William Seward signed the treaty (Mar 30, 1867) and the other is on October 18, which commemorates This date in History when on October 18, 1867, the United States formally took possession of the 586, 412 square miles of Alaska. If this Global Warming caper goes the way that Mr. Gore suggests, then “Andrew Johnson’s Polar Bear Garden” will have to find a new name…perhaps “Andrew Johnson’s Polar Bear Swimming Pool” would be more appropriate.

A No Doubt About It Genius

Turn Out the Lights For Edison

Turn out the Lights: On this date in 1931, perhaps the greatest single inventor in the history of the world died. Thomas Alva Edison died in West Orange, New Jersey at the age of 84. Upon his death, President Hoover asked all americans to turn out the lights for one minute. He had considered having all power plants across the nation be shut down but his advisors reminded him that electricity had become such a part of the American fabric that doing so would place many people at extreme risk. So, Hoover took the Republican approach of asking for a volunteer effort. Too bad he didn’t take a Republican view of taxes as, in the wake of the stock market crash, Hoover raised taxes and most economic historians point to his raising of taxes and tariffs that led to the Great Depression, not the stock market crash….anyway….

Thomas Edison’s 1093 US patents is a record that will probably never be even remotely challenged. There are a couple of links of Edison to Louisville. For a brief period of time when he was young, Edison lived in a small house in Louisville near Butchertown. (you can visit the home) One of his most famous inventions was the first practical incandescent light

Benefactor to the World

bulb in 1879. In 1883, the Southern Exposition opened in Louisville with a display of 20,000 incandescent lights making it the largest display in this history of the world at that time. The number of lights in Louisville at that time was more than the entire city of New York. Please take the time to READ THIS EDISON BIOGRAPHY as it does a far better justice than I could do to bring to the attention one of the most influential people in the history of the United States, and even the world, not just in the 19th and 20th century and far beyond. While it was not patented, Edison actually invented the modern method of invention…a footnote that is often lost in most history lessons.

TROPICAL STORM OMAR DISCUSSION NUMBER 19

NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL152008

1100 PM EDT FRI OCT 17 2008

THE CONVECTION ASSOCIATED WITH OMAR HAS DECREASED AGAIN THIS EVENING…WITH THE REMAINING CONVECTION IN A RAGGED BAND WELL SOUTHEAST OF THE CENTER. HOWEVER…AN AMSU OVERPASS NEAR 20Z SHOWS THAT THE CYCLONE HAS A DEEP-LAYER WARM CORE…WHICH SSM/I IMAGERY SHOWS IS SURROUNDED BY MID/UPPER-LEVEL DRY/COOL AIR. A QUIKSCAT OVERPASS NEAR 22Z SHOWS A SIGNIFICANT DECREASE IN THE WINDS FROM THE EARLIER OVERPASS…WITH NO RELIABLE-LOOKING VECTORS SHOWING WINDS OF MORE THAN 45 TO 50 KT. AMSU INTENSITY ESTIMATES AT 20Z WERE 55 TO 60 KT…WHILE REGULAR SATELLITE INTENSITY ESTIMATES WERE TROPICAL 65 KT FROM TAFB AND SUBTROPICAL 35-40 KT FROM SAB. THE INITIAL INTENSITY IS DECREASED TO 55 KT BASED ON AN AVERAGE OF THESE ESTIMATES…AND THIS MIGHT BE A BIT GENEROUS. THE INITIAL WIND RADII HAVE BEEN REVISED BASED ON THE QUIKSCAT DATA. OMAR HAS SLOWED ITS FORWARD MOTION DURING THE PAST FEW HOURS AND THE INITIAL MOTION IS NOW 040/14. IN THE SHORT TERM…OMAR SHOULD CONTINUE A GENERAL NORTHEASTWARD MOTION BETWEEN A DEEP-LAYER RIDGE OVER THE EAST CENTRAL ATLANTIC AND THE MID-LATITUDE WESTERLIES TO THE NORTH. THE FIRST 48 HR OF THE FORECAST IS DOWN THE MIDDLE OF THE FAIRLY TIGHTLY CLUSTERED GUIDANCE. AFTER 48 HR…THE GFS… ECMWF…UKMET..AND HWRF SHOW OMAR BEING ABSORBED INTO A BAROCLINIC LOW MOVING EASTWARD FROM THE WESTERN ATLANTIC…THIS AFTER OMAR TURNS MORE NORTHWARD IN ADVANCE OF THE LOW. THE NOGAPS…THE BAMD…THE BAMM…AND THE LBAR FORECAST OMAR TO TURN EASTWARD AND EVENTUALLY SOUTHWARD AROUND THE EASTERN ATLANTIC RIDGE. THE NEW FORECAST TRACK WILL LEAN MORE TOWARD THE GFS/UKMET/ECMWF/HWRF SOLUTION…CALLING FOR OMAR TO TURN MORE NORTHWARD AFTER 72 HR. HOWEVER…OUT OF DEFERENCE TO THE OTHER MODELS AND THE PREVIOUS FORECAST…THE NEW FORECAST IS NOT AS FAR NORTH AS THAT OF THOSE MODELS. OMAR IS MOVING OVER SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURES OF LESS THAN 26C…AND IS LIKELY TO ENCOUNTER INCREASING WESTERLY VERTICAL WIND SHEAR AFTER 24 HR. WHILE ANOTHER CONVECTIVE FLARE-UP CANNOT BE RULED OUT…THESE CONDITIONS INDICATE THE STORM SHOULD GENERALLY WEAKEN THROUGH THE FORECAST PERIOD. THIS IS SUPPORTED BY ALL THE INTENSITY GUIDANCE. OMAR SHOULD BECOME EXTRATROPICAL IN 48-72 HR AS IT MERGES WITH A FRONTAL SYSTEM OVER THE NORTH ATLANTIC. IF THE GFS/UKMET/ECMWF/HWRF SCENARIO VERIFIES…OMAR WILL BE ABSORBED BY THE WARM FRONT OF THE ONCOMING BAROCLINIC LOW…WITH THE FORMER TROPICAL CYCLONE SHOWING LITTLE RE-INTENSIFICATION AS AN EXTRATROPICAL LOW. THIS IS REFLECTED IN THE 48-96 HR PORTION OF THE INTENSITY FORECAST.

FORECAST POSITIONS AND MAX WINDS

INITIAL 18/0300Z 31.5N 52.8W 55 KT

12HR VT 18/1200Z 33.3N 51.1W 50 KT

24HR VT 19/0000Z 35.1N 48.7W 45 KT

36HR VT 19/1200Z 36.7N 46.2W 40 KT

48HR VT 20/0000Z 38.3N 43.2W 35 KT…BECOMING EXTRATROPICAL

72HR VT 21/0000Z 39.5N 39.0W 35 KT…EXTRATROPICAL

96HR VT 22/0000Z 42.0N 36.0W 35 KT…EXTRATROPICAL

120HR VT 23/0000Z…ABSORBED BY FRONTAL SYSTEM

$$ FORECASTER BEVEN

Where Were You In 1981? March 30, 2007

What you see here is the official NWS severe probabalistic map for Saturday midday to Sunday midday. A pokey storm system is losing much of its energy as it gets stretched out. A couple of days ago it touched off 63 tornadoes on the front range of the Rockies. Saturday night into Sunday morning will be our best chance for rain and t’storms but the best dynamics, or wind action, will be to our west and the late night/early morning timing will not provide energy from the sun and the heat that is available is also limited. Bottom line, at this point, on early Friday morning, it doesn’t look to fearsome but we’ll keep our nose to the grindstone. Now, last weekend I was talking about highs in the low 50′s for this weekend….well…back that up a few days. We will remain well above seasonal norms this weekend but by the latter half of next week, our tempertures tank and I bet we stay there for several days. Hopefully this nice weather will be back in time for Derby Festival activities.

This Date In History On this date in 1962, my friend Andrew Knox was born…and on this date several years before that, my sister was enjoying her first full day on the planet and my dad began the first day of seeing his hair fall out. However, on this date in 1981, John Hinkley, Jr. became a household name when he took potshots and President Reagan. Other assassins have had other reasons. The guy who shot McKinley was an anarchist, the guy who shot Garfield was a disgruntled…not sure if they used that term in the 19th century… office seeker and Boothe shot Lincoln in some “south’s gonna rise again” scheme. I’m not sure why Lynettte Squeaky Fromme or later her fellow Charles Manson follower took a shot a good guy President Gerald Ford. I think he may have talked to the bullits about his WIN buttons as each approached and they lost interest, like the rest of the nation did…as well as the history books. But whatever the reasons, they could not have been as goofy as that of Hinkley, who shot the President of the United States to try an win the affections of a teenage actress named Jodie Foster, who was either in her first or second year at Yale University. I’ve always wondered how he thought that would work. “Hey, Jodie, I shot the President…you wanna go on a date?”…”gee…wow…sure!” Thankfully for the nation, President Reagan survived and was back on the job in less than two weeks. One of the bullits lodged right near the President’s heart. It was a small caliber bullitt. But this particular type of .22 bullitt was designed to fragment so as to cause maximum damage, but this one by the heart remained in tact. Thus, one might say that Divine Providence had a hand in the Gipper beating Tecumseh’s curse. If you don’t know what that is, go back in the archives…I think it was probably March 4. I’m not explaining it again.

I will conclude with something to give you hope in these days of such pessimism. See, on this date in 1867, many Americans were chiding the Johnson Administration for being stupid. In particular, the Secretary of State William Seward who in the wee hours of the morning of March 30, 1867 signed a treaty with czarist Russia for the purchase of Alaska. Czar Alexander II had been trying to unload it on the US since the Buchannon administration but the US got sidetracked by the Civil War. After the war, Seward really went after it and he ended up increasing the size of the country by about 20% for around two cents and acre. But the people of the time ridiculed the deal. They called it most famously “Seward’s Folly” and also “Seward’s Ice Box” and “Johnsons’s Polar Bear Garden.” The treaty passed in Congress by one vote a few weeks later but funding wasn’t provided by Congress for another year. Seems a bunch of really wise men with great vision of possibility in the future decided the pursestrings were the way they could reign in such a imbecilic President. Fortunately, their foolishness did not prevail, for if it did, the US would have had the Soviet Union as a neighbor and we would have been without all of the resources and beauty of our 49th state. Quite often, what is thought of as truth and fact by a majority of people and politicians later is proven to be false. Thankfully, sometimes history does repeat itself and dire predictions do not always come true. If you read the Memoirs of US Grant, you will find that he felt his biggest failure was not in annexing Santo Domingo. I think today we would call that the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Had he been allowe to do that, its plausible that the US might have also acquired Cuba….and think how history later might have been different. BTW…Grant’s memoirs are considered the greatest Presidential memoir ever. It was published by Mark Twain.