Carson City is an independent city and the capital of the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 58,639, making it the sixth largest city in the state. The majority of the city's population lives in Eagle Valley, on the eastern edge of the Carson Range, a branch of the Sierra Nevada, about 30 miles (50 km) south of Reno. The city is named after the mountain man Kit Carson. The town began as a stopover for California-bound immigrants, but developed into a city with the Comstock Lode, a silver strike in the mountains to the northeast. The city has served as Nevada's capital since statehood in 1864; for much of its history it was a hub for the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, although the tracks were removed in 1950.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, best known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced", and William Faulkner called him "the father of American literature". His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), the latter of which has often been called the "Great American Novel". Twain also wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), and co-wrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.
Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins was a Northern Paiute author, activist (lecturer) and educator. Her maiden name is Winnemucca.
Ina Donna Coolbrith was an American poet, writer, librarian, and a prominent figure in the San Francisco Bay Area literary community. Called the "Sweet Singer of California", she was the first California Poet Laureate and the first poet laureate of any American state.
The Golden Era was a 19th-century San Francisco newspaper. The publication featured the writing of f.e.g. Mark Twain, Bret Harte, Charles Warren Stoddard, Fitz Hugh Ludlow, Adah Isaacs Menken, Ada Clare, Prentice Mulford, Dan De Quille, J. S. Hittell and some women such as Frances Fuller Victor. Stoddard recalled the newspaper as "the chief literary organ west of the Rocky Mountains".
William Wright (1829–1898), better known by the pen name Dan DeQuille or Dan De Quille, was an American author, journalist, and humorist. He was best known for his written accounts of the people, events, and silver mining operations on the Comstock Lode at Virginia City, Nevada, including his non-fiction book History of the Big Bonanza.
Rollin Mallory Daggett was a 19th-century American politician, minister, and diplomat. Daggett served a single term as a United States representative from Nevada from 1879 to 1881.
Josephine Clifford McCracken (1839–1921) was a California writer and journalist, a contemporary of Bret Harte, John Muir, Ina Coolbrith, and Joaquin Miller, and an environmentalist. She was a member of the Pacific Coast Women's Press Association.
John Franklin Swift was an American politician and author. Swift was a Republican member of the California State Assembly. He represented the 8th district in 1863 and 1873-75. In 1875, he ran as an independent for congress, but lost to William A. Piper. He later represented the 13th District from 1877 to 1880. In 1886, he ran for Governor of California, but lost to Democrat Washington Montgomery Bartlett.
James William Emery Townsend (1838-1900), more commonly known as Lying Jim, was the original of Bret Harte’s “Truthful James,” the source of Mark Twain’s Jumping Frog story, and much more. Some scholars say Townsend “was one of the most talented and notorious liars of the Comstock....” He was a member of the Sagebrush School of writers.
Edward Pollock was an American poet best known for writing "The Parting Hour" in 1857.
James F. Bowman was a journalist and poet in Northern California, and a co-founder of the Bohemian Club. Bowman served on several newspapers in Placerville, Sacramento and San Francisco during a 24-year career. Through his contacts among San Francisco journalists, Bowman befriended Mark Twain, artist William Keith, critic Ambrose Bierce and a great many others.
Joseph Thompson Goodman was an American journalist, writer, and epigrapher. During the Comstock silver boom in Virginia City, Nevada, he was owner and editor of the Territorial Enterprise, one of the largest and most influential newspapers on the West Coast. He hired Samuel Clemens as a reporter for the paper, giving Clemens his "start" as a professional writer. He later became interested in deciphering Maya inscriptions and made significant contributions in the field.
Nellie Verrill Mighels Davis was a US civic leader and journalist. In 1897, she was the first woman to report a boxing prize fight (Fitzsimmons/Corbett) in the United States. She was also the first State President of the American Red Cross in Nevada, and an officer of the Pacific Coast Women's Press Association
Henry Rust Mighels was a US journalist and politician. A writer of the Sagebrush School, he was the editor and publisher of Carson City, Nevada's Nevada Appeal. He was born in Norway, Maine. He served in the Union Army during the American Civil War as assistant adjutant general, with the rank of captain, and was wounded in action. In 1868, he was elected State Printer and served a two-year term. In 1876, he was elected to the Nevada Assembly, serving as Speaker in 1877. The following year, he ran unsuccessfully for Lieutenant Governor of Nevada. He was also an artist, painting still life and landscapes. His one book, Sage Brush Leaves (1879), consists of literary essays. He died of cancer in 1879 in Carson City and is buried at Lone Mountain Cemetery next to his wife Nellie Verrill Mighels Davis. The Mighels had three sons, including Henry R. Mighels Jr. and Philip Verrill Mighels; and two daughters. Henry J. Mighels Jr. took over as editor of the Appeal in 1898. Philip's ex-wife, Ella Sterling Mighels, was the "First Literary Historian of California".
Samuel Post Davis was a US journalist, politician, and historian. Though primarily a journalist, Davis also wrote poetry, plays, short stories, and humorous sketches. A humorist, he was one of the writers from Nevada associated with the Sagebrush School.
Ella Sterling Mighels was a California pioneer, author and literary historian. She was born in Mormon Island, California, but grew up in the town of Aurora, Esmeralda County, Nevada, leading her to adopt the pen name, "Aurora Esmeralda". She founded the California Literature Society (1913), and was named the "First Literary Historian of California" (1919). She died in San Francisco, and is buried in Oakland, California at the Mountain View Cemetery.
Philip Verrill Mighels was an American writer and novelist. His early poems, short stories, and several of his novels, including his best-selling Bruvver Jim’s Baby and The Furnace of Gold, are part of the Sagebrush School of American literature. He was also a versatile and prolific author, recognized for his science fiction novels, romances, and political commentary. Less-known are his detective novels.
Alfred Doten was an American journalist and diarist, and "the dean of the newspaper men of Nevada."
