Watch 88 Days in the Mother Lode: Mark Twain Finds His Voice

In the fall of 1864, 29 year old Samuel Clemens had to hide out from the San Francisco police. He went to a friend's cabin near Angels Camp in the Sierra foothills to drink a little, smoke a little, mine a little and listen to well told stories by miners in the area. When he returned from these 88 days, he had a notebook full of material he would use in his writings for the rest of his career.