A Vancouver time travelogue brought to you by Past Tense.
Mark Twain was as successful as any American writer could hope to be, but by the 1890s he found himself $80,000 in debt from a publishing company he invested in that didn't survive the economic depression. To pay off his creditors, Twain went on a lecture tour of the world that included a stop at the Vancouver Opera House on Granville Street. He arrived in Vancouver 117 years ago today.
The stress of being so deeply in debt took its toll on Twain's health, and he spent part of his time in Vancouver laid up at the Hotel Vancouver. The tour, he said, was helping his physical as well as financial recovery:
Lecturing is gymnastics, chest-expander, medicine, mind healer, blues-destroyer, all in one. I am twice as well as I was when I started out -- I have gained nine pounds in twenty eight days and expect to weigh 600 before January. I haven't had a blue day in all twenty-eight. My wife and daughter are accumulating health and strength and flesh nearly as fast as I am. When we reach home a year hence I think we can exhibit as freaks.
From his hotel bed, Twain regaled local newspapermen (pictured) with stories and his opinions on many subjects. In this photo, he's holding a candle and explaining that he rejoiced when electric lights were introduced, but he still travels with a candle because many hotels shut the lights off at night. Major Pond, Twain's manager, abruptly ended the interview because otherwise, he said, Twain would talk all day.
Source: Photo by Major JB Pond, via City of Vancouver Archives #Port P329
