(This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)
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(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)
This book was originally published prior to 1923, and represents a reproduction of an important historical work, maintaining the same format as the original work. While some publishers have opted to apply OCR (optical character recognition) technology to the process, we believe this leads to sub-optimal results (frequent typographical errors, strange characters and confusing formatting) and does not adequately preserve the historical character of the original artifact. We believe this work is culturally important in its original archival form. While we strive to adequately clean and digitally enhance the original work, there are occasionally instances where imperfections such as blurred or missing pages, poor pictures or errant marks may have been introduced due to either the quality of the original work or the scanning process itself. Despite these occasional imperfections, we have brought it back into print as part of our ongoing global book preservation commitment, providing customers with access to the best possible historical reprints. We appreciate your understanding of these occasional imperfections, and sincerely hope you enjoy seeing the book in a format as close as possible to that intended by the original publisher.
(Reprint, 2013, exact facsimile of the first edition that ...)
Reprint, 2013, exact facsimile of the first edition that was originally published in 1881, 185 pp. Our research strongly suggests that this anonymous work penned as "A Successful Operator," was actually written the American poet pf Cincinnatus Hiner Miller (1837-1913) who most often wrote under the pseudonym "Joaquin Miller." Book Condition: New, Contents: In this Wall Street novel written 42 years before "Reminiscences of a Stock Operator," Miller creates a colorful and entertaining caricature of Wall Street's trappings, punctuating his narrative with references to Jay Gould, Daniel Drew, Sage, Keene, Astor and Vanderbilt. Although best known for his tales of the west, this is the 2nd title about New York penned by Miller, the first being the 244 page poem "The Baroness of New York," written in 1877. Extremely Scarce Content, 185 pp.
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This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Cincinnatus Heine Mille was the son of Hulings and Margaret (Witt) Miller. He was born in Liberty, Indiana. His middle name was given in honor of the country physician who was in attendance at his birth; the form "Heine" which appeared in his early books, may or may not have been a printer's error. His father, a Quaker schoolmaster, wandered ever westward, seeking a land of peace and plenty, from Ohio to Indiana, thence to Illinois, and finally, in 1852, across the Rockies and Cascades to Oregon. He settled near the forks of the Willamette not far from the present Eugene.
Education
For a time attended an academy named "Columbia College" in Eugene, taught school for a while in Clarke, Washington Territory, studied law on the side, and was admitted to the bar in Portland, Oregon, in 1861.
Career
At about the age of seventeen, his son "Nat, " as he was called, ran away from home in company with another boy. They found their way to one of the mining camps in Northern California where Miller obtained employment as a cook. Being a rather delicate lad, he fell seriously ill with the scurvy as the result of the bad food and his own cooking. He was nursed back to health by a Dr. Ream in Yreka, California, and was subsequently befriended by a gambler named James Thompson, who figures attractively in his writings as "The Prince. " Despite Miller's lifelong assertion that he was wounded in the battle of Castle Rocks against the Modocs, on June 15, 1855, residents of that vicinity scouted the claim that he had taken part in the skirmish. Probably in 1856 Miller made the acquaintance of Joseph De Bloney, known as "Mountain Joe. " According to Miller's story, the mountaineerproposed to establish an Indian republic at the base of Mount Shasta. If so grandiose a scheme was planned, it went no further than the building of a road-house in which Miller did the cooking. His native associates were noted horse-thieves, and Miller, as a preliminary to establishing the republic, fell in with their ways. He was captured, after an exciting chase, on July 8, 1859, but was rescued the same night by a friend who sawed through the bars of the jail window. Although he had no share in the Pit River massacre of this year, the Shasta region became very unsafe for any Indian sympathizer, and Miller, soon after it, wisely returned to Oregon.
His first appearance in print had been a letter in defense of the Mexican bandit, Joaquin Murietta, which had resulted in his friends nick-naming him "Joaquin"; the name pleased him better than his own more burdensome one and in time he adopted it as his pen name. Some verses of his attracted the attention of a poetically minded girl in Port Orford, Oregon, named Minnie Theresa Dyer, who wrote to him enthusiastically about them. After some correspondence, Miller rode over to Port Orford and returned the same week with Minnie Myrtle, as he called her, as his bride. His newspaper being suppressed by the government because of its support of the Confederacy, the editor moved to Canyon City, Oregon, where he soon won the favor of his fellow-townsmen by successfully leading a partyof them against a band of hostile Indians. He was rewarded by being elected judge of the Grant County court in 1866. Miller solaced his loneliness by bringing out two volumes of poetry, Specimens (1868) and Joaquin et al (1869). These attracted some attention, and in 1870, he went down to San Francisco to enjoy his réclame and was there admitted to the circle which included Bret Harte, Charles Warren Stoddard, and Ina Coolbrith. Thence, he started on a literarypilgrimage to England. After visiting the Burns and Byron shrines, he attempted to find a London publisher for a compilation of his own verse, some of which had already appeared in newspapers, under the title, Pacific Poems. Failing in this, he printed the book privately and succeeded in gaining the attention of the critics. William Michael Rossetti took him up and introduced him to London literary circles, where his striking appearance in chaps and sombrero, which he wore indoors and out, soon made him the sensation of the season. In 1871, Longmans published his Songs of the Sierras, which in spite of its cheap rhythms and Byronic imitations was loudly acclaimed by the British. Its reception in America was less favorable, critics refusing to accept its romanticism as a genuine expression of the Far West. Attention was also unkindly called to the author's lack of learning which had led him into sundry errors in his poems, such as riming "Goethe" with "teeth. " A brief visit to America convincing the poet of his unpopularity, he sought consolation in foreign travel. During the next few years he visited South America, Europe, and possibly the Near East.
In 1873, he published Songs of the Sun-lands, and, in prose, Life Amongst the Modocs, regarded by Stuart Sherman as "his most interesting book. " These were followed by The Ship in the Desert (1875), The Baroness of New York (1877), Songs of Italy (1878), showing the influence of Browning, and a prose Indian romance, Shadows of Shasta (1881). He also published several dramas, of which The Danites in the Sierras (1881), a Mormon play, was the most successful. In 1884, appeared Memorie and Rime, an autobiographical miscellany, and in 1886, The Destruction of Gotham, an unsuccesful novel. His last prose works were An Illustrated History of Montana (1894), a typical subscription history, and The Building of the City Beautiful (1897), showing Miller as a Utopist. In 1897, also, he published the Complete Poetical Works of Joaquin Miller. His narrative poem, Light, which was published in 1907, was his last bid for fame and represents his closest approach to full maturity as a poet. Meanwhile, Miller had returned to America and tried living in New York, Boston, and Washington, all of which were too crowded for his taste. There on the hills above the town he purchased an estate, known as "The Heights", which he adorned with trees and stone monuments to Frémont, Browning, and Moses, and with a funeral pyre to be used at his own death.
Achievements
Known as the "Poet of the Sierras" and the "Byron of the Rockies, " during his career he was a 19th century lawyer, judge, pony express rider, newspaperman, teacher, cook, miner, conservationist and poet. Miller established in 1862, in company with one Isaac Mossman, a pony express between Washington Territory and Idaho. With its proceeds, he purchased in 1863 the Democratic Register in Eugene and became an editor. The best of his work remains of significance as an attempt, never wholly successful, to celebrate on a heroic scale its freedom and its beauty.
An historical marker for his birthplace was unveiled October 10, 1915, on U. S. 27 north of Liberty in Union County, Indiana. Joaquin Miller Cabin is located in Washington, DC. The Hights, the Oakland home Miller built at the end of his life, is currently known as the Joaquin Miller House and is part of Joaquin Miller Park. He planted the surrounding trees and he personally built, on the eminence to the north, his own funeral pyre and monuments dedicated to Moses, General John C. Frémont, and the poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The Hights was purchased by the city of Oakland in 1919 and can be found in Joaquin Miller Park. It is now a designated California Historical Landmark. Several schools in California are named for him, including Miller Middle School in San Jose, Joaquin Miller Elementary School in Oakland, and Joaquin Miller Elementary School in Burbank.
For many years, Miller was one of the landmarks of California. As a bearded sage and advocate of the simple life he was looked upon with a respect which was mingled with amusement at his eccentricities and horror at his theories of free love. In 1897-98, he found renewed adventures as correspondent of the New York Journal in the Klondike. By the time of his death in 1913 the West that he loved had vanished.
Connections
In the spring of 1857, Miller went to live with an Indian tribe, the Diggers, and married one of their women, who bore him a daughter, Cali-Shasta. A little later his wife, now the mother of two children, separated from him. In 1883, he married Abbie Leland, and in 1886 he settled permanently in Oakland, California.
