The Luck of Roaring Camp
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"The Luck of Roaring Camp" is a
short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...
by American author
Bret Harte Bret Harte (; born Francis Brett Hart; August 25, 1836 – May 5, 1902) was an American short story writer and poet best remembered for short fiction featuring miners, gamblers, and other romantic figures of the California Gold Rush. In a caree ...
. It was first published in the August 1868 issue of the ''
Overland Monthly The ''Overland Monthly'' was a monthly literary and cultural magazine, based in California, United States. It was founded in 1868 and published between the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. History The '' ...
'' and helped push Harte to international prominence. The story is about the birth of a baby boy in a 19th-century
gold prospecting Gold prospecting is the act of searching for new gold deposits. Methods used vary with the type of deposit sought and the resources of the prospector. Although traditionally a commercial activity, in some developed countries placer gold prospe ...
camp. The boy's mother, Cherokee Sal, dies in childbirth, so the men of Roaring Camp must raise it themselves. Believing the child to be a good luck charm, the miners christen the boy Thomas Luck. Afterwards, they decide to refine their behavior and refrain from gambling and fighting. Roaring Camp was a real place. It was a goldmining settlement on the
Mokelumne River The Mokelumne River ( or ; ''Mokelumne'', Miwok for "People of the Fish Net") is a -long river in northern California in the United States. The river flows west from a rugged portion of the central Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada into the Ce ...
in
Amador County, California Amador County () is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California, in the Sierra Nevada. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 40,474. The county seat is Jackson, California, Jackson. Ama ...
. It was home to forty-niners seeking gold in and around the river; it is now a privately owned
tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural b ...
. The story's flood theme may have been inspired by California's
Great Flood of 1862 The Great Flood of 1862 was the largest flood in the recorded history of Oregon, Nevada, and California, occurring from December 1861 to January 1862. It was preceded by weeks of continuous rains and snows in the very high elevations that began in ...
, which Harte witnessed.


Plot summary

The story takes place in a small struggling mining town located in the foothills of the California mountains at the time of the
gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...
. The camp is suffering from a long string of bad luck. With only one woman in their midst, it seems as though the miners have no future. However, the tide turns when a small boy is born. "Thomas Luck" is the first newborn the camp has seen in ages; things are looking up. The miners become cheerful, foliage begins to grow, and there is talk of building a hotel to attract outsiders. Unfortunately, the hope is wiped out by the sudden death of Luck in a flood. Water brought gold to the gulches, giving miners their first glimmer of hope. And water takes away what seems their last glimmer—Luck.


Characters

;Thomas Luck :Newborn child thought to be the savior of the camp ;Kentuck :A rugged prospector who tries to save Thomas Luck's life in the flood ;Cherokee Sal :Mother of Thomas Luck; only woman in camp ;Stumpy :Guardian of Thomas Luck ;Oakhurst :A gambler who gives Thomas Luck his name. (This may be the same character as the John Oakhurst of Harte's short story "
The Outcasts of Poker Flat "The Outcasts of Poker Flat" (1869) is a short story written by writer of the American West Bret Harte. An example of naturalism and local color of California during the first half of the nineteenth century. The story was first published in Janua ...
".)


Publication history

Bret Harte and his colleague Anton Roman at the ''
Overland Monthly The ''Overland Monthly'' was a monthly literary and cultural magazine, based in California, United States. It was founded in 1868 and published between the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. History The '' ...
'' were in
Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a pop ...
when "The Luck of Roaring Camp" was set in type in the summer of 1868. The proofreader in their absence, Sarah B. Cooper, objected to some of the content in the story.Scharnhorst, Gary. ''Bret Harte: Opening the American Literary West''. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2000: 39. She particularly disliked the use of a prostitute character and the expletives spoken by the miners.Tarnoff, Ben. ''The Bohemians: Mark Twain and the San Francisco Writers Who Reinvented American Literature''. New York: The Penguin Press, 2014: 158. Cooper brought her concerns to the printer, who agreed with her, and contacted Roman, the owner. He began to worry about potential controversy over the story's morality and the harm it would cause to the new ''Overland Monthly'' in its second issue. Roman later claimed he supported Harte from the beginning, but that Harte was willing to make the editorial changes without question until Roman's wife read the tale and approved of it. Harte called those claims "lies" in 1879. Fellow ''Overland'' contributor
Ina Coolbrith Ina Donna Coolbrith (born Josephine Donna Smith; March 10, 1841 – February 29, 1928) was an American poet, writer, librarian, and a prominent figure in the San Francisco Bay Area literary community. Called the "Sweet Singer of California", sh ...
recalled there was a confrontation between the two at the time and that Harte threatened to resign. "The Luck of Roaring Camp" was soon included as the centerpiece of Harte's collection ''The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Sketches''. The compilation was published by
James T. Fields James Thomas Fields (December 31, 1817 – April 24, 1881) was an American publisher, editor, and poet. His business, Ticknor and Fields, was a notable publishing house in 19th century Boston. Biography Early life and family He was born in ...
of Fields, Osgood, & Co. at about the same time that Harte's poem "
The Heathen Chinee "The Heathen Chinee", originally published as "Plain Language from Truthful James", is a narrative poem by American writer Bret Harte. It was published for the first time in September 1870 in the ''Overland Monthly''.Railton, StephenHarte: "The H ...
" was published. Those simultaneous publications caused Harte's popularity to skyrocket nearly overnight and Fields offered Harte a $10,000 exclusive contract to contribute to ''
The Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
''. After the collection's publication April 1870, Fields rushed a compilation of Harte's poetry for the Christmas market to capitalize on the success of "The Heathen Chinee".


Analysis and response

Local presses in California were unimpressed by "The Luck of Roaring Camp". The ''Alta California'', for example, described simply as "a pleasant little sketch".Scharnhorst, Gary. ''Bret Harte: Opening the American Literary West''. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2000: 40. Publications closer to the east coast, however, soon raised the story's popularity. The ''
Springfield Republican ''The Republican'' is a newspaper based in Springfield, Massachusetts covering news in the Greater Springfield area, as well as national news and pieces from Boston, Worcester and northern Connecticut. It is owned by Newhouse Newspapers, a ...
'' called it "a genuine California story" that was "so true to nature and so deep-reaching in its humor, that it will move the hearts of men everywhere".
Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), 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 p ...
wrote in the '' Buffalo Express'' that it was "the best prose magazine article that has seen the light for many months on either side of the ocean". It was only after these endorsements that "The Luck of Roaring Camp" found a strong audience in California. "Since
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
endorsed the story, San Francisco was properly proud of it", Harte wrote. Years after its publication, Harte said that conservative readers thought the story lacked morality: "Christians were cautioned against pollution by its contract", he wrote, and "business men were gravely urged to condemn and frown upon this picture of California society that was not conducive to Eastern immigrants." However, the book was designated No. 40 in the Zamorano 80 list of distinguished books on California, the synopsis being, according to Leslie E. Bliss, Chief Librarian at Huntington Library (1924-1958): "The author wrote these sketches "to illustrate an era" and was later criticized for having romanticized rather than having realistically depicted life "in the diggin's." Nevertheless, one cannot imagine a bibliography of outstanding California literature which does not include this little volume."


Adaptations

There have been several
short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...
adaptations of "The Luck of Roaring Camp", and a small number of
feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...
s. The first film adaptation was ''The Luck of Roaring Camp'' (1910), which was a short film produced by Thomas Edison Motion Picture Company. The film was adapted and directed by
character actor A character actor is a supporting actor who plays unusual, interesting, or eccentric characters.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrieved 7 August 2014, "..a breed of actor who has the ability to b ...
Frank McGlynn Sr.; his son Thomas played the role of Tommy Luck.
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
produced a
Will Rogers William Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was an American vaudeville performer, actor, and humorous social commentator. He was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, in the Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma ...
adaptation, ''Roaring Camp'', in 1916, featuring
L. Frank Baum Lyman Frank Baum (; May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) was an American author best known for his children's books, particularly ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' and its sequels. He wrote 14 novels in the ''Oz'' series, plus 41 other novels (not includ ...
as Oakhurst. Some of the other adaptations are: * ''The Luck of Roaring Camp'' (1917), an Edison adaptation by Edward H. Griffith that stars Ivan Christy and Eugene Field * ''
The Outcasts of Poker Flat "The Outcasts of Poker Flat" (1869) is a short story written by writer of the American West Bret Harte. An example of naturalism and local color of California during the first half of the nineteenth century. The story was first published in Janua ...
'' (1937), an
RKO Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orphe ...
adaptation by John Twist that stars Virginia Weidler and Si Jenks * '' Luck of Roaring Camp'' (1937), a
Monogram Pictures Monogram Pictures Corporation was an American film studio that produced mostly low-budget films between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram was among the smaller studios i ...
adaptation by Harvey Gates that stars Byron Foulger and Ferris Taylor * ''
Four of the Apocalypse ''Four of the Apocalypse'' ( it, I quattro dell'apocalisse) is a 1975 Italian Spaghetti Western film directed by Lucio Fulci and starring Fabio Testi, Tomas Milian, Lynne Frederick and Michael J. Pollard. Plot Set in the year 1873, professiona ...
'' (1975), a
Spaghetti Western The Spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's film-making style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...
based in part on Harte's story. * ''California Gold Rush'' (1981), a Schick Sunn adaptation by Thomas C. Chapman that stars Ken Curtis and Robert Hays


References


External links

*
Bret Harte
at the
Literary Encyclopedia ''Literary Encyclopedia'' (Russian: Литературная энциклопедия) is a 12-volume encyclopedia published in the USSR from 1929 until 1939. It contains more than 5000 entries with a focus on Russian and Soviet authors, as well ...

Teacher's notes
from
Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Narrated Storyline
at www.manythings.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Luck of Roaring Camp 1868 short stories Short stories by Bret Harte Short stories adapted into films Short stories set in California Works originally published in Overland Monthly California Gold Rush in fiction