Did you know?

* Haley's Comet was visible in the sky on the night that Mark Twain was both born and passed away.
* Mark Twain published more than 30 books throughout his career.
* Hannibal, Mo. served as the inspiration for the fictional town of St. Petersberg in "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."
* As a teenager, Twain worked as an apprentice printer.
* As a riverboat pilot, Twain earned from $150 to $250 a month.
* During the Civil War, Twain formed a Confederate militia known as the "Marion Rangers." The militia disbanded after approximately two weeks.
* Twain left Missouri after his militia disbanded and moved to Nevada. There he worked as a miner.
* "Roughing It" describes Twain's journey out West with his brother Orion.
* From 1901 until his death in 1910, Twain was vice president of the American Anti-Imperialist League.
* "Huckleberry Finn" was ranked as the fifth most frequently challenged book in the United States by the American Library Association.
* Prior to adopting Mark Twain as his pen name, Clemens wrote under the pen name Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass for a number of humorous pieces that he contributed to the Keokuk Post.