Reese River Reveille in Austin NV – in the middle of the state. Published November 11, 1863 Mark Twain Book Notes Two “corruption is at a premium, and men’s virtue is to be estimated in an inverse proportion to their professions. California in ’49 was a kind of vestibule of hell, but Nevada may be considered the very throne-room of Pluto himself. I have, seen more rascality, small and great, in my brief forty days sojourn in this wilderness.of sage brush, sharpers and prostitutes, than in a thirteen years experience of our squeamishly moral State of California.