Mark Twain's "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" was first published in the November 18,1865, edition of The New York Saturday Press, under the title ' 'Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog." The story is set in a gold-mining camp in Calaveras County, California, and has its origins in the folklore of the Gold Rush era. It was one of Twain's earliest writings, and helped establish his reputation as a humorist. He eventually included it as the title story in his first collection of tales.