In this latter year he married Anne Griswold of New York.

In 1864 he was given the secretaryship of the California mint, a virtual sinecure, and he was enabled do a great deal of writing.
The first volume of his poems, THE LOST GALLEON AND OTHER TALES, CONDENSED NOVELS (much underrated parodies), and THE BOHEMIAN PAPERS were published in 1867.

One year later, THE OVERLAND MONTHLY, which had aspirations of becoming "the ATLANTIC MONTHLY of the West," was established, and Harte was appointed its first editor.

For it, he wrote most of what still remains valid as literature--THE LUCK OF ROARING CAMP, THE OUTCASTS OF POKER FLAT, PLAIN LANGUAGE FROM TRUTHFUL JAMES, among others.

The combination of Irvingesque romantic glamor and Dickensian bitter-sweet humor, applied to picturesquely novel material, with the addition of a trick ending, was fantastically popular.