Brad Horn/Nevada Appeal Judy Fladland plays the part of 'Katie Twist,' during the Women of the Wild West Tour featuring the Kit Carson Trail last year.
Carson City will revert to the late 1880s this weekend for the popular Kit Carson Trail Wild West Tour. Professional actors in period clothing will portray famous politicians from the history of the Silver State for this year's theme: "Politics in the Wild West."
The first tour will leave the Nevada State Museum courtyard at 9:30 a.m. Guided groups will depart every half hour until 2:30 p.m.
Featured stops will include the Clemens House, built in 1863. There actor Ron Hearn of Reno will portray Orion Clemens, the first secretary of the Nevada Territory and brother of Sam Clemens - later known as Mark Twain.
"Mark Twain stayed in that house when he came to visit his brother," said tour organizer Kevin Ray.
Henry Yerington, a key figure in the operation of the Virginia & Truckee Railway, will be speaking at the Yerington House on North Division Street. He'll describe how he designed the home to make it look like a railroad observation car.
Another featured stop on Division Street will be the Ferris Mansion on the corner with West Third. There an actor will portray influential newspaper man Alf Doten who owned Gold Hill News during the Comstock silver boom.
Other stops will include the Rinckel Mansion, the Capitol and the old Hero's Memorial Building, now home to the Nevada Attorney General.
Carson's own Roz Works will be portraying Hannah Clapp, who dedicated her life to education in Nevada. Clapp was the first professor of history and English at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Another Carson City actor, Chris Bayer, will portray William Stewart, one of Nevada's first two senators, in front of the Stewart-Nye House. Beware, that's the house where a tour member reported being touched by a ghost during last year's Ghost Walk tour. Stewart served from 1865 until 1875 then again from 1887 to 1905. He was a member of the Silver Party and was instrumental in the creation of the National Mining Law of 1866.
"He was quite a character - the colossus of Nevada, I think they called him," Bayer said over the weekend. "I'm reading up on him now."
Anyone who buys a ticket for the Wild West Tour will get $1 off regular admission to the Nevada State Museum as well.
Because some tour times may sell out, tickets are being offered for sale now at the Carson City Convention and Visitors Bureau, located next to the Nevada State Railroad Museum at 1900 S. Carson St.
A free country concert on Third Street Friday night will set the tone for the event, Ray said.
"Rick Hays and American Steel will be playing Friday night at Third Street to kind of kick off the Wild West weekend."
Tickets for the Wild West Tour are $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and children age 5 to12. Children under 5 will be free. Call 687-7410.
Contact Karl Horeis at khoreis@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1219.