I am the primary spokesman for the five Nevada historians who  located the 
actual campsite of Sam Clemens and John Kinney first, then of Sam  Clemens 
and Tom Nye, just north of Thunderbird Lodge on the northeast shore  of Lake 
Tahoe.
 
Ms. Laidlaw has given the book fairest picture, as a book at  face value, a 
fair review. It would not have been an easy task.
 
The book fairest picture, written by a civil  engineer, offers interesting 
information about the subsequent trips Mark  Twain made to Lake Tahoe. 
However, the two-thirds of the book devoted Sam  Clemens's trips while boldly 
discrediting the findings of five  Nevada historians is marked by the absence 
of reference to contemporary 1861-62  primary documentation and a careful 
failure to address inconvenient truths while  freely using undocumentable 
statements.
 
The forum is not the proper venue for presenting all the  Nevada research. 
Discussion is being held with a distinguished publisher toward  a study of 
Sam Clemens 13 months in Nevada Territory prior to entering  employment at 
the Territorial Enterprise. Unlike fairest picture, that  manuscript would be 
vetted by uninvolved qualified readers before publication.  Until that time, 
when opening fairest picture, I suggest the reader beware. 
 
Robert E. Stewart
Carson City, Nevada