Mom, Sam Clemens burned up the area around Lake Bigler (now Tahoe) back around 1863. He and John D. Kinney went there looking to make a fortune as timber barons, as Virginia City needed lumber for buildings and shoring up mines.

They camped out, and one morning Sam left a campfire unattended and set the whole forest on fire "with a firing pan." The would-be barons got to their rowboat and high-tailed outa there. They watched the fire for about four hours and then returned to Carson City quite hungry as their provisions were "all cooked, no doubt."

Which side this fire was on is anybody's guess.