Anna Harris was the first woman in the County of Douglas and possibly the State of Nevada who was granted a Sole Proprietorship License, even though she was married and her husband was still alive.

Anna and her family were instrumental in supplying the Comstock, Bodie, Aurora and other mining areas during the Gold Rush era as traders, teamsters and local merchants.”

Her story is a tribute to all pioneer women of Nevada.

DebiLynn Smith was born in Bishop California and raised in Bridgeport CA. She lived her entire young adult life on the Eastern Sierras including going the first two years of college in Susanville, CA. She did her first Chautauqua at the age of 13 in 8th grade when she portrayed Laura Ingalls Wilder. When they handed her the costume she was supposed to wear, she refused to wear it and made an entirely “period correct” one for the part. She has portrayed several ladies of prominence who were pioneers on the Eastern Slopes of the Sierras. She has even done a talk from the point of view of an 1849 Gold Prospector and of a Chinese Railroad Worker. She is a Living Historian, portrays an Apothecarist, and makes all of her own period-correct attire.

Doors open at 6:30 pm, Lecture starts at 7 pm