Pyramid Lake
Washoe County, Washoe County, Nevada
Marker Inscription
Pyramid Lake. America’s most beautiful desert lake is a remnant of ancient Lake Lahontan which covered some 8,4513 square miles in western Nevada during the ice age. Caves and rock shelters along its shore have yielded evidence of Numu (Paiute) people living here for thousands of years. John C. Fremont came upon the lake on January 10, 1844 and named it for the pyramid shaped island just off the east shore. The Numu call the pyramid formulation Wono. The Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation was created in 1859. The history of the Numu people living here has been one of contention with encroaching settlers. With the Numu victory in the first battle of Pyramid Lake, May 12, 1860 more European American men died than in any prior engagement west of the Mississippi. Anaho Island, just to the south of the pyramid, was established as a national wildlife refuge in 1913 and is today one of the largest white pelican nesting grounds in North America.
Erected by Pyramid Lake Tribal Council
The Story
Pyramid Lake is a surviving remnant of ancient Lake Lahontan, which once flooded much of western Nevada during the ice age, and its shoreline caves hold evidence of Numu (Paiute) people living here for thousands of years. John C. Frémont reached the lake in January 1844 and named it for the pyramid-shaped island the Numu call Wono. As settlers encroached, conflict followed: the reservation was created in 1859, and in the first Battle of Pyramid Lake in May 1860 the Numu won a victory that cost more settler lives than any prior clash west of the Mississippi.
Why it matters
The lake is both an ancient Paiute homeland and the site of one of the deadliest early conflicts between Native people and settlers in the Great Basin.
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Related people
- · John C. Frémont
Related events
- · First Battle of Pyramid Lake
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Paradise Valley
Humboldt County, NV
Hudson's Bay Company trapper Peter Skene Ogden passed through Paradise Valley in 1828, and settlers arrived in 1863 to farm land that would supply mines across Nevada and Idaho. Conflict with local Native Americans soon followed, prompting the U.S. Army to establish Camp Winfield Scott nearby from 1866 to 1870. The town changed names with its fortunes — Scottsdale, then Paradise City as a mining supply center, and finally Paradise Valley once livestock raising came to dominate.
The Two Battles of Pyramid Lake
Washoe County, NV
In the spring of 1860, Northern Paiute warriors defending their homeland fought two pitched battles near Pyramid Lake. On May 12 they routed a hastily raised volunteer army from Virginia City in a skillful ambush along the Truckee River. Three weeks later, a larger force of volunteers and regular U.S. troops met the Numu again; several hundred warriors fought a fierce delaying action, buying time for their families to escape before withdrawing. Their war leader Numaga sought peace, yet took up arms to protect his people.
Reno
Reno, NV
Long before Europeans arrived, the Washoe and Paiute lived in the Truckee Meadows; the Stevens-Murphy party passed through in 1844 and settlement began in the early 1850s. Charles Fuller launched a river ferry in 1859 and built a bridge and hotel, holdings soon acquired by Myron Lake, whose "Lake's Crossing" became the town's nucleus when the Central Pacific laid out a depot in 1868. Named for Civil War General Jesse Lee Reno, the town grew on railroads, lumber, and ranching — and later on its reputations for quick divorces, beginning in 1906, and legalized gambling in 1931.
Truckee River
Washoe County, NV
The flats along the Truckee River were home to Native peoples for thousands of years, who fished with blinds and left petroglyphs on the surrounding boulders. After John C. Frémont recorded the river in 1844, it became a lifeline and a hazard for California-bound emigrants—among them the Stephens-Murphy-Townsend party that crossed Donner Pass and the ill-fated Donner party, trapped by Sierra snows in 1846. The Central Pacific followed the river's course in 1868, and its route later matured through the Lincoln and Victory highways into U.S. 40 and Interstate 80.