Pyramid Lake (Nevada) - History

History

A remnant of the Pleistocene Lake Lahontan (~890 feet deep), the lake area was inhabited by the 19th century Paiute, which used the Tui chub and Lahontan cutthroat trout from the lake (the former is now endangered and the latter is threatened). The lake was first mapped in 1844 by John C. Frémont, the American discoverer of the lake who also gave it its English title.

Chronology

• 1903 - Irrigation diversion of the Truckee via the Derby Dam eliminated naturally-spawning Lahontan cutthroat trout, which are now stocked.
• 1936 - The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe approved their constitution and by-laws.
• 1987 - A water quality model was completed for the Truckee River.

In the 19th century two battles were fought near the lake, a marker was placed in the 1960s commemorating these battles. Because of water diversion beginning in 1905 by Derby Dam, the lake's existence was threatened, and the Paiute sued the Department of the Interior. By the mid 1970s, the lake had lost 80 feet of depth, and according to Paiute fisheries officials, the life of the lake was seriously under threat. The beneficiary of the water diversion in the 1970s was a racially-exclusive sportsman's and leisure reserve used for white hunting and recreation near the town of Fallon. In the opinion of John Pilger, the irrigation scheme for which water was diverted was an economic failure.