FACT BRIEFAre there natural pyramids in Nevada?
YES
Pyramid Lake in northwestern Nevada is home to natural pyramids. The conical limestone tufa formations were exposed when a larger ancient lake receded.
In 1843, John C. Fremont saw the massive rock formation on the shore of a desert lake and named it Pyramid Lake because it reminded him of the Egyptian pyramids.
Pyramid Lake is a remnant of Lake Lahontan, which covered some 8,450 square miles in western Nevada during the Earth’s Ice Age. In ancient times, Lake Lahontan reached out to eastern California and up to southern Oregon.
Cave and rock shelters along the shores of Pyramid Lake indicate that the Numu, or Paiute people lived at Pyramid Lake for thousands of years.
Encroaching silver prospectors led to the Pyramid Lake War in 1860. After years of conflict, the half million-acre Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation was formally established in 1873.
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Sources
Atlas Obscura Pyramid Lake
Hamilton Historical Records Pyramid Lake – A Geographical Formation Named By Explorer John Charles Frémont
National Park Service The Pyramid Lake War
US Government Publishing Office Nevada Native Nations Land Act
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