John Coffee Hays

Pyramid Lake War

The Pyramid Lake War of 1860 was the single greatest confrontation between American Indians and whites in Nevada's history. It was caused by the onrush of thousands of settlers to the Washoe country, lured by reports of valuable silver and gold deposits on the Comstock, combined with the lack of any effective organized government in the area. By the spring of 1860, the often unruly influx of Euro-Americans approximately equaled the Northern Paiute population in the area, impinging on their scarce resources and food supply.

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