The roadside plaque which welcomes visitors to Pyramid Lake, a long strip of bright blue in the middle of an ocean of brown hills and valleys, reads: "Pyramid Lake - America's most beautiful desert lake is a remnant of ancient Lake Lahontan, which during the ice age covered some 8,450 square miles in western Nevada. Caves and rock shelters along its shore have yielded evidence of a prehistoric people with a well developed community life.

"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 Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation was created in 1859. The history of the Paiute people living here has been one of contention with the white man. With the Indian victory in the first battle of Pyramid Lake May 12, 1860, more white men died than in any prior white-Indian engagement in the far west.

"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."

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