 The Hunt and Pratt group is notable for being the first to discover gold and silver in Southern Nevada, recommending to Brigham Young the colonization of Southern Nevada, including Las Vegas specifically, and most famously for a group of malcontents that split with Pratt's and Hunt's leadership.They sought to cross the Sierras farther north and became known as the infamous Death Valley '49ers party.That group of prospectors became impatient with the slow progress of Mormon leadership and elected to abandon the larger group.