A remnant of the Pleistocene Lake Lahontan (~890 feet deep), the lake area was inhabited by the 19th-century Paiute, who used the Tui chub and Lahontan cutthroat trout from the lake[REF] (the former is now endangered and the latter is threatened).
In the 19th century two battles were fought near the lake, major actions in the Paiute War.