The region was not considered conducive to settlement by the Spanish, Mexicans, or Americans until 1848 when John Marshall discovered gold on the South Fork of the American River. The Washoe and Nisenan Tribes have used the lands of the Tahoe National Forest for thousands of years. Such peculiar structures are not rare within pillow lavas that create the dikes underwater, but they are a curious feature for being intruded in a metamorphic rock area. One of the most astonishing geological features in the region is the Rubicon River Canyon and its radially shaped fan dikes (a dike is a rock that cuts through another type of rock). Two neighboring peaks, Granite and Squaw Peaks are a perfect example of the local geology, with Squaw Peak composed of volcanic rock and Granite Peak underlaid by granite outcroppings. As the volcanic rock was sedimented over the existing ground about 4 million years ago, a big portion of it eroded - leaving the metamorphic rocks mainly on the ridge crests. With the Sierra Nevada rising, a considerable part of metamorphic rock, except for the western foothills, was worn away from the range.
The latter represents an extensive cluster of plutons formed when the Farallon Plate subducted below the North American Plate about 100 million years ago. Its landscape is underlain primarily by plutonic, volcanic, and metamorphic rocks, which are part of the Sierra Batholith. When it comes to geology, the Granite Chief Wilderness lies within the legendary Sierra Nevada range. Finally, in 2002, the tribe was officially given custody, for cultural purposes, of the land around Lake Tahoe.įederally designated under the California Wilderness Act of 1984, the Granite Chief Wilderness currently protects an exceptional part of the Tahoe National Forest. The following years were incredibly difficult for the tribe due to resource and land competition and violent conflicts with the prospectors. The Washoe people had settled the Great Basin and the eastern Sierra Nevada region until the Gold Rush and the arrival of European-American prospectors seeking gold. The Granite Chief Wilderness and the adjacent Lake Tahoe region are home to the Washoe Tribe, who have inhabited the area for at least 6,000 years.
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