Mount Tenabo

Mount Tenabo, the principal peak of central Nevada’s Cortez Mountains, rises 9,157 feet and dominates the surrounding basins and ranges. Known to the Shoshoni as Lookout Mountain, it has long held cultural and religious importance for the Western Shoshone. Its modern history was also shaped by rich mineral deposits: silver ore was discovered there in 1862, and by the late 1860s at least 20 mills operated nearby. The mountain contains a major silver-bearing quartz vein within crystalline limestone. That overlap of sacred significance and mining value led to modern conflict, including a 2008 effort by the Te-Moak Tribe, the Timbisha Tribe, and others to stop expansion of Barrick Gold’s Cortez Hills operation.

Nevada · United States