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Show 286 misunderstood. They are often attributed to the range's supposed snake-like course. But Helen S. Carlson disputes this in her book, Nevada Place Names: "Although the Snake Range is said to have been named for its sinuous course," wrote Carlson, "early historian Myron Angel refers to the range as the Snake Creek Range (p. 648), an indication that the mountains may have been named for 22 the creek." Carlson was absolutely correct in this assumption, as George W. Bean applied the name to Snake Creek in 1858, and the term "Snake" may go back further than that. Bean made no mention of how he arrived at the name, but Bishop Evans of the White Mountain Mission of 1855 may have left a clue. Evans reported that the Indians in Snake Valley called themselves Koonepanger, "translated Snake. No doubt Bean, who was an excellent interpreter, made the same discovery and named the creek after the Indians. It seems this is the only one of Bean's appelations to Survive to the present day. One other possibility exists of a name preservation, although the chances are slight. The Golden Gate Range lies just a few miles east of tbe mouth of of a canyon in the Grant Range which Dame called the Golden Gate. It is probable that Dame was then in Cherry Creek Canyon. There is a possibility that the nearby Golden Gate Range is a survival of the name Dame applied to the canyon in the nearby Grant Range. Carl I. Wheat claims that the Golden Gate Range is "an interesting survival of the name of the pass £canyon)" designated by Colonel 24 25 Dame. Helen Carlson then adopted the idea from Wheat. ' But Wheat misinterpreted Dame's "Journal of the Southern Exploring Company," believing that Gray Head Mountain where the Golden Gate was found was the Golden Gate Range. However, a careful study of the company journals and maps reveals that Gray Head was the Grant Range. Despite the admitted duplication of names, their connection is doubted. No other White Mountain names have survived anywhere near this remote region, and many a California miner could have named this small range |