Gallatin Peak, with an elevation just shy of 7,000 feet is one of the most prominent features at the south end of Eagle Lake. It is interesting that it is of granite composition, while the surrounding mountains are basalt. Actually, the peak’s original name was Granite, and it was not until the early 1900s that it began to be referred to as Gallatin, after the largest property owner at Eagle Lake.
For those who attended the Inspiration Point Tour, or received the narrative thereof, a geology lesson was given. Four major land masses converge in the Susanville region–Cascade, Great Basin, Modoc Plateau and the Sierra Nevada. This influence at the southeast corner of Eagle Lake is evident.
Because of granite and quartz composition of Gallatin Peak and extending over to nearby Round Valley, caught the interest of gold seekers. From the 1870s until 1942, when President Roosevelt by executive order halted gold mining during World War II, there was considerable gold mining in this isolated pocket.