Gold was found in this region in the spring of 1850, in Gold Canyon (near present-day Dayton, Nevada), by a company of Mormon emigrants, one of whom, Abner Blackburn, was their guide. After arriving much too early to cross the Sierra, the wagon train camped on the Carson River in the vicinity of Dayton, to wait for the mountain snow to melt. William Prouse (also spelled Prows) soon found gold along the gravel river banks by panning, but left when the mountains were passable, as they anticipated taking out more gold on reaching California. Orr named the gulch Gold Cañón.