But why is it called Mammoth Lakes? Did the archaeologists dust ancient pumice off Mammoth skeletons? Or did divers find them at the bottom of the lakes?
The history behind the name is a bit more prosaic. It is derived from the Mammoth Mining Company.
I don’t know where the name “Mammoth” came from. I’ve never heard of Mammoth skeletons being discovered in the area. Mammoth Lakes was a mining camp in the late 1870’s, later a logging town, and was originally called Old Mammoth and then Mammoth City. Mammoth Lakes has a population of roughly 8,000.
When I was a college student in L.A. many years ago, a lot of college kids would take weekend ski trips to the area.
The city of Mammoth Lakes, by the way, is on the edge of a caldera, the Long Valley Caldera. The plus side....many of the skiers get to enjoy the hot springs in the area.