Alpine County's history parallels the exploration of the West itself, and played an important role in the settlement of both California and Nevada.

The first to call Alpine County home were the native Washo people, who occupied the mountains and valleys of western Nevada and eastern California. Living in harmony with the land, the Washo excelled in basketry and spent their summers around the shores of Lake Tahoe, while a southern band of the tribe , the Hung Lel Ti, lived around the Diamond Valley area of Alpine County. The earliest explorers through the region included Jedediah Smith and Joseph Walker, but it was John Fremont and Kit Carson, in their famous midwinter trip across Alpine County and the Sierra Nevada in 1844 that brought attention to possible travel routes across the range.

Followed in 1848 by members of the Mormon Battalion and a year later by the Gold Rush '49ers, the Carson Route of the California Emigrant Road, now Highway 88, was the most heavily used road to California in those early years.

However, it took silver, not gold, to bring settlement to Alpine County. Following the discovery of the Comstock Lode near Virginia City in 1859, thousands of prospectors swarmed into the eastern Sierra Nevada looking for riches. A year earlier, a group of Scandinavian men had discovered rich silver outcrops near Silver Creek and established the town of Silver Mountain.

For the next several years, the population grew, and while there was plenty of mining activity, there was a scarcity of paying ore. Nearby, the towns of Monitor and Mt. Bullion grew from the hills, fostered by the belief in another 'Comstock' just around the corner.

For the next several years, the population grew, and while there was plenty of mining activity, there was a scarcity of paying ore. Nearby, the towns of Monitor and Mt. Bullion grew from the hills, fostered by the belief in another 'Comstock' just around the corner.