I agree with the others commenting on the cairns. Though not impossible, the fact that they are down below the main mountain block makes me think they're made by native peoples. Caucasian explorers and prospectors also set up cairns to mark a path or provide directional information by utilizing a tobacco tin with a note in it placed within the rocks. The only reason I would think prospectors would stake claims on the alluvium would be to placer mine the wash gravels for precious metals washed down over millennia.
DAW
~When You Live in Nevada, "just down the road" is anywhere in the line of sight within the curvature of the earth.
~When You Live in Nevada, "just down the road" is anywhere in the line of sight within the curvature of the earth.