Recently, I spent some time traveling along the 395 and the Eastern Sierras when I came across some interesting history and have basically fallen into a rabbit hole. While preparing for a hike, Kearsage Pass, I was surprised to find the etymology of the location on SummitPost. Apparently this pass, and the Alabama hills found several miles south, are named after a Union Man of War and a Confederate Warship. The sinking of the *CSS Alabama* is depicted by Manet(!!!). I am interested to know, what kind of presence the Confederacy had in the Western United States, and specifically the Eastern Sierras of California.
There has been a long-term, Romantic fixation with the idea that pockets of Confederates thrived in the American West, plotting and even coming close to some sort of military uprising and/or the seizing of bullion. This was the subject of the rather horrible 1940 film Virginia City with Errol Flynn, Miriam Hopkins and Randolph Scott.
This idea is great fodder for fiction, but it falls far short of reality. The Far West was home to populations from throughout the world, and it stands to reason that a number of Southerners were there when the War started, but they were numerically overwhelmed in fiercely pro-Union states/territories of California and Nevada - the areas you are describing. There were pockets of Southern settlement - people often live with people they know or who share common backgrounds and values - but those pockets were well known, watched, and always in the minority.