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Show Black Bear Lake discovered in 1818 officer for the Museum of Church History and Art in Salt Lake City. By QUIG NIELSEN Bear Lake Valley, once known as rendezvous country, is mirrored in the turquoise waters of Utah's beautiful beau-tiful Bear Lake in the top of the Rockies. A red-headed Scottish giant named Donald McKenzie paddled up the Bear River from the north in about 1818 and discovered what he called "Black Bear Lake.' The "bear" remained but "black" was soon dropped and the lake, the valley and the river became just Bear Lake and Bear River. McKenzie and his company trapped the streams from Bear Lake to the Green River. At one time he had a rendezvous with about 10,000 Indians along the shores of Bear Lake trading for furs. It is believed to be the largest gathering of Indian j tribes ever known to have assembl ed in the Rockies. The encampment stretched seven miles along both j sides of Bear River at the north end of Bear Lake. Although McKenzie's main purpose pur-pose in arranging the powwow was to trade furs, he also persuaded the Indians to show friendship to the whites. The Indian gathering un doubtedly prevented great tragedies and untold bloodshed in the settlement of the northwest. Many whose names are well known in Western history came through Bear Lake Valley, including in-cluding Captain Bonneville and his troops, Dr. Marcus Whitman and the Rev. Henry H. Spaulding. In 1842 John C. Fremont, who was known as "the Pathfinder," was in the region naming many peaks, canyons ca-nyons and streams. After the Mormon colonizers came in 1863, the valley of the Bear Lake was called Mormon Valley. Small communities were established estab-lished in Fish Haven, Bloomington, Liberty and St. Charles. Montpelier, Ovid and Bennington were named by Brigham Young after towns in his native state of Vermont. 'Gutzon Borglum, sculptor of the famous Mt. Rushmore memorial, was bom in St. Charles in 1871. A memorial to him stands today in front of the St. Charles LDS Church. Source: Bancroft, "History of Washington, Montana and Idaho"; Idaho Extension Service data, Bear Lake County. Quig Nielsen is an information |
