Bear Lake

Both summer fairs the sign remembers were held at the south end of the lake, near today's Laketown, Utah, then Mexican territory. William Ashley brought a small wheeled cannon in with the 1827 supplies, and that summer six mountain men joined a Shoshone band in fighting off a party of about 120 Blackfeet. In 1828 a Blackfoot party struck Robert Campbell's company at the north end of the lake, on the Idaho side, and was driven off after a four-hour fight; Campbell lost his cook and some horses. After that the rendezvous moved east into Wyoming.

What the plaque says

Bear Lake Discovered in 1812 by trappers returning home from Astoria, Oregon, this valley and its large lake soon became an important fur trade center. Donald MacKenzie, Jim Bridger, and a host of famous beaver hunters operated here. Two major summer frolics and trade fairs brought plenty of excitement to Bear Lake in 1827 and 1828. Helping local Indians repel Blackfoot invaders, those trappers never forgot their wild festivals here. 384 Text prepared by the Idaho Historical Society Marker made & installed by Idaho Transportation Department

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Bear Lake Raspberry Shakes — 6.5 mi
  Legendary raspberry milkshakes from locally grown berries
• Bear Lake — 7.0 mi
  The Caribbean of the Rockies — a turquoise lake straddling the Utah-Idaho border
• Minnetonka Cave — 7.2 mi
  Found by a grouse hunter, named first for a porcupine and then in a language from the far side of the Rockies. Five kinds of bats winter inside.
• Beaver Mountain Ski Area — 8.5 mi
  A family-owned ski hill that has been run by the same family since 1939

More markers nearby

• The First Oregon Trail — 3.8 mi
• British Settlers — 11 mi
• Fur Traders Rendezvous — 12 mi
• Paris — 13 mi