Utah Lake Fishing Industry

For a while, Utah Lake seemed inexhaustible. The Timpanogos had fished it for centuries; when frost and crickets ruined the settlers' crops, its fish kept them alive too. A commercial fishery followed, one of early Utah's real industries, seines hauling fish out by the ton to salt and sell across the territory. It could not last. Overfishing during spawning, carp dumped in to replace the vanishing natives, sewage and mill waste — the lake that once held millions of fish now runs thick with carp. Its June sucker, found nowhere else on earth, barely hangs on.

What the plaque says

UTAH LAKE FISHING INDUSTRY The early Utah Lake fishing industry supported the beginnings of pioneer communities by providing a source of food to sustain life and income. The buildings here in this pioneer village are examples of life in those times. Fish available in Utah Lake lured settlers to Utah Valley and inhabitants of the early settlements surrounding the lake benefitted from the fishing resources of the lake. Utah Lake supplied an important food supply for the native inhabitants. The Native Americans traded dried fish to early Spanish explorers and to the pioneers during the early years of settlement after 1847. Those early years saw the devastation of crops by Rocky Mountain Locusts or crickets with the worst plague occurring in 1855-56. This resulted in serious food shortages. The fish of Utah Lake then became crucial to the survival of the new settlers and fishing activity increased until the hungry were fed. During the Utah War in 1858 the fish resources in Utah lake helped to feed the pioneers moving into Utah Valley from the North. The Squaw Peak Chapter of the Sons of Utah Pioneers is pleased to provide this recognition for the importance of the Utah Lake Fishing Industry to the early pioneers. SUP 149

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Bridal Veil Falls — 7.6 mi
  A dramatic double waterfall cascading 607 feet into Provo Canyon
• Sundance Mountain Resort — 11 mi
  Robert Redford's intimate, arts-minded ski resort on the slopes of Mount Timpanogos, in the North Fork of Provo Canyon.
• Aspen Grove — 12 mi
  The mountain-base trailhead for Mount Timpanogos and Stewart Falls
• Alpine Loop Summit — 12 mi
  The 8,000-foot high point of the Alpine Loop, face to face with Mount Timpanogos

More markers nearby

• George A. Smith Provo Pioneer Village- Living in the Frontier 1849 to 1872 in Utah County — steps away
• Settlement of Provo — steps away
• First Tabernacle — steps away
• Brigham Young Statue — 0.5 mi