Name: Leigh Lake

 

County: Teton

 

Authority Name:

 

GNIS Entry

 

Longitude:  1104349W

Latitude: 434849N

 

Legal Description:

 

Elevation: 6880/2097

(ft/m)

 

Feature Type: Lake

 

Origin of Name:

Lake in Yellowstone Park, named for Richard Leigh, "Beaver Dick," hunter and guide in the Teton Mountains.

Source: Gannett, 1905

 

Lake, Grand Teton National Park, Teton County ... . Named by F. V. Hayden, for Richard Leigh, famous trapper and guide, universally known by the sobriquet "Beaver Dick."

Source: Decisions, 1890-1932

 

Named in honor of Richard Leigh (Beaver Dick), a guide with the Hayden Geological Survey expedition of 1872. He had his permanent home in Teton Valley, Idaho, but spent a good deal of his time in Jackson Hole. Leigh was an Englishman who said he first came to Idaho in 1840. He is of particular interest as a sort of connecting link between the early trappers and the present day inhabitants, that is the old timers who were among the first settlers in Jackson Hole. There was a gap of about forty years between the waning of the trapping industry in the late 1840's and the coming of the first permanent settlers in 1883 when there was noone in Jackson Hole except wandering Indians or a prospector or a lone trapper like Leigh. Leigh knew many of the early trappers and told the old timers much of interest about that period of the country. The latter say that Leigh was a quiet, intelligent well educated man. He was twice married, both times to Indian women. The first with her several children died of smallpox in Teton Valley, Idaho. The second, after whom Jenny Lake was named, married a man named Weaver after the death of Beaver Dick and lived near Jackson. She had a tough time, too, having to make moccasins to support herself. Leigh is said to have been the first white man to have a regular marriage ceremony performed when taking Indian woman as wives.

Source: WPA 

 

"Beaver Dick," whose proper name was Richard Leigh, was the most picturesque figure in the Teton region during the decades immediately preceding settlement. ... Beaver Dick figures prominently in the early history of the Teton region, where for most of his life (it is said that he was 16 when he came into the region) he trapped, hunted, and acted in the capacity of guide. He is buried on a hilltop at the mouth of Teton Canyon. In the Grand Teton National Park, the names of two beautiful lakes, Beaver Dick Lake and Leigh Lake, perpetuate his memory, and an adjoining body of water, jenny Lake, is named after his first Indian wife.

Source: Annals 15(1) 

 

Other Names:

 

Alternative Spellings:

 

History:

 

Stories:

 

Maps:

1:24000 Quadrangle: Jenny Lake

 

Newspapers:

 

More Information: 

 

Pictures: