Welcome to Laketown UT Traditional Cache

Cache is at the mouth of Laketown Canyon with a good view of Bear Lake Valley.  The shoulder of the road is very narrow, be very careful and don't park on the road.

A little history lesson about Laketown:

The Laketown area was originally inhabited by members of the Shoshone, Utah and Sioux Indian Tribes.   Large bands of Indians seasonally gathered in the vicinity of Laketown.  In 1870, a gathering of Indians, (estimated at 3,000), camped on the south shore of Bear Lake for hunting, fishing, and, gave the Mormon settles great anxiety.  During the winter of 1811 the first known non-native American visitors were five men trapping beaver. Through the years between 1825 and 1840 fur traders participated in the many Mountain Men / Indian rendezvouses conducted on the south end of Bear Lake. Some of the more well known attendees were Jim Bridger, Jedediah Smith, Milton G Sublette, and Peter Skene Ogden.

In 1863, Luther Reed established a sawmill in what is now Round Valley. But because the Indians were so menacing, In 1867 they moved into Laketown, or “Last Chance” as it was then called.  Additional families came from other settlements in Utah and Idaho without consent of proper authority and in violation of the Indian Treaty.  When the Indians protested to President Brigham Young of the L.D.S. Church, he sent Charles C. Rich to settle the dispute. A new treaty was drawn up which allowed the settlers to remain in the south end of the valley, but were required to supply the Indians with food upon demand.   The first years were hard ones as crickets and frost destroyed crops.  Settlers survived by eating potatoes and fish from the Bear Lake.

By 1868 the L.D.S. Church who was sponsoring the development of the valley moved to set up the permanent settlement of Laketown. The first meeting and school house were built in 1868 in which church services and school classes were held in 1869. In 1871 a post office was established. In 1874 a two-room frame house was built to accommodate the first store in Laketown. It was stocked with groceries, staples, dry goods and hardware, which were exchanged for cash, grain, butter and eggs.   

By the early 1900’s, Laketown was turning into the prosperous, thriving community with a population of around 300.  Population has fluctuated since that time to near 200 in the 50’s and then back up to 261 in 1990.  The 2010 census reported 248 individuals.