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Jenny Lake

Jenny Leigh’s Lake

Lake in Grand Teton NP, Rocky Mountains near Moose, WY

Wyoming Fishing Regulations

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Geographic Name Origin

They named Jenny Lake after Jenny Leigh, the Shoshone wife of Richard “Beaver Dick” Leigh, a trapper, hunter, and guide from the Teton region who assisted the Hayden expedition of 1872 (Gannett 1905, 169,184; NPS 2022, Jenny Lake; WY State Lib, Jenny Lake).

Ferdinand V. Hayden named 3 lakes at the foot of the Tetons for the family. Leigh Lake, Jenny Lake, and Beaver Dick Lake, now called String Lake. A pregnant Jenny and 4 of their children had accompanied her husband as he guided the 1872 Hayden Expedition from present day Idaho into now Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. However, when the expedition headed north into now Yellowstone National Park, Jenny departed the expedition with her children and traveled the east-west Conant Trail back to their homestead along the Teton River in Idaho (Layser 2013; Roberts 2017).

Jenny Leigh Biography

In 1863, Beaver Dick married a 16-year-old Shoshone girl of Chief Washakie’s tribe and named his young wife Jenny. Jenny Leigh had 5 children with Beaver Dick. Dick Jr. was born in 1864, Anne Jane in 1866, John in 1868, William in 1870, and after the 1872 Hayden Expedition, their fifth child, daughter Elizabeth, was born in 1873 (Roberts 2017).

William Henry Jackson took the only known photograph of Jenny in 1872 when he photographed the Leigh family outside their teepee during the 1872 Hayden Expedition.

During the winter of 1876, the entire Leigh family contracted small pox. Beaver Dick survived the outbreak, but sadly starting on Christmas Eve and, for the next 3 days, he lost his wife and all 5 children (Roberts 2017).

Jenny Lake Geology

High above Jenny Lake, snow melt water descends the glacier carved U shaped Cascade Canyon of the Tetons. Abruptly plunging over Hidden Falls, a 100 foot cascading waterfall, the waters of Cascade Creek then enter Jenny lake.

Long after all the day tripping tourists are gone, the sound of falling water echoes clearly across the lake’s darkness. Jenny Lake pools beside the active Teton Fault were mountains rises to the west of the fault and the valley floor falls to the east.

At the end of Ice Age times, a snake of glacier ice called Cascade Canyon Glacier filled Cascade Canyon. Slowly, the ice snake slid out of its mountain den and poked its head out onto the Snake River valley floor. Cold melt water ran beneath the thick glacier, lubricating the ice snake’s descent down the canyon. The snake shed stone boulders onto the valley floor in a conveyor belt fashion as it descended the canyon. A rubble pile of once free loading boulders, accumulated in a semicircle rock levee around the ice head. At the end of the Ice Age, the massive head of ice melted, leaving Jenny Lake to the reflect an image of the Rocky Mountain’s youngest mountain range, the Tetons. Only scant tiny patches of snow and ice remain upon the Tetons. The glaciers have retreated almost into extinction, but not forgotten. People continue to visit, remember, and photograph one of the most visited places within Grand Teton National Park. A lake named for Jenny, for a woman we only have one photo of, yet who has ironically captured countless moments for so many others.(Good 1996, 37-40; Love 2003, 23,55,100,106).

Jenny Lake Underwater Forest

Near the entry of Cascade Creek, Jenny Lake hides 100 feet below its surface, a submerged Englemann spruce forest. In 1983, divers found the upright trees and theorized that they were part of a rock slide. An accumulation of lake sediment, has now covered the rock rooted tree bases, giving the illusion the trees grew from the lake bottom. We recommend that divers check in with rangers before diving. (McPhee 2000, 368; NPS, 2013)

Photographs

Illustrations and Maps

Further Research, Reading, and Video

Geology Animation: Grand Teton National Park. NPS, 2011. https://www.nps.gov/media/video/view.htm?id=284FBD86-155D-451F-67761B00753A120B.

On the Web

On Wikipedia

Jenny Lake is located in Grand Teton National Park in the U.S. state of Wyoming. The lake was formed approximately 12,000 years ago by glaciers pushing rock debris which carved Cascade Canyon during the last glacial maximum, forming a terminal moraine which now impounds the lake. The lake is estimated to be 423 feet (129 m) deep and encompasses 1,191 acres (482 ha). Jenny Lake is considered to be a major focal point in Grand Teton National Park, with many hiking trails, scenic boat rides, and quick access to the major climbing routes onto the tallest peaks of the Teton Range. Jenny and Jackson Lakes are the only lakes in Grand Teton National Park where motorboats are permitted; both lakes have scenic tours available. A 2005 study of the water quality of the lakes in Grand Teton National…

Sources

Daugherty, John. “A Place Called Jackson Hole: A Historic Resource Study of Grand Teton National Park.” Grand Teton Historic Resource Study, 1999. https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/grte2/hrs.htm.

Gannett, Henry and USGS. The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. Second Edition. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1905. https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n1/mode/2up.

Good, J.M., K.L. Pierce, and Grand Teton Natural History Association. Interpreting the Landscapes of Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks: Recent and Ongoing Geology. Moose, WY: Grand Teton Natural History Assoc., 1996.

Layser, Earle F. “Conant Pass Trail: Known To But A Few.” Teton Valley Magazine, 2013. https://www.tetonvalleymagazine.com/history-stories/conant-pass-trail-known-to-but-a-few/.

McPhee, J. Annals of the Former World. Annals of the Former World. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000.

NPS. “Diving in Grand Teton National Park,” September 4, 2013. https://www.nps.gov/submerged/Parks/GRTE.html#.

NPS. “Jenny Lake at Grand Teton – 12,000 Years of History.” National Park Posters, February 26, 2022. https://national-park-posters.com/blogs/national-park-posters/jenny-lake-at-grand-teton-12-000-years-of-history.

NPS. “Journey Through the Past: A Geologic Tour.” Grand Teton, February 2012. https://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/geology-access.pdf.

Roberts, Steve. “Beaver Dick Leigh, Mountain Man of the Tetons | WyoHistory.Org,” October 22, 2017. https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/beaver-dick-leigh-mountain-man-tetons.

Wyoming State Library. “Jenny Lake.” Wyoming Places. Accessed May 21, 2023. https://pluto.wyo.gov/awweb/awarchive?item=11140667.

Taxonomy

Classified As

Lake