| According to Hayden, " long known to the hunters of the region as Heart Lake." Named prior to 1870 for an old hunter by the name of Hart Hunney who in early times plied his trade in this vicinity. He was possibly one of Bonneville's men, for he seems to have known the General well and to have been familiar with his operations. He was killed by a war party of Crows in 1852. The spelling, Heart, dates from the expeditions of 1871. The notion that the name arose from the shape of the lake seems to have originated with Captain Barlow. It has generally been accepted although there is really no similarity between the form of the lake and that of a heart. Lewis Lake is the only heart-shaped lake in that locality. Everts named Hart Lake, Bessie Lake, after his daughter. (Chittenden, 1895) |
