Lake De Smet is a

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

located in

Johnson County, Wyoming Johnson County is a County (United States), county in the north central part of the U.S. state of Wyoming. At the 2020 United States Census, the population was 8,447. The county seat is Buffalo, Wyoming, Buffalo. Kaycee, Wyoming, Kaycee is the o ...

. It services Johnson County with water for industrial, agricultural, and municipal uses. With a maximum depth of 120 feet, and a capacity of 234,897 acre feet, Johnson County is responsible for 68.27% of its annual maintenance and operation costs, while the state of Wyoming covers the other 31.73%. First described by

Pierre-Jean De Smet Pierre-Jean De Smet, SJ ( ; 30 January 1801 – 23 May 1873), also known as Pieter-Jan De Smet, was a Flemish Catholic priest and member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). He is known primarily for his widespread missionary work in the mid-19th ...

, a

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

priest, in a letter dated August 24, 1851, it was a highly saline lake capable of housing only limited aquatic life in its early years. Throughout its history, it changed hands multiple times, with its owners including

Levi Leiter Levi Ziegler Leiter (November 2, 1834 – June 9, 1904) was an American businessman based in Chicago. He co-founded what became the Marshall Field & Company retail empire. Early life Leiter was born to Anne (née Ziegler) and Joseph Thomas Leit ...

, Reynolds Mining, and

Texaco Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American Petroleum, oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its Gasoline, fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an Indepe ...

. In 1865, the

Powder River Expedition :''This event should not be confused with the Big Horn Expedition during the Black Hills War.'' The Powder River Expedition of 1865 also known as the Powder River War or Powder River Invasion, was a large and far-flung military operation of the U ...

passed by the lake during its military operations against various Native American people, including the Lakota Sioux, the

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...

, and the

Arapaho The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho band ...

. The Lake Desmet Segment of the

Bozeman Trail The Bozeman Trail was an overland route in the western United States, connecting the gold rush territory of southern Montana to the Oregon Trail in eastern Wyoming. Its most important period was from 1863–68. Despite the fact that the major pa ...

is located around a mile west to the lake.

References

{{Reflist Lakes of Wyoming