Dudley Lake (Teton County, Wyoming)
lake in Teton County, Wyoming, USA
Dudley Lake is located in Grand Teton National Park, in the US state of Wyoming.
Description
Dudley Lake is .80 miles (1.29 km) north of Bivouac Peak and near the north and south forks of Snowshoe Canyon. Dudley Lake was originally named Hanging Lake, and was renamed in honor of Dudley Hayden, an early park ranger. Access to the lake involves bushwhacking up into Snowshoe Canyon and is apparently easier if one passes the main stream draining from the lake and instead ascends from Moran Creek from the northwest.
History
The lake was discovered in 1932 by park ranger Dudley Hayden. Following his death in 1969, the Jackson Hole Historical Society passed a resolution to rename Hanging Lake to Dudley Lake in his honor. Support for the name change came from then Governor Stan Hathaway, US Senators Gale McGee and Clifford Hansen, and US Congressman John S. Wold. The lake was officially renamed Dudley Lake by the Department of the Interior in 1970.
“Dudley Lake (Teton County, Wyoming)” enters the record as lake in Teton County, Wyoming, USA. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Dudley, Lake and Teton can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Dudley Lake (Teton County, Wyoming)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Dudley, Lake and Teton provides the most credible route into that argument.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5311901. Authority coordinates are 43.880, -110.782. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1932, 1969 and 1970.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Dudley Lake (Teton County, Wyoming)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Dudley Lake (Teton County, Wyoming) primary sources, Dudley Lake (Teton County, Wyoming) archive and Dudley research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Dudley Lake (Teton County, Wyoming)”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Dudley Lake (Teton County, Wyoming)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.