DescriptionLocal lore suggests 2 possibilities for the name of the community. In one, the name recalls early settler Emmett Swan. The other suggests that the name comes from the swans that frequent the nearby lake. The community began to develop sometime around 1905. The Somers Lumber Company, a subsidiary of the Great Northern Railway, purchased approximately 85 million board-feet of timber from the Flathead National Forest near Swan Lake in 1914. The town of Swan Lake developed as the railhead for that timber. The company decked the logs nearby, until high water allowed their transportation to the mill at Somers, via the Swan River and Flathead Lake. Swan Lake is a popular summer recreation area today.Personal NamesSwan, EmmettContributing InstitutionMontana Historical Society Library and ArchivesGeolocation[1] Elevation3116 ft.CountyLake County
