Being spread out along the west shore of Summer Lake itself, the town does not have a clustered downtown area. Goose hunting lodges dot the shore and are interspresed with an occasional commercial venture. This place helped make the Fremont expedition famous by helping the men survive. In the winter of 1843 Fremont and his men arrived here enroute from the Dalles to Sutter's Fort. They escaped from the bitter cold of the high plateau above to the temperate shore of the lake via a rugged canyon immediately to the west of town. They called that high ridge "Winter Ridge" and they called the lake "Summer Lake." Their reports helped guide the many travelers on the Oregon Trail.