The local Southern Tutchone called it Tàa'an Män, Tagish knew it as Kluk-tas-si, and the Tlingit as Tahini-wud.

[3] Its English name comes from 1870 commemorating Michel LaBerge (1836–1909) - born in Chateauguay, Quebec, the first French-Canadian to explore the Yukon in 1866.

[4] It was well known to prospectors during the Klondike Gold Rush of the 1890s, as they would pass Lake Laberge on their way down the Yukon River to Dawson City: Jack London's Grit of Women (1900) and The Call of the Wild (1903), and Robert W. Service's poem "The Cremation of Sam McGee" (1907) mention the lake (although Service altered the spelling from Laberge to "Lebarge" to rhyme with "marge").

At least two methods were employed to break the ice up: In spring 2009, researchers found the A. J. Goddard, a Gold Rush sternwheeler that sunk in 1901, killing three of its crew.

A phonograph with three records was discovered, giving insight into songs being listened to during the Gold Rush.