Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1890-10-03
A MONSTER SEA SERPENT.
Five Men Describe q Gigantic Monstros.
ity of Fish Trap Lake.


ity of Fish Trap Lake.
A party of five persons, all gentlemen,
arrived home from a four days visit to
Fish Trap lake, about three miles below
Galena. Ills, a place not only famous
among anglers whereabouts, but as being
the same body of water in which was dis
covered the huge serpent fish which
created so much excitement among people
generally and discussion among naturalists
especially about ten years ago.i
The intense interest which was then ex-
cited has been greatly magnifed by the
fact that this particular monster, Judging
from reliable and detailed accounts that
have been received, has again made it's ap.
pearance, and was seen by every one of the
five gentlemen comprising the party above
referred to on the afternoon of the day
previous to their departure for home.
"We were out in the middle of the lake
trolling for salmon and pike" said one of
the number on being questioned, "and
were drifting along almost imperceptibly
on its perfectly smooth surface toward the
western extremity, propelled by the light
breeze prevailing from the east, when sud
denly the water about us became fearfully
agitated. the boat commenced to heave and
rock, and we were wondering with
blanched faces what could be the cause of
the phenomenon when, before a single
word could be uttered, a sight presented
itself which not one of us will ever forget
to our dying day, though we live to be as
old as Methuselah.
"Can l describe it in d~etail?" said the
narrator in response to an inquiry. eyes,
for it so wildly impressed itself upon nv
mind that were l an artist l could draw
the scene with lifelike perfection and &C.
curacy. I was looking down into the lake
from the sternsheets of the boat to discov-
er, if possible, some cause for the singular
movement of the water which threatened
to submerge us, when like a flash there
emerged from it's seething breast, and not
more than ten rods away, a half fish, half
serpent monster, fully thirty feet in
length, the exposure from extremity to ex-
tremity being complete, as it lay upon the
water after reaching the surface.
"Its appearance was heralded by a shout
from the huge creature, exactly like that
of a fretful horse, which threw a column
of water into the air like the spouting of a
whale, the mist from which completely
saturated our clothing. The head and
body of the animal to it's middle were
shaped like that of a sturgeon, with
a long, narrow top fin and a forward fin
on either side, just back of the gills. The
eyes were black and beadlike, and two
holes for spouting or,throwing water were
plainly discernible on top of the head. The
body from the center to the after extremity
was that of q serpent, without fins of any
kind, the tail tapering to a point like that
of Il pilot or bull snake.
"The hideous monstrosity lay prone
upon the water for a half dozen seconds or
more, when it started for the mouth of
the lake, swimming with great velocity,
it's body partly out of the water. Stricken
with w mingled with terror, we watched
it in silence until it passed out into the
Mississippi, when it love downward on
reaching the channel and was seen no
more. Fortunately Adam Bell, a trust
worthy gentleman of Galena, was with us,
and was also one of the party who discov-
cred the huge marine monstrosity of ten
years ago, and described it as being iden-
tically the same in size and general appear
ance as that which we witnessed this after
noon before we struck camp for Galena,
and expresses the opinion that it's home is
in one of the partially submerged caverns
which hound along the bayous in the
vicinity Of New California"
A remarkable thing, it may be said,
about Fish Trap lake is it's extreme depth,
the bottom in some places never having
been reached with any of the lines used in
sounding. 1t sets directly back from the
Mississippi river, and is q mile and q quar-
ter in length and a half mile in breadth,
its banks being bordered with heavy tim
Der and thick shrubbery. Its junction
with the Mississippi is formed by a mouth
thirty or forty rods wide. 1t was former
ly a veritable haven for anglers, but since
the discovery of the half fish and half ser.
pent monstrosity of ten years ago it has
been deserted, except by the more intrepid
sportsmen of this section, Cor. St. Louis
Globe Democrat.