The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-02-24
THE DEAD LAKE MONSTER.
what Was 1t, OF whatIs II, and Il IL
There Now.

4neEe NOW.
From the Chicago Times.
In the great North sea lies a dead sea-
caI" I have always remembered this. Il
IS the commencement Of one OF Grimm's
stories. and stands out like a rock above
she Hood Of things for gotten. in the
great North sea lies a dead seacst"'
The things OF the earth upon which men
walk themselves have never attracted
their Imagination with such force as those
Of the painless waters. The terrors of the
skies and OF THE heavens above never
surpassed IN ancient beliefs those of the
jncomprehensible sea" In modern times
our greatest establishments come from the
water. for thereunder lies our greatest ig-
uorance. as yet unfathomably deep. Thus
comes il about that every body Of water,
salt or FRESH, has associated with IL le-
zends Of some unknown inhabitant. There
IS not great lake known to men that has
not its traditions Of d monster, and
scarcely any river.
ont in Utah there are lake OF no great
size which, if contemporary testimony is
OF any value, contain animals of great
bulk which have never been captured, and
are likely TO be new to science.
Two letters describing one Of these mon
sters were written to Brigham Young:
mon) papers in July, 1870, and appears
something as follows:
The Monster Again-Brother NJ. Pratt
has Just reached this city from Rich
county. While travelling on the borders OF
Bear lake to the south of Fish Haven, or
the evening of last Tuesday week, with
Thomas, son Of Elder c. Rich, their at
tention was attracted by an unusual COM
motion in the waters of the lake, and they
presently saw the head and portion Of
the body of a creature larger round than
the body Of man, the head resembling
somewhat the pictures of the walrus
minus its tuslEs. The portion of the body
out Of the water was about ten feet long
Several shots We're fired at, but missed
he creature. 1t swan away in the direc-
ion of the east side of the lake, its track
being marked by wavy. serpentine mo-
lion. They had a view OF this denizeu Of
the deep for about fifteen minutes. Broth
er Pratt informs us that one enterprising
citizen has a large rope, to which is at
cached a. stout hook well baited tied
round stout tree. so that We shall no
doubt hear before long that the monster
IS caught at last"
-Four years elapsed without any further
official" recognition of the animal, and
then appeared lin May, 1870 the following
"a the same paper:
BY the courtesy of President Brigham
Young We are enabled to print the follow
ing letter, which, from the known verac-
itY Of its writer's, is sufficient to eXtin-
slish all doubts as to the existence of
the monster which has so long been sup
posed to inhabit the water of Bear lake,
Rich county: Last Friday morning
May IS. On our return from conference,
William BrOomhead, Mr.. Pratt and my
self civilian Budge) were in a light wag-
on travelling nortkward by the lake shore,
when our attention was attcrated by an
object In the water about 100 yards from
the shore. As we got near we saw that
It was an animal, the head and a portion
OF the back, about foot from the head,
being visible, the invisible part between
the being, 40 doubt, the neck. When We
were within about seventy yards the ami
NAL dived, and from this action we Judged
II was not more than five or six feet
long. Still, we did not see its length. It
came up again in perhaps about a minute
= little behind us and pToDauiy not more
shan thirty-five yards from us. Its face
and part of its head were distinctly seen.
covered with fur or. short hair of a light
SNUFF color. The face of the animal was
apparently fiat, very wide between the
eyes, and tapering to the nose, with very
fuli. large eyes and prominent ears. re-
sempling those of horse, but scarcely
50 long The whole face in shape was
like that OF a fox, but so large that the
space between the eyes equaled that be-
tween the eyes of a cow. 1t did not look
ferOcious, and in no hurry to 20, but kept
moving slowly, then, diving again, came
up and moved Off into the lake as fast
rs man could walk. We had an excel
lent opportunity 10 see what was above
water and the lake was perfectly still
As there has been considerable interest
evinced In regard to the bear-like monster
] submit a description OF what we have
seen thinking il might be acceptable to
YOU"
Such are the letters written by men of
standing in the Mormon church to their
president, Brigham Young, q man with
whom 1t was dangerous to joke, and to
whom no Mormon in his senses would
think or even dream of sending deliber-
ate lie What. then, did they see? 1t is
impossible to say. But this much is GER
tain, that whatever 1t was il was an ami
mai unknown to science, and, as SUCH
distinctly worth investigation. Ten years
after the date of the second letter / was
IN Utah, and during my stay there the
beast was. as l have said above, pursued
and shot at with a revolver and its trail
Which / remember showed no footmark
examined. Another decade has elapsed
since then, but the beast has not yet been
captured That it is some variety of seal
or monster is probably certain. But what
interesting developments may not have
taken place in its anatomy during the
ages that have elapsed since its ancestors
We're cut of, perhaps. by the upheaval Of
California, from the Pacific ocean?