Year: 1867

not approach the flats, determined to watch
him until at least he could get good idea
of his general appearance.


THE color of the animal was a blush
black, darkest in the center, graduating to
nearly blue towards the head and tail.
The under side of the animal was only Wis
ible as he lifted his head and tail, and this
appeared to be of a grayish white, resem
bling the dog-fsh The head was a little
larger than the average human head, grow
ing smaller toward the mouth, and sloping
gradually towards the neck, somewhat like
seals Towards the snout, which was
triangular in shape, the head was very much
depressed, and on the extreme end OF the
snout Mr. Muhlke thinks there were bar
bells but of this he is not sure. No teeth
were visible. The eyes were larger than
the human eye. Only a portion of the
neck was visible. This appeared to be
rough, ana along its upper surface and ex-
tending nearly to its tail was a series of
what looked like the bony plates Of a stur
geon. The ridg ge extended over the first
section of the animal which Mr.. Muhlke
saw, but apart from this there no APP
pendage visible on the forward part of the
animal. Mr. Muhlke, however, is conf
dent that there were either fins or legs
toward the head and under the water, as
there was a constant wash of the water
on either side of him, near that point, a.
if he was sustaining his huge bulk by the
motion of such appendages.


y few feet forward of the tail there
was well-developed fin of greenish hue,
corresponding with the dorsal fin Of the
sturgeon, but many times larger, and evi-
IDENTIFY very powerful. The entire fin had
a lateral motion. and the various spines Of
which it was composed had individual lon
gitudinai motion, so that sometimes the fin
almost closed up like a fan. Immediately
beneath this was an anal fin, possessing the
same characteristics, but different IN shape,
being very long, and the spines of equal
length Immediately in front of this fin
were two well-developed legs Mr.. Muhlke
thinks they ended in web-ioot. In any
event, they were jontless, but We're SO heN-
ible that the animal could draw them up to
the belly when they were not IN use. b.
analogy, therefore we should infer that the
animal had similar legs at his other eXtremi-
ty, VII ch tavors the supposItion that he
walks at times on the bed Of the lake IN
search of his prey, and at once banishes
the supposition that he might be OF the
sturgeon family The tail itself was OF
great size and strength, veryunsymmetrical
in shape, with something resembling long
hair covering its entire upper surface, the
under surface being diversified with ridges
radiating TO the outer edge.


To observe these facts was but the work
of few minutes Mr. Muhlke fearing 10
remain too long in the neighborhood OF the
monster, cautiously pulled in his anchor,
shipped his oars and headed for shore,
He hardly turned round and struck the
water with his oars before he heard the
same peculiar sound, and saw that the ami
NAL was in motion. His progress through
the water was like that Of 4 snake, undu-
lating, the head rising and falling at inter
walls, the body now in and now out of the
water. and the tail striking terrific blows,
throwing the water to i great distance and
churning it into foam. The effect was like
that of strong wind, and the heavy wash
that rolled in shoreward. decidedly acceler-
ated the motion of Mr. Muhlle's boat
much to his edifcation. suddenly the
animal repeated the peculiar notes he had
made before and sunk out of sight"