By Gary Topping–
(Editor’s note: It’s lake monster week on The Boy Monk blog. On Monday, Mike O’Brien blogged about his admiration for an 1868 report about the Bear Lake monster (https://theboymonk.com/my-152-years-of-never-seeing-the-bear-lake-monster/). On Tuesday, we re-published that 152 year old report from The Deseret News (https://theboymonk.com/joseph-richs-original-1868-report-about-the-bear-lake-monster/). Today, Gary Topping blogs about reports of a similar monster inhabiting the Great Salt Lake.)
Utah’s Great Salt Lake has occupied a “great” part of my life, especially since the late 1970s when I realized that fate had decreed that I would be spending the rest of my life here rather than returning to my natal origins in the Pacific Northwest. For one thing, at various times I have had two different sailboats on the lake, and Marianna and I have spent many happy hours enjoying the warm sun, cool breezes and dockside barbeques at the marina. Also, I spent several frigid weeks in the winter of 1986 on the west side of the lake with a couple of archaeologists excavating the jettisoned artifacts of the hapless Donner party of 1846. We were anticipating the state having to pump some of the all-time-high lake water out there to save Interstate 80 (as it turned out, they never did).
My love for the lake bore fruit in a book, Great Salt Lake: An Anthology (Logan: Utah State University Press, 2002), in which I collected some of my favorites among the very diverse writings about the lake. One of the most entertaining selections is taken from Dale Morgan’s 1947 history of the lake, in which he summarizes, “with tongue firmly in cheek and his winsome sense of humor at high tide,” as I say in my introduction, what is “known” about the lake monster:
“On the basis of the evidence which I have painstakingly assembled, it is clear that the monster was a most interesting beast, and it is much to be regretted that no specimen has yet been taken for purposes of classification. Since it is my earnest desire that this book be a contribution to the natural sciences, as well as a book of history, I will undertake to summarize what is known of the monster. Its head resembles that of a horse or an alligator or a great serpent or a sea lion; at all events, it has ears or bunches on the side of its head as large as a pint cup. Its body resembles that of a seal or a serpent or a dolphin or a crocodile; at all events, it is covered with brownish fur, has legs 18 inches long and ranges up to 80 feet in length. The beast can roar very loudly; it makes much noise when it thrashes about near shore; it has the ability to spout water from its mouth; it can travel through the water at the rate of a mile a minute; and, the inference seems justified, it has a distinct migratory tendency.
“Assuming the Salt Lake Monster, the Utah Lake Monster and the Bear Lake Monster were of the same species, if not even the same animal, one may make certain postulates. The beast was possessed of considerable agility, for it was able to make its way up and down the canyons by which the Bear River flows to Great Salt Lake, and up and down, similarly, the Jordan Narrows—no mean feat for so large a creature. That it was able to pass through, if not flourish in, the waters of Great Salt Lake seems a fact of high importance, for it has already been pointed out that Great Salt Lake presents a hostile environment to most living organisms. . . . The lake is devoid of fish, and a monster would have to eat extraordinary quantities of brine shrimp and brine flies to fare very well. . . .
“Of later years, the monster has not been seen, but it is premature to suggest that it has become extinct. The attention of aspiring zoologists is called to a real opportunity. Someone might profitably devote a summer in Utah to an investigation. The new radar devices need not be restricted to the pursuit of mackerel and sardines in the ocean sea; there is no such difficulty about locating a specimen as existed 75 years ago; and the rewards, in the event of success, should be substantial. The scientist who captured a specimen could be assured of a full-page picture in Life; he would be implored to accept a chair at Harvard; and assuredly he could look for an invitation to lecture in Australia.”
*Gary Topping is a writer and historian living in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is the retired archivist for the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City and has written many books and articles.
