--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Paul, J. H. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 32 number: 12 published: 1929-10 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "J. H. Paul, “A Monster Worth While,” *Improvement Era* 32, no. 12 (October 1929): 987–989." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera32012unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera32012unse start_page: 987 end_page: 989 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1929-10) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera32012unse publication_year: 1929 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1929, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # A Monster Worth While A Monster Worth While A Bear Lake Tradition That is Worth Preserving By J. H. Paul, University of Utah THE delightful fable of the once famed Bear Lake monster is so good that it ought to be retained. That amazing dream, myth, or perception — that prince of stories — should be kept alive as a tradition; not necessarily as something that was possibly true, but as something that has in it the stuff of endless fun and innocent amusement. For notwithstanding its apparent absurdity as a fact of science, who can say that this supposed monster was not there, an actual descendant of some pterodactyl, or ichthyosaur, or dinosaur, from geological ages of the past? This strange creature was seen, or supposed to have been seen, mostly on moonlit nights, its gigantic and serpent-like form now and again disturbing the usual peace of the serene and sleeping waters of the lovely and quiet lake. And please don't tell me that there was nothing in it! The Bear Lake Monster AMONG my earliest recollections are pictures of the fireside group in my father's home in Salt Lake City, reading in the Deseret News of about the year 1875, detailed and circumstantial accounts of this gigantic reptile. For one after another of the early inhabi- tants had managed to obtain casual glimpses of it. Sometimes it had the head of an otter, sometimes that of a cow. Occasionally it would lift its serpent-like form partly out of the water, displaying a long neck, and the body, apparently many yards in length, judging from the long line of ruffled water in its wake, could be dimly made out following the head, as the creature swam swiftly across the lake or disappeared into its depths. I Stories that Ought to be True F some of these stories are not true, they ought to be true; for they have brought thrills to the hearts of youth; and many a gray- beard has shaken his head in troubled doubt as he has heard of these incredible but detailed accounts given by reliable persons. At all events the stories may contain quite as much truth as parts of thel material that we require the youth of the nation to read and to ponder as "history." We are wont to fill our heads with matter no more certain and 988 IMPROVEMENT ERA oa. 1929 possibly much more misleading and mischievous. And so, I say, let's keep the tales of the monster of the sky-blue waters, if only for story-telling contests at campfires. At the worst they contain as much truth as most of the fishing yarns told there, while they have a scientific basis that ordinary fables do not possess. For just suppose that a few descendants of any long-necked race of lizards of the Mesozoic seas could somehow have lived on, possibly surviving in Lake Bonneville and being transferred in some unknown way to the little strip of Bear Lake waters. While I cannot imagine just how anything of the kind could have taken place, can anyone say positively that something like this might not have happened? Sea-Serpents of Science WE read in Leidy, Cope, and Marsh that ancient sea-serpents abounded in the Cretaceous seas of the region from which the Rocky Mountain highlands have been raised from the former waters — seas that extended from the Mississippi valley westward to limits not yet ascertained. These serpent-like creatures, varying from 10 to 75 feet in length, slender-necked and long-tailed, with four flippers in place of fins or feet, had jaws so constructed that they could swallow their prey whole, as serpents do; though Cope con- cludes that they were gigantic swimming lizards rather than true snakes. "Thirty-five species of reptiles are known from the Kansas strata alone." These reptiles are familiar to geologists who call them Mososaurs. The fossil preservation of a related form called by Cope Clydastes tortor, and remarkable for the slenderness of its body, "was found coiled up beneath the ledge of a rock, its skull lying undisturbed in the center." Long Live the Monster! THESE quotations; giving but a faint idea of how much the few fossiliferous strata already examined have yielded up concerning the true sea-serpents of science, are not intended to suggest that the author fancies any of the early accounts of the fabled monster of Bear Lake to have been accurate; or that descendants of certain! extinct monsters might somehow have gotten into the waters of Bear Lake. The writer entertains no such theory, nor any theory what- ever, about the matter. He intends merely to suggest, as far as he knows, if anyone does choose to believe that those early descriptions of the Bear Lake monster represent anything more than beavers, cows, wildcats, or other animals, seen swimming across the lake; and if he imagines further that they might have been creatures related to extinct monsters whose remains are found in the strata Oct.. 1929 A MONSTER WORTH WHILE . 989 of Western rocks — he has a perfect right to give this free rein to his imagination, with the practical certainty that science is little likely at present either to confirm or to refute his fancies. What the writer would like to see preserved is the curious and interesting tradition of the Bear Lake monster. That there is, or might be, or once was, something that lived in the waters of the lake — a fearsome creature resembling gigantic past animals of the sea-serpent type — this is by far too good a fancy to be lost. The tradition of the monster should be preserved if only for the sheef fun there is in hearing accounts of it, not because anyone thinks the tales true or false, but because such traditions, whatever may have started them, have high and peculiar value in literature and folk lore. A Friendly Suggestion to Bathing Resort Proprietors THE thought of the almost forgotten monster came to my imagina- tion during a recent visit to the Bear Lake region in the interest of scout and girl leadership. The picture of the terrible beast that some had seen, or imagined they had seen, was at first startling, and then interesting and pleasant. And a fear seized me; not a fear of the monster, but an apprehension that the tale had been hushed up by Bear Lake people themselves, lest anyone should think lightly of them for cherishing such a "fable"; or that those who conduct bathing resorts along the lake shore had hushed up the great story lest the bare reports of a fabulous monster in the depths should frighten would-be bathers out of the notion of taking a plunge in the pleasant waters of Bear Lake. Now, I do not think the story would have any such effect on most people; and while it might possibly keep a few from bathing, it would be more likely to attract others and so increase the profits of Bear Lake resorts. In any case, it appears to me to be rather a sordid interest of money-grabbing to try to lay at rest forever the marvelous traditions concerning the Bear Lake monster, lest such reports might tend to lessen the paltry profits of a few bathing' resorts. I have heard no intimations, however, that any of the proprietors have taken a stand against keeping alive the tradition, and I trust that none will seek to discredit it. As true as steel your wife may be, But yet withal remember. That truest steel, you will agree. Sometimes has a high temper. Los Angeles, California. O. F. URSENBACH.