Where are the Seagulls?

Doug and Elaine Alder

By Dr. Doug Alder, Historian
                                                      
This is a folktale. Does that mean it is not true, that it is made up? Not at all. Folklore is a valuable source of our heritage. These are the stories people tell and then they are repeated, sometimes enlarged. So here is a Bear Lake tale.

Before telling it, I remind you of a Salt Lake version. Shortly after the Mormon pioneers settled in the Salt Lake Valley, a year or two later, there was an infestation of crickets that ate their crops. The pioneers tried to destroy them with shovels and brooms. After two unsuccessful days of fighting the growing infestation, the settlers turned to fasting and prayer. Then the famous miracle came and swarms of seagulls flew in and ate them. The birds would fly to the lake and throw up what they had chewed and return and eat more.

The Laketown version was more efficient. An infestation of similar insects came upon their crops a couple of years after the town was settled. The settlers pled for help and then a great wind came up and blew the insects into the lake, where they drowned.