"A Monster!! There's a monster in the lake!" cried an excited rider as he raced along the Round Valley road. "I saw only the head and part of the neck", Johnson said, "It had ears or bunches on the side of its head the size of pint cups. The waves dashed over it and it threw water from its mouth and nose. It stayed only a few moments moving its head back and forth. Then it disappeared under the water, swimming rapidly away."
This panicky condition existed among the settlers for several years. In 1871, four campers fled when an alligator like animal some 75 feet long crawled out of the water near their camp. They returned the next day and found the camp destroyed.
"The creature again left the water two days later", a Logan family that had come to the lake for a week-end of swimming reported. "We were in the water when we heard a great commotion, and a great monster the size of two box cars crawled up on the beach and headed for one of our horses. It was about to gobble the horses when our dog barked and frightened it back into the water. We were terrified."
Several others said they saw the monster in following weeks and the panic increased Fun sales boomed and several settlers moved. Some believed the creature did exist. They said it could be a descendent of a prehistoric long necked race of Mesozoic sea lizards that were known to inhabit ancient Lake Bonneville which once covered most of northern Utah.
Two huge lizard fossils were found in Fossil Hill in Wyoming, only about 30 miles from the lake.
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