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Show Suny. Api30,2006 DAILY HERALD HISTORY | HOW-TO Continued from B2 experience, he may not have Personal histories wanted to see another one. When the Mormon pioneers arrived in the Great Basin, the - Utes told some of their beliefs to the newcomers. These Utetales comparedto journals probablyhelped stimulate the developmentof similar pioneer ghost and monsterstories related to water. For example, the LDS Journal Historycontains Note: The Herald is publishing,in serial form, an early (perhaps the earliest) pioneerreferencerelated to the book “Howto Write an Interesting Personui Water Babies. The Southern Exploring Ex- History — Without Lying” by Georgia Jensen Blosil, a Provo author. The book is available for $9.95 at a pedition, led by Parley P. Pratt, traveled southward through Utah Valley in November 1849. The explorers crossed over the ridge number oflocal bookstores, or from the author. E-mail gblosil@mstarmetro.net or into Juab Valley on the 29th of call 801-374-6968. that month and camped at Pun- jun Spring. This body of water is nowcalled Burraston Ponds. personal journal can be presented as a personal history. This y be an easy and convenient wayout of the additional task of composing life sang hymnsand two men who were ill received blessings: To- ward the end of the meeting, In- dian interpreter Dimick B. Huntingtontold the group about Ute story. However, you dothis at Indiantraditions, one-of which wasthat the spring near which some risk. In journal, one talks to oneself. Generally, a journal is a record ofthe private and they camped was bottomless. The Journal History listing forthis datetells of another Ute sensitive events of one’slife, belief that Huntington may have told the men: “The Indians have atraditionthat this spring is inhabited by a hairy being, like usually not for public consumption, as your personal history will be. Forinstance,in a journal the writer mayvent he comes uncomfortablefeelings, major frustrations and struggles with others—the unpleasant parts upat nights, makes anoise like a frog andtries tofrighten and oflife. We ourselves may never wantto be reminded of | the painful moments we have catchIndians and drawthem into this bottomless spring.” Imperfect commandof the Utelanguagelikely caused someofthe Indian stories to beheardso they fit better into the Euro-Americanculture's realm of understanding andbelief. Withinashort time,the pio- LOS Church Archives UteIndian boys like these photographed by Charles W.Carterin his Salt Lake Citystudio believed in Pawapicts. or Water Babies. dian storyto betterfit what they could more easily understand. Thesettler’s version of the story says Indiantraditions regarded the pond “as bottomless, and in the evening theyreport the slight wailing ofaninfantis often heard to proceed fromit.” Throughthe years, the nar- rative underwentstill further revision. The current version ofthis ancient Water Babytale has been passed down through the Richard James Burraston family to Burraston’s greatgranddaughter, Karen Thorn, a resident of Springville. The Daily Herald of January 27, 2001, quotes Thornas sayin “A storyis told that a baby feu into the pond and wasnever found. Legendsaysif you go to the pondsat the right time you canhear a babycry.” Other Water Babytales are morecloselyrelated to Utah Lake. Someearlysettlers of Utah Valley even changed Utah Water Indiantales so they substantiated stories found in the Bible. This wasthecase with William S. Robinson, who was a boy when his familysettled in American Fork during pioneer times. Robinson wrote: “When we camehere, we heardthat a great monster wasin the lake. We asked an Indianabout this big reptile and hesaid it was a fish, and told how four of the Indians were in swimming and heard anoise and sawthis big fish following. It swallowed them and they had a knife and cut themselves outofthe fish. You can connect that story with the story of Jonah, (from) which I think it is handed down.” Manyofthe Great Basin’s newsettlers cameto Utah Valley from England and Denmark and were familiar with stories appropriate time, not necessarrecollections but because,in retrospect, it is just plain boring—mundane. even to them. Manyjournals arelittle more than ship's log. A journal may serve well for a ship captain or in legal proceeding, but it does not entertain the reader. Be assured that the reader of yourpersonal history is look- ing for entertainment. If it is not in the storyof yourlife, he will take a first look, flip through the pages and then put it down—forever that the following ae will get youstarted on the pleasure and fulfillment of composing a written or oral record of your one-of-a-kindlife, and put- ting it into welcoming hands. I promise you, the adventure another's reputation,of deeply great fun! will be heart=-warming and Delivery The September15,1851, Millennial Star containsa description of Brigham Young's spring howthe pioneers modified the In- Journal writers sometimes discard a personal journal at an Reliable neers had modified this Indian tale about Burraston Ponds, and their version took on a very ghostly Euro-Americanflavor. ence to Punjun Spring and shows private entries in your journal. Include them in your personal history with discretion. recorded in our own journals. The potential for damaging come garbled. Also,the settlers sometimes modified stories they journeyto visit someofthe southerncolonies in Utah Territory.Thisarticle contains a refer- ways just and accuratein our thoughts. Therefore, guard the ily because of its embarrassing That evening the men gathered for a camp meeting. They achild8 years old hurting someone's feelings, of embarrassing another person is sometimes part of a private journal. We arenot al- of dragons and kraken,or as wecall them, sea monsters. Utah pioneers may not have beenableto believein little peo- On a summer ‘Sundayiin 1868, three men and six women oe ple who lived in the lake, swal- ming in Bear Lake. It swam lowed humans and carried them into the water,but it was apparently less difficult for some of them to believe in something just as chilling and dramatic. Indian tales sownonthe fertile field of pioneer imagination reed in a bounteous harvest of monsterlore. There was, however,little public'commentdealing with the presence of water monsters in Utah until August 3, i . On that date,a letter in correspondence column of the] ie. Newssported an eyerate! headline consisting ing of the following four words printed in bold capital letters: ted a huge brownish animal be. tween 40 and 90 feet long swimfaster than a speeding locomotive, and ten others of various sizes swam in its wake. Rich finished his imaginative Territory. Could his fanciful scheme succeed? To be continued. DD. Robert Carteris a historian from Springville. He can be reached at 489-8256. Greal Customer Service 375-5103 Doailu¥Herald Your ‘Town, Your Neyhbors. Your Newspaper article by teasing his audience with these words:“Is it fish, flesh or serpent, or amfabulous ora greatbig fib, or whatis ... Here is an excellent opportunity for some company to bust Barnum ona dicker for the monster,if they can only catch one.” Did the clever,articulate correspondent from Rich County believe what he wrote? The answerlies in the following statementRich jotted down about twenty years later when summarizing the many things he had accomplished at that point “All lakes, caves and dens in his life. He wrote, “I discovered and made famous bypublihave their legendary histories. Tradition loves to throw her cation in the Deseret Newsthat magic wandover beautiful dells wonderful first class lie — The and lakes and people them with Bear Lake Monster.” fairies, giants and monsters of What motivated Rich to write various kinds. Bear Lake has his now famous letter? Tc many also its monstertale to tell, and peoplein Utah's capital city, whenI havetold it, I will leave life on the northern fringe of you to judge whetherornot its the territory near Bear Lake ee are merely traditionary.” seemed provincial and boring, and the area received few visitors during the first yearsofits Richson of Cares © Rack, went on to say the local Indians settlement. believed Bear Lake contained Rich apparently contrived a monster. Theyclaimed that to convince the people of Salt many years earlier the animal LakeCity, including the woman carried off Indians who were he hoped to marry,thatlife in Rich County was not as drab and humdrum as they thought for manyyéars, the Indians faint- it was. Richintended toattract ly remembered whatit looked morevisitors to the area by like. They said the monster had making the Bear Lake Counlegs 18 inches long and spouted try. the most talked about and water upwards from its mouth. widely knownsection of Utah “MONSTERSIN BEAR LAKE” The letter readin part: jon ey | "EXECUTIVE Ranked37in the U.S. and66 in the world by London Based Financial Times *Makean immediate impact with your MBA knowledge Advance your career in a schedule designed for executives because your ¢Leam from highly-ranked faculty *GMATwaived in select cases Evaluation Internationally accrédited by AACSB can only take you'sofar. Upcoming Information Sessions: ‘Thursday, May 11, 2006 Thursday, Jame 1, 2006 Education with Impact 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. Roland Christensen Center Acoeaweu cen Watchfor your Sports and Recreation Activity Guide in the Daily Herald and Central Utah Quality Buys on May1. Includingalllistings for baseball, softball, and other|summerrecreation activities. |