Came across this interesting little tidbit today. Turns out Utah's pretty cool after all. (And I included this illustration for you of how exactly you get whales from a train to a lake). Enjoy!
In 1875, James Wickham was brainstorming for ideas to attract tourists to the lake and its shore-side resorts. One afternoon, Wickham stood on Ensign Peak above Salt Lake City, gazed out at the vastness of the lake, and was struck with a magnificent idea: Whales! Wickham bought two 35-foot whales in Australia and shipped them by boat to San Francisco then railway to the Great Salt Lake. Wickham has visions of 'farming' the whales, and pictured idyllic scenes of the whales swimming around lakeside docks, where visitors could practically reach out and touch them. The whales were released into the lake, but instead of hanging around the docks, they swam off and were never seen again. Though most believe they died quickly due to the high salinity of the lake, there are from time to time stories of 'monster' sightings on the lake. In one report from around the turn of the century, a whole boatload of sailors swore up and down that they saw a 60-foot beast in the moonlit waters.
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