Wyoming Man Claims Capture of Lake De Smet Monster

The water of Lake De Smet is green, cold, and bitter to the taste.

Seven and a half miles from Buffalo, Wyoming, this basin has been the subject of local folklore for generations. Residents and ranchers in the area have long described strange shapes moving through the murky depths. These accounts date back to the 19th century and continue into the early 2000s.

William Kenneth Cole, the manager of the Sheridan Flour Company, took the legend seriously in 1938. He claimed he wanted to prove the creature was real after flour brokers in the East doubted the existence of the beast. Cole offered a $100 reward for its capture but went after it himself when no one stepped forward. He brought L. L. MacBride, the managing editor of the Sheridan Press, and staff photographer Walter Harris along on the boat.

Cole described a frantic struggle that lasted ten hours. He said the boat was tossed around like a chip on the ocean and the water turned to blood-red foam. MacBride grabbed a pitchfork and struck the creature, according to Cole's account. The beast then pulled the carcass to the shore, where it exploded.

The aftermath left a specific collection of objects scattered on the lakebed. Cole listed 12 horseshoes, a road grader wheel, Father De Smet's Bible, 13 Indian scalps, a backless bathing suit, a piece of railroad track, and an outboard motor. Ida McPherren, who interviewed Cole, noted that while the capture story had satirical elements, the explosion itself was factual.

Support for the monster's existence comes from a variety of witnesses. In 1892, three ranchers saw an enormous shadow resembling a sea serpent. Frank Krout reported seeing a creature like a wet bay mare in 1924. The Barkey family witnessed two serpents that looked like long telephone poles with lard buckets attached in 1925. These creatures leaped and chased each other for nearly 15 minutes.

Other descriptions vary widely. One ranch hand reported a 30 to 40 foot serpent with a bony ridge near the head. Another observer, a civil engineer named Sneff, saw a serpent rise six feet out of the water and make waves large enough to swamp a rowboat. Modern accounts include a 1950s ice fishing trip where a 50 yard rip appeared in three-foot thick ice, and a 1990s fishing derby where a large shape moved through the water.

Doubters offer a natural explanation. McPherren suggested the sightings were caused by a native bird that swarmed in masses. From a distance, these flocks rising at dawn could look like a huge animal writhing in midair. The records at The Wyoming Room in the Sheridan County Fulmer Library continue to hold these mixed accounts of the lake's resident.

McPherren concluded that the descriptions fit a prehistoric relic. She described the lake as having its own Loch Ness monster. The legend persists in the local archives and the memories of those who have fished the water.