The “Canadian Revelation”

Martin Harris wavered for a time at covering the cost for the printing of the Book of Mormon. Joseph Smith and a few of the brethren brainstormed over what they could do to cover the cost if Martin bailed out from his responsibility. It was at this time that Joseph Smith received a revelation known as the “Canadian Revelation.” Don’t bother trying to find it in your current edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, it’s not there. The only place you can read it is in the original Doctrine and Covenants, back in the day when it was referred to as the Book of Commandments. Joseph was commanded to send some of the elders to Canada to try and sell the copyright to a Canadian Publisher in hopes of covering the publishing costs. While in Kingston, Ontario, one of the publishers that the elders solicited was a man by the name of Stephen Miles. Believe it or not, Joseph Smith and Stephen Miles share a common tie. What was it?

A)     They share the same maternal great-grand mother

B)     They were both born in Sharon, Vermont

C)     Stephen was a member that Joseph converted at the time of the organization of the Church

D)     They both resided in Palmyra and were boyhood friends

Yesterday’s answer:

(D)  A very large, very fast swimming animal

 During the years 1860-1870 and even later, reports circulated concerning the existence of a strange animal in the waters of Bear Lake (On the border of Idaho and Utah), which became known as the Bear Lake Monster. It was supposed to be very large, with ears or bunches on the side of its head about the size of a pint cup, and it was said to be capable of spouting water from its nose or mouth. Some said it remained stationary in the water, while others asserted it could swim with incredible speed.

   A party of ten young people returning to Paris from Fish Haven reported that they were suddenly attracted by the peculiar motion of the waves in Bear Lake quite a distance out. Thomas Slight, one of the group, said he distinctly saw the animal, which was of a brownish color, and he supposed it to be about forty feet in length. It was going south, and all agreed that it was moving very fast.

   Around 1892 it was reported that an English tourist had seen a monster in Utah Lake resembling a sea serpent. At other times the animal or other animals of like shape and characteristics were reported to have been seen even in Great Salt Lake where no life would possibly exist. All of these reports are a matter of conjecture, since none of these creatures have ever been washed ashore or seen at close enough range to give verification to the stories.

Chronicles of Courage, Compiled by Lesson Committee (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1991), 256.