Excerpt from "They Made Mormon History"

              274
They Made Mormon History
giving advice to the saints on the brown eggs from Mrs.
Clifton's special chicken. Then, before the gaping crowd,
he would put the egg in a solution and bring out the writing
before their very eyes. Soon the inscriptions on the egg took
the form of spiritual advice, and finally prophecy of things
to come. The credulous began to believe they were receiving messages from another world, and the excitement ran
high.
"Apostle Rich himself found it necessary to take a
hand, and put a stop to these seeming occult demonstrations.
Having a salty sense of humor of his own, he ended the
nonsense by declaring in a public gathering that when the
Lord wanted to reveal His truths to the people He would do
so through His recognized authority, not through the hind
end of a hen."47
Young Rich had a twentieth-century wit and imagination. He was the inventor of the somewhat famous "Bear
Lake Monster," a distant relative, no doubt, of the renowned
reptilian resident of Loch Ness. At this time Joseph was
courting Ann Eliza Hunter, daughter of the Presiding Bishop
of the Church, Edward Hunter. Joseph had been down in
Salt Lake to see her. He was apprehensive about persuading
her to marry him and leave her comfortable home in Salt
Lake City to pioneer an untamed country. He racked his
brain to find some way to success in his project.
"Back again in Paris, he was struck with a brilliant
idea. Once and for all, he would settle the matter by making Bear Lake the most talked of and widely known section
in the entire territory. Why shouldn't it be, he thought.
With the most beautiful lake in the Rocky Mountains; and
a summer climate so cool and invigorating it could easily
become a vacation paradise, he decided to appoint himself
a one-man publicity bureau for his new home. Accordingly,
he sat down and dashed off one of the most amazing pieces
of regional publicity ever devised.
47Poulsen, op. tit., pp. 199-200.