Confrontations with ‘monster’ rattlesnakes in early Utah

                           A snake warning sign, just off the road, north of Boise, Id.

RATTLESNAKES are a critical part of Utah’s natural environment and killing such a snake is illegal today. However, it wasn’t always so.
In Layton's first century, the action was almost always to kill any rattlesnakes spotted.
For example, the Weekly Reflex newspaper of Aug. 3, 1922 stated, "Last week Claude Coleman killed a monster rattlesnake on his father's farm on the mountain road (today's Highway 89). The reptile was six feet long and had sixteen rattles and button. This is the largest rattlesnake killed in this region for years," the story stated.

-“Salt Lake kills giant rattlesnake near city” was an Aug. 28, 1903 headline in the Salt Lake Telegram newspaper.

The story stated that S.C. Reed of Salt Lake was driving a horse and buggy up Mill Creek Canyon when he noticed a snake stretched across the road. It was a rattler, 3.5 feet long and as big around as the forearm of a large man. It “made a number of vicious attempts to strike him,” after he stopped to look at it.

So, Reed took a stick and kept hitting it until it was dead.

”The ‘rattler’ was evidently an ancient member of its tribe , for it had nine rattles and a button. These Reed secured and will keep as a trophy of the most desperate encounter he ever had with a snake,” the Telegram story concluded.

-“Gun more harmful than rattlesnake” was a May 30, 1910 headline in the Telegram. While a companion was attempting to shoot a rattlesnake in Big Cottonwood Canyon, Dennis Ausherman was accidentally shot below his knee.

-“A rattler attacks a cyclist” was a Sept. 7, 1895 headline in the Deseret Weekly newspaper. Si Murdaugh was riding his “wheel” (bicycle) somewhere in Salt Lake when he saw a “monster rattler” in front of him. He tried to run over it, but the snake caught in his rear tire spokes. The rattle was then able to strike the man, who fainted and tumbled off his bike. A companion came to  Murdaugh’s aid and found the snake had caught his fangs in a leather belt and not actually bitten his friend. The snake was killed and found to be six feet in length, with 16 rattles.

- The Herald on June 24, 1900 had the headline, “Little boy’s narrow escape from a big rattlesnake.” Lawrence Swan, a little boy, was stepping out the back door of a home on Fourth Street, above Eagle Gate, when he fell backward to avoid stepping on a large coiled rattlesnake on the doorstep. The 3-foot snake was killed.

-“The Champion rattlesnake story” was an Aug. 29, 1890 headline in the Salt Lake Times newspaper. A Union Pacific Railroad employee killed a monster rattlesnake, near Milford, with nothing more than clods of earth. The man claimed the snake was 10 feet long and had an incredible 96 rattles.

-A June 27, 1902 headline in the Salt Lake Telegram was “Fights big rattler.” While walking toward Fort Douglas, Mrs. R.H. McKaig and her maid almost stepped on a coiled rattlesnake in the middle of the road. “The maid, Louise Westover, was paralyzed with fear, but her mistress picked up several large stones and gave battle to the rattler, which was making for a sagebrush. One of the missiles broke the snake’s back. Mrs. McKaig will have the snake’s skin tanned,” the story stated.

“Brigham hunter bitten by rattler” was an Aug. 28, 1920 headline in the Salt Lake Telegram. Lorenza Bott of Brigham City was bitten on the leg by a rattlesnake while hunting in Blacksmith Fork Canyon. He sucked out most of the poison and is out of danger.

                            A water snake, not a rattlesnake, by the Ogden River.

-“He killed the snake,” was a July 19, 1900 headline in the Ogden Herald newspaper. Seymour Clark and Will Swan were bicycling up Ogden Canyon, when Clark had to stop to fix flat tire. While repairing it, he saw a rattlesnake and “stoned the creature to death.”

The Ogden Standard of June 20, 1927 carried the headline, “Kill rattler at Cache roadside.” Glen Putnam, a railway employee killed a large rattler in Blacksmith Fork Canyon, when a wheel of their automobile crushed the reptile.

-JUMP forward to more modern times and there were at least 2 times during Northern Utah construction projects where rattlesnakes became a major problem:
-First, during the late 1950s construction of the Francis Peak radar station, above Farmington, where workers ran into nests to rattlers -- despite the nearly 9,500-foot elevation.
-Second, during the mid-1960s construction of the Interstate through Weber Canyon (today's I-84), where construction truck drivers had to be on alert and could not open their windows, lest a rattlesnake in their debris being hauled would crawl over their cab and slide into an open window. Rattlers would get caught up in rock and dirt being hauled away, or moved. Weird, but old-time truckers swear by such tales.