There are many things, and tales that are not part of the official doctrine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_Lake_Monster Only when something appears to be confirmed does it become 'official'.

Perhaps, you could show me where this is recorded? I know about the "Bear Lake Monster" but I can find nothing about Brigham being involved in this myth. I would be happy to see where you get your information. ..whew4

I had not heard of the Bear Lake Monster before doing a wiki search upon seeing this question. It's part of Utah's culture, and doesn't deserve a part of Church doctrine (official or not). I would like some proof that Brigham Young did try to catch it.

Did he actually spend Church dollars? The best I can find is that he donated some rope, but it’s not like he didn’t have any personal property. http://historytogo.utah.gov/salt_lake_tribune/history_matters/040101.html

Is it official Mormon Doctrine? No. Why did Brigham Young spend dollars trying to catch with a giant hook? Well he did donate a rope toward catching it. However, the historical record doesn't seem to indicate if it was purchased with personal or church dollars. Why did he do it? Who the heck knows? However perhaps it was a hardy way of bringing fresh tourist business to the Utah side of the lake. And apparently it's still working as this article will attest: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,595076701,00.html Here the historical particulars . . . (AND for the record Will Bagley is considered one of the best Western Mormon Historians on the planet -- though he DOES have a pattern of giving things the most spectacular spin possible) BEAR LAKE MONSTER IN UTAH: YES, SAYS HISTORIAN Herald-Journal, Logan UT By Kelly Hafen staff writer The first documented siting of the Bear Lake Monster was in July of 1868 by a number of pioneer settlers. Their recorded witness was not only the beginning of a number of personal accounts of the Bear Lake Monster as well as other such aquatic species in Northern Utah, says Monsterologist Will Bagley, but also the beginning of a sort of identity for people who live in the area. "It is those stories that make us a people and make us who we are," he said. "The telling of that human experience is absolutely a wonderful adventure." In a talk titled "The Bear Lake Monster and Utah's Other Infamous Aquatic Animals," Bagley spoke Thursday to his audience about what he says is evidence that supports the existence of this reptilian beast located in the Caribbean of the Rocky Mountains. The speech was funded by the Utah Humanities Council and given to a full room at the Logan Justice Center. "The history of the Bear Lake Monsters deserves serious consideration," Bagley said, explaining that the Bear Lake Monster(s) travels in pods, which indicates there may be more than one freshwater serpent. As Utah's self-proclaimed leading monsterologist, a historical consultant and an author of several books, Bagley defended that this creature, which has been described as a sort of serpent no shorter than 195 feet that can travel up to 60 mph, is supported by anthropological evidence from Shonsone tales relating to the Bear Lake Monster. But he said the most compelling evidence was established by early leaders of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the many supportive articles printed in the Deseret Morning News. Bagley sites several prominent religious members, including Brigham Young, George Q. Cannon, John Taylor, Lorenzo Snow and Joseph F. Smith, as strong believers in the Bear Lake Monster. All but Brigham Young, claimed they had seen the serpent, he said. "The Deseret News refused to back down on reporting about the Bear Lake Monster," he said. "And although he never saw, Brigham Young not only believed in the Bear Lake Monster, he invested in the Bear Lake Monster." In devising a trap for the Monster, early settlers made use of 300 yards of steel cable, a buoy and a rope used as a leader for a hook baited with a sheep. Bagley said Brigham Young himself donated the rope to trap the Caribbean serpent. "This is among the most compelling pieces of evidences about the Bear Lake Monster," Bagley said. Bagley said the trap was successful because sheep often disappeared. But the Bear Lake Monster was never caught. "Clearly we're dealing not with a resilient animal that can deal with a number of environmental challenges. But one that is very smart and can figure out how to get sheep off of a hook," he said. Besides the Bear Lake Monster and among the belief of lake monsters worldwide, Bagley entertains the idea of several "Other Infamous Aquatic Outlaws" throughout Utah. He includes in the list of inhabited waters Panguitch, Sevier, Utah and the Great Salt Lakes. He said there have been more recent and more believable reports on the existence of a Utah Lake monster. Among reports of sitings of a Utah Lake monster from duck hunters, fishermen and children, there has been physical evidence in the form of a recovered skull exhibiting a single horn. "Which indicates that we have a unicorn-style lake monster in Utah Lake," Bagley quipped. Stories of a Salt Lake monster lacked credibility, Bagley said. This monster is described as more reptilian, resembling a crocodile. But crocodiles would have a hard time living in water as salty as the Great Salt Lake, Bagley said. "All the reports come of the Salt Lake Monster from scurrilous gentiles who were all drunk out of their heads when they actually spotted the Salt Lake Monster," he said. "We have been unable to link the Salt Lake Monster in with the family of lake monsters that I believe survive to this day in Utah." But even Bagley admitted he once had his doubts about the Bear Lake Monster. He questioned its existence until he heard a personal story about an encounter with the creature from Bear Lake resident Brian Hirschi, who owns the pontoon-boat replica of the Bear Lake Monster. Hirchi told Bagley that it was his "civic duty that finally compelled Brian to come forward to warn people to be on the lookout for the Bear Lake Monster because it is still alive and lurking." Bagley said. http://ufoexperiences.blogspot.com/2007/03/bear-lake-monster-in-utah.html Monster Tale Haunts Shore Of Bear Lake Will Bagley Published: 04/01/2001 Edition: Final Section: Utah Page: B1 On May 18, 1874, William Budge, a distinguished Mormon pioneer and wagon train captain, described one of Utah's singular wonders to Brigham Young. Budge and three other respected citizens of Rich County had been traveling home the previous Friday morning. Suddenly, about three miles north of Laketown, an object about twenty yards from the shores of Bear Lake caught the men's attention. "At first sight we thought it might be a very large duck," Budge wrote, but as the men got nearer they could tell it was a larger animal. "Its face and part of its head were distinctly seen, covered with fur, or short hair of a light snuff color." The creature was flat-faced and had "very full large eyes, and prominent ears." The face resembled that of a fox, but the distance between its eyes was "that of a common cow." Budge thought the animal's neck was about four or five feet long, but he couldn't judge its overall size. "It did not look ferocious, and was in no hurry to go but kept moving slowly," he reported. It dived again and "came up and moved off into the Lake as fast as a man could walk." That day, LDS Apostle Wilford Woodruff noted in his journal that Budge, Orlando Pratt and Brother Bankenhead saw what they called "The Bear Lake Monster." Woodruff thought they had actually seen a large otter, but other LDS Church authorities were not so skeptical. In August 1881, Apostle George Q. Cannon reported having seen the Bear Lake Monster or something of that kind while strolling along the shore of the lake. For years Mormon leaders showed a keen interest in the animal the American Indians called the devilfish. Skeptics who dismiss the creature as purely imaginary should consider this: Young not only believed in the beast, he actually invested in the Bear Lake Monster. Shortly after Budge's report, Young entered into an arrangement with Phineas W. Cook of Swan Creek "to catch the serpent in the Lake at halves." In 1868, Cook had devised an ingenious plan to capture the elusive beast. He attached a barbed hook to a twenty-foot cable which he connected to 300 feet of one-inch rope. The rope was tied to a buoy marked with a large American flag. Another 300 feet of quarter-inch rope secured the buoy to a tree on shore. Cook planned to bait the hook with a leg of mutton. When the monster took the bait, the buoy would mark its position no matter how hard it fought or how far it fled, thus assuring its capture. Young contributed the rope and Cook agreed to bait the hook and tend the rig during monster season. Always attentive to his business interests, Young wrote in August 1876 to ask what had happened to his rope. "I spent my time faithfully during the season," Cook replied, "but did not succeed." Dudley Merrill had then used the rope to ferry Young and his entourage across Bear River during one of the prophet's tours of the north country. "I shall expect you to square the account," Cook concluded. The monster repeatedly had stripped the intrepid fisherman's hook of its bait, indicating how close the enterprise came to success. If the experience of Aquila Nebeker is any indication, Young and Cook could have saved the money they spent on bait. After the monster crawled ashore and ate twenty of Nebeker's sheep, the ravenous beast accidentally gulped down an entire roll of barbed wire. Clearly, like this historian and most Utahns, the Bear Lake Monster will swallow anything. http://historytogo.utah.gov/salt_lake_tribune/history_matters/040101.html