From the archives of the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library:
The waters of Pine Island made province-wide waves across 1920s newspapers when American cottager Louis Graham and local Neebish resident Jim Parry both reported sightings of “a strange, monstrous fish in the water.” It was said to have spouted water, emitted a loud hissing sound, and even rammed into a boat tied near the beach.
What was this sea creature, exactly? There was much friendly debate as to the source, some brushing it off as a large pike, others claiming it to be a freshwater whale, and a few suggesting it was an alligator that had escaped into the waters from a circus in Sault, Michigan.
In an interview with the Star, one local resident, S.B. Dickinson, said, “It seems that this whale story has attracted considerable attention.” He went on to suggest that those wanting to get to the truth of it “get in touch with the officials of the Welland Canal and find out if any whales have locked through.”
It was Sault butcher William Seppala and his son who finally cracked the case when, at 7 p.m. on August 25, 1928, a troll they were using became lodged on a rock. Upon attempting to free it, Seppala realized a giant sturgeon had taken the piece of pork attached to the hook.
As the duo worked to keep the boat afloat, they battered the sturgeon’s head with a 10-pound rock that had been serving as an anchor. The father-son duo fought the fish for over an hour before finally hauling it over the stern of the rowboat. With the fish firmly grasped in Seppala’s arms, his son navigated the craft safely to shore.
The sturgeon was reported to have weighed 125 pounds while measuring over 6 feet in length. Photographic evidence was then promptly sent to the Ontario editors to prove, in good fun, that Algoma can always back up its stories.
This article was written using information compiled from the Sault Star Archive Collection at the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library.
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