EXHIBITS
Old Ephraim: The Legendary Grizzly of the Bear River Range: Old Ephraim’s Skull
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Old Ephraim’s Skull
Old Ephraim’s skull, or what’s left of it, completed a long and complicated journey to reach USU’s Special Collections & Archives. Portions of the upper skull are missing, perhaps because, as the legend claims, Frank Clark fired the last shot into the bear’s head, shattering the bone. He also burned the carcass before burying it, further damaging the skull. A few months after the bear’s demise, Clark told the story to Logan Boy Scout troop #5. Afterward, the Scouts decided to dig up Old Ephraim’s remains and retrieve the bear’s head. After drying out the skull, they sent it to the Smithsonian, which confirmed that it was that of a grizzly and gave the Scouts a check for $25.[1] In 1966, Cache Valley Boy Scouts erected a granite monument at the old gravesite to commemorate Old Ephraim’s death.
The Monument
Photographs of the Monument and Gravesite
Ephraim’s Return
The Smithsonian housed Old Ephraim’s skull from 1923 until 1978. It returned to Utah after a group of Cache Valley Boy Scouts visited the Smithsonian in 1977 only to find out that the skull was no longer on display.[2] At the request of Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, the museum agreed to loan the skull to USU. Senator Hatch returned it to USU in grand fashion, arriving on the Quad by helicopter where the school’s president, Glen L. Taggart, accepted a wooden box containing the skull. It has been housed in USU’s Special Collections & Archives ever since.
