Between Lake Earl and Dead Lake

There’s a small body of water called Dead Lake, jus’ southeast of Del Norte High School. Sadly, I became acquainted with this body of water when skipping school.

All I had to do was go west on Washington and turn right just before McNamara Air Field and head northerly a few hundred feet and I’d have a quiet place to hide from truant officers. Back then it wasn’t a maintained fishing area like it is now– its brackish waters paradise for bass.

The lake wasn’t named by Native Americans, but rather white settlers who took the name from a Tolowa story. In the story, a serpent named Li-le-sti, — which means, “to the east he lies” — lives in Lake Earl.

Stories about him are traditionally spoken of him in the wintertime, when his relative, snake, sleeps. Li-le-sti wears a long dentalia shell on his head, which is also used as currency by many coastal tribes.

Tolowa tradition holds that young men would go out onto Lake Earl to earn his dentalia. If Li-le-sti believed the young man’s intentions were good and if proper respect was given, the serpent would let the young man remove the dentalia.

If not, the young man would drown. His body would then somehow mysteriously appear in Dead Lake, miles from Lake Earl.

So far, no one has been able to prove or disprove that an underwater passageway exists between Lake Earl and Dead Lake.