|
Bossburg is a ghost town in Stevens County, Washington, and is located on the east bank of the Columbia River just south of the Canadian border. Bossburg had a maximum population of 800 in 1892. The town was once named "Young America," although in 1896 it was renamed in honor of the town’s first citizen, C. S. Boss. It is currently best known for the 1969 discovery of the footprints in snow of a supposed Sasquatch known as "Cripplefoot," and subsequent hi-jinks. The town produced lead and silver from established mines; however, when mining operations eventually slowed financial issues arose. In a futile effort to keep the town alive, a ferry system across the Columbia River was established, and a sawmill was built for lumber operations. Several Bossburg newspapers were published, notably the ''Bossburg Journal'' from 1893 to 1910, and the ''Bossburg Herald'' which was founded and published in 1910 for only one year. The Bossburg cemetery is still in use and is cared for by local families; nevertheless records are not routinely kept and as a result there are several unmarked graves. ==Bossburg Cripplefoot Tracks== On November 24, 1969, large human-like tracks with a crippled-looking right foot were found near the Bossburg town dump. (Earlier that year a woman had reported seeing a Sasquatch in a nearby location to the police.) The track maker was believed by some to be an injured Bigfoot and was dubbed by locals as the "Bossburg Cripple"; it is now generally known as "Cripplefoot." On November 27 Bigfoot searcher René Dahinden arrived to investigate, but by then the tracks had mostly been trampled by sightseers. Dahinden photographed and cast the best print he could find. He was joined for three days by another searcher, Bob Titmus, who returned about a month later.〔Hunter and Dahinden, 146–147, 151〕 After looking for two weeks for new evidence, Sasquatch-searchers〔Marx, Titmus, and Dahinden had been members of Tom Slick's Bigfoot-searching Pacific Northwest Expedition. (For an article on that, see "Pacific Expedition Hunts U.S. 'Snowman' in California," Houston Post, January 10, 1960, online at http://www.bigfootencounters.com/articles/bluff-creek1960.htm)〕 Ivan Marx, a Bossburg resident, and René Dahinden finally found it. On December 13, 1969 they discovered 1089 giant human-like tracks in the snow leading to, from, and across a river near Lake Roosevelt, near Bossburg.〔Hunter and Dahinden, 148〕 They were joined later by anthropologist Grover Krantz, who took photos and made casts, and later, intermittently, by Patterson film-maker Roger Patterson and his assistant, Dennis Jenson, who stayed full-time.〔Hunter and Dahinden, 152–53〕 Casts and/or photos of the tracks were later studied by primatologist John Napier and anthropologist Jeff Meldrum. Those scientists became convinced of the tracks' authenticity. René Dahinden was also impressed by the tracks,〔Hunter and Dahinden, 149–50〕 but was suspicious of certain circumstances.〔Hunter and Dahinden, 148, 150, 152–53〕 One circumstance was that, before he and a passenger had seen the tracks, driver Marx pulled over, got out, and walked off, returning shortly thereafter and explaining that they had to leave immediately to retrieve his camera equipment, since he had just found tracks. This was just after they had passed an empty Jeep parked beside the road, whose inhabitants, René considered, might have been in the process of returning from their track-making. The Jeep was gone when they returned. But, ultimately, he accepted the tracks as authentic.〔Wylie, 160〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bossburg, Washington」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|