Bluedog wrote: Tue Dec 10, 2019 7:33 am
3- the seaweed harvest and the actions of the female satsquatch.
**This is lengthy as I want to properly set up what you'll read towards the bottom, as the event prior help mold my interest in the Sasquatch/Bigfoot legend^^
While I was up mining on a claim a few years for Gold near Happy Camp, California (back in the early 90's), I happen to get friendly with some of the Karuk Tribe during one of our month long dredging trips. Some recognized us from the years past coming up to the same area to dredge, so we had friendly chats with them when we would come back into the small community township (population back then was about 800).
One morning we awoke to our dredge flipped over in the Klamath river which was a first for us, and seemed impossible as we had it securely anchored by rope on all four sides. We used to actually climb on top of the large dredge and take breathers from the 6 foot+ deep area we were working. We had to dismantle the dredge and try to drag it to shore (as we were going to try and dry out the engine and displace whatever water had gotten into it ).
One of the Karuk's was walking by with his son hoping to hunt for Bear, and he stopped by to help us pull the dredge and pontoons in to shore. The pontoons on our dredge alone were about 7 feet long (each). We noticed on the underside that there were huge long scratch marks going across both ends like something got underneath and then flipped the Dredge over by the pontoon (Conjecture on our part).
My mining partner and I both commented on how on Earth did a Bear swim out to our Dredge in the middle of a raging river, stretch it's arms a pontoon length to flip it over. For all intense purposes one would think that it would've tried to climb ontop... but these scratch marks were from under the Pontoon and I assure you, they were not there when we put the dredge together and dragged it out into the rushing water.
Anyway... The Indian is listening to us as we are try and figure out what to do next and says, "that wasn't done by a Bear'. "so what was it then" we asked. He says the marks look like they are from the Maruk'áraar, (apologies if I spelt it wrong) "or what you people call the bigfoot". My partner just chuckled while continuing to pull our lengthy hose up out of the water....
Well we didn't give it much more thought as we wanted to see if we could dry out the engine parts and get back to dredging, and the Indian and his son continued upstream to where ever they were going to go Bear hunting.
We had to take the motor into the little community to get it properly fixed and afterwards we got back to mining/dredging.
Several weeks have transpired now and were back in the small community to refill our eight 5 gallon containers of gas so we can keep dredging for another week or so. While there we decided to get a bite to eat at the only Restaurant there. Very interesting place as everyone went there to get news and discuss things of community interest.
We ran into the guy that helped us pull the dredge out of the river and so I waved and asked if they had been successful getting a Bear. "no we got skunked, how about you, did you get the motor fixed?" I told him how we couldn't fix it and had to bring it into town. "oh.. and has my Hairy Brother come back to bother you?" Well I didn't know what he was referring to and he said, "you know..
the Maruk'áraar.. the Bigfoot".
** here's the part you had to wait to get to.. **
I had time to kill while waiting for my Hamburger and french fries so we chatted a bit and he shared with me some Karuk Stories he had heard from the Tribal Elders and more importantly from his Great Grandmother when he was a small boy. He claimed that the 'Hairy Brother' used to walk down the Klamath River to the Pacific Ocean whee they would forage for seaweed and then would sling it over their shoulders and walk back upstream (to where ever they were heading to). It was her belief that they used it in medicine and for trading.
So there you go... sorry you had to read 50 paragraphs to get to that one last piece of anecdotal tale. But as soon as you posted up that bit (Seaweed), my mind flashed back to that mining trip.
Johnny
