Payson Roundup Tuesday, March 1, 2016
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Bigfoot sightings abound in early Rim Country history A while ago someone posed a question about why there aren’t any Sasquatch stories from any of the early Rim Country pioneer families. The short answer is… there are. There are not as many as we might think there would be, but there are a few. Even long before we came along, the Native American tribes all had legends of “the hairy man,” who lived deep in the forests and came out only at night. These beliefs and legends persist to this day among tribal traditionalists. I had the distinct honor and privilege last year of spending some time with some of these folks, who trusted me enough to be completely open in telling me about their Sasquatch-related knowledge and what they believe… stuff that has been handed down over many generations. It was an
experience that I will always remember. One of the earliest stories I have found from the first Rim Country pioneers was a daytime encounter by David Gowan, who is credited with the “discovery” of the Tonto Natural Bridge. Gowan spent his later years living in a remote cabin on a mining claim along upper Deer Creek, in the Mazatzal Mountains west of the present Deer Creek Village community. He actually died up there in 1925, and is buried next to the Deer Creek hiking trail, a few miles up from the trailhead. As the story goes, Gowan was walking the trail down off the mountain, leading a string of pack burros with ore from his mine, when he came upon two very large “mountain apes” blocking the trail. Gowan and the creatures stood facing each
HEALTH DIRECTOR’S WARNING
Flu now spreading rapidly in Arizona by
Cara M. Christ, M.D.
director
Arizona Department of Health Services
Arizona continues to top the country in reports of influenza-like illness for the fourth week in a row. While this doesn’t necessarily mean that Arizona has more people sick with flu than anywhere else in the country (not all flu cases get reported to public health departments), it does mean that we’re currently seeing a lot of flu in the state. It’s hard to say why Arizona is topping the charts this flu season. Flu is a really unpredictable disease. Every year we know flu will come to Arizona, and will cause many people to get sick. What we don’t know is when flu activity will be the highest, how many cases of flu will be reported to public health each season, how severe the flu season will be, or what strains will be most common. We typically see our highest number of cases toward the end of January or early February. This year, flu cases are peaking later than usual. In our hardest hit weeks of the season, we usually see about 1,500 cases of flu reported in our highest weeks. Two weeks ago, about 1,800 cases were reported in Arizona. For people who aren’t yet vaccinated against the flu, there’s still time to get your shot. In Arizona, we expect to see flu going around for the next several months. In fact, every year, we still get cases reported to us in the summer. For example, last May, several hundred cases were reported. So, if you’re not protected yet, now’s the time to go get your flu shot. It’s better to be protected late than not protected at all. Plus, last week, the CDC announced that this season’s flu vaccine is about 60 percent effective. That’s a huge jump from last season’s vaccine, which was just 23 percent effective. If you’re already vaccinated, thank you for keeping yourself and our community healthy. Remember to wash your hands regularly to keep flu germs (and other germs) from making you sick. Notes from the official report on flu activity: Gila County has had 22 confirmed cases of the flu for the 2015-16 season, as of the date of the last report, Feb. 20, 2016, all in the month of February. Only Arizona counties Graham, with 22, and La Paz, with four, have had fewer confirmed cases. The most, nearly 4,000, have been confirmed in Maricopa County, with Pima County coming in a distant second, with nearly 1,700 cases.
PERFECT PRESENTATION ACROSS 1 Sag down 6 “Your Business” channel 11 Solo seen with Chewbacca 14 Snapshot 19 Meet with fellow grads 20 Classic name in arcades 21 Santa ___ Zoo 22 Biblical king in Matthew 23 Start of a riddle 26 “I come from ___ down under” (1981 hit song lyric) 27 English king called “the Conqueror” 28 Sunrise side 29 Concerning kidneys 30 Airline to Lod 31 Riddle, part 2 36 1987 NFL MVP John 38 Some tournament rounds, informally 39 “There ___ god!” 40 Comply with 43 Ore-___ (maker of Crispers!) 44 Sticky stuff 47 Vainglory 50 Riddle, part 3 55 Down time 56 “Eh” grade 57 Very old Olds 58 Choir female 59 High-school grad, e.g. 60 Stick (to) 63 Catch sight of 67 State-of-mind missions, in military slang 70 Riddle, part 4 74 Diving result 75 Not casual 76 Lead role in “La Cage aux Folles” ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE
77 End in ___ (finish evenly) 78 Oceano filler 80 Thai language 82 Little peeve 83 Part of DOJ: Abbr. 84 Riddle, part 5 91 Certain poem 92 Check casher, say 93 Kicker Groza 94 Seeks some answers 95 Brand of brake fluid 96 “Greetings” 98 Calyx part 102 End of the riddle 110 Firework part 111 City near Giza 112 Holy likeness 113 Prehensile-tailed fish 115 Fight 116 Riddle’s answer 120 Nobel winner JoliotCurie 121 Immense time span 122 Subparts 123 Penetrating 124 Was nervy enough 125 007, for one 126 Ballerina’s skill, in Paris 127 Actress Witherspoon DOWN 1 Bank in a check transaction 2 Replenish the stock of 3 Make illegal 4 “He’s a priest,” per Ogden Nash 5 Gilpin of “Frasier” 6 Molten rock 7 Giant step 8 No, in Ayr 9 Lingerie garment 10 Op. ___ (abbr. in a footnote) 11 Responses to jokes 12 “___ of robins in her hair”: Joyce Kilmer 13 Three-nation pact of ‘94 14 Old Jewish sectarian 15 Capital of Montana 16 Bornean ape, briefly 17 Relating to musical pitch 18 In an unusual way 24 Spa reaction 25 100-yr. stretches 32 Ballet bend
other for awhile, and when they appeared unwilling to move Gowan simply led his burros off-trail, making a wide circle around the creatures, and continued on his way. Later, after Gowan died, people using his old cabin reported being screamed at and having the cabin pelted with rocks during the night, which is common Sasquatch territorial behavior. Apparently a family group had settled in the area, and didn’t appreciate the human visitors. Gowan’s old cabin burned in the Willow Fire in 2004, and subsequent flash floods have virtually destroyed the once-idyllic site, leaving only a small part of the stone foundation still visible. You noticed that in the story above I used the term mountain apes. That’s what they were called in early Arizona. The name Sasquatch was coined by a schoolteacher in British Columbia in 1927, and the now-famous Bigfoot name was made up by a newspaper reporter in northern California in 1958. So they were mountain apes… that was until the famous incident in 1944 or 1945 that introduced the Mogollon Monster name. The best account that I have found of the Mogollon Monster incident was written by the late author Don Davis, who was actually one of the Boy Scouts who was there and witnessed it all. In a very short synopsis of the incident… a group of Scouts was camping along Tonto Creek, probably in the present-day Bear Flat area, when they were terrorized during the night by a large, foul-smelling, hair-covered creature. The creature stood on two legs, walked like a person, and ransacked their food supply, eating all of their food, including even the pancake flour. None of the
Things that go ‘snap’ in the night. by
Chuck Jacobs
special to the roundup
This is an occasional series about Bigfoot/Sasquatch activity in the Rim Country.
Photo by Chuck Jacobs
Sasquatches are extremely reclusive, and are very seldom seen. This picture was taken early one morning last summer up on the Rim. It actually fooled me for a little bit, but in reality it’s a burned tree stump. We jokingly call these “stumpsquatches.” Scouts or their adult leaders were harmed, although they were all badly frightened by the encounter. The local folks around here had never heard of the term Sasquatch, and the name Bigfoot hadn’t been invented yet, so they called the creature the Mogollon Monster. Knowing what we know now about Sasquatch behavior, we theorize that this could have
simply been a territorial display, or it may have been an old outcast individual who was living as a solitary wanderer and was having difficulty finding enough food to eat. Hungry and desperate, it came into the camp and stole the humans’ food. Either way, it is very fortunate that none of the Scouts or their leaders were killed or injured. While looking to collect sto-
ries from the early days of Rim Country, I asked local author and historian Jinx Pyle if he knew of any mountain ape stories that I would be interested in. Although I expected him to not take the question seriously, and maybe even laugh at me, he actually gave me a very straight answer. (Thanks, Jinx, I appreciated that.) He told me that he had actually been asked that question before, and he really had never heard of any stories like that from the early days. I asked him if he thought that maybe the early pioneer folks, if they did have an encounter, would have simply not talked about it, afraid that other people would ridicule them or accuse them of making the story up. He told me that the pioneer mind-set was not that way, and if one of them would have run across such an animal, they would have “shot it, skinned it, nailed the hide to the side of the barn, and told everyone they knew.” That makes sense to me, and the Sasquatches probably figured that out too… and stayed well away from the rifle-toting humans. That probably accounts, at least in part, for the lack of encounter stories from that time period. Even today, Sasquatches stay well away from humans with big guns, which is why we so seldom hear of encounters involving hunters. If you would like more information on David Gowan, Google “David Gowan Tonto Natural Bridge,” where you will find an excellent June 10, 2008 article from the Payson Roundup, written by Stan Brown. If you would like to read the late Don Davis’ complete story of the Mogollon Monster incident, Google “Mogollon Monster Don Davis.” You can find it there.
Payson council meets The Payson Town Council will meet at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Town Hall. On the agenda is a second public reading of an ordinance relating to the use of airport
property and extending an agreement between the Houston Mesa Fire District and the Payson Fire Department to continue to manage the district for another year until a long term plan is in place.
JRE recognizes Jennifer Ashby
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33 Verdi work 34 Apple option 35 ___ and kin 37 Kobe cash 41 Florida birds 42 Driver’s peg 44 Medusas’ counterparts 45 At a boat’s back 46 “It’s hard to ___ Trane” 47 GOP symbol 48 Fights noisily 49 Have title to 50 Bankbook ID 51 Put back on the roster 52 Certain organ part 53 Bygone bird 54 Long-eared leapers 59 Little city 61 Qualified 62 By means of 64 Hang in there 65 Prized violin, for short 66 Fidel’s friend Guevara 68 Pabst beer 69 “___-haw!” (rodeo cry) 71 Of ill repute 72 Golfer Sandy 73 Film terrier
77 Big whoop 79 “Shucks” 81 Sly-fox linkup 84 Bought the film rights to 85 Performs like Snoop Lion 86 Makeup of Hawaii 87 Noodlehead 88 Waikiki wiggling 89 Accepts 90 Send in troops, e.g. 95 Holy place 96 Innuendo 97 Inceptions 99 Chase 100 Frozen or liquid things 101 “Joan of Arc” star Sobieski 102 Pungent 103 Dr. of radio 104 Winter coat feature 105 Hill helpers 106 Inside story 107 Singer Bono 108 Tantalize 109 Snead of golf 114 Frosty coat 117 “Slung” stuff 118 ___ steady basis 119 Wine, in Paris
Linda Scoville recently recognized Jennifer Ashby, the parapro in the Julia Randall Elementary library for her commitment to introducing students to the joy of reading. Scoville said, if Ashby sees a student looking for a book, she will help them find just the right one. If she has fifth graders reading at a high level, she’ll get them to help other students. “She takes full reign of the library,” said Scoville, “She runs our library through book fairs and Box Tops for education.” Scoville said Ashby had “a zillion” people at her last book fair with theme days such as Doughnuts for Dads, Muffins for Moms and Goodies for Grandparents. “She treated them so kindly and warmly,” said Scoville.
JRE recognizes Tanya BeGell Linda Scoville, principal of Julia Randall Elementary recognized Tanya BeGell, a special education resource teacher for her hard work, commitment and creativity in the special education department. “She has an ever growing population of kids with special needs,” said Scoville. The principal then told the story of being invited to BeGell’s classroom to participate in Thanksgiving dinner. “She had her whole roaster full of Thanksgiving food and they were letting kids have dinner in the classroom,” said Scoville. It ended up being a wonderful learning opportunity for one young man who had never had cranberry sauce before. “We had one little guy who looked at the cranberry sauce and said he wouldn’t eat it,” said Scoville, “But after trying it, he ate all the cranberry sauce.” Scoville said BeGell has a wonderful crew that works hard to help her in her class.
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