We recently sold a copy of "The Hermit of Siskiyou," a small book published in Crescent City in 1896 that has the earliest known reference to Bigfoot on the North Coast. The book, published by the editor of the Crescent City Record, is an epic poem in rhyming verse. Here's the relevant section:
You may have heard the story, too,
Of how upon Mount Siskiyou,
Was seen an ape, or spook, or tramp,
In region near to Happy Camp—some years gone by—
That was of stature taller than
The ordinary height of man
Who fed on berries, roots and brouse,
And from whose eye
There gleamed the fierceness of the beast...
Of course, their first thought was to shoot it but it looked too human, and thus began the legend.