Ape Canyon -- Did They Shoot One?

[TD-40]

Reading Fred Beck's story tonight there is a statement made that I must have missed before:
 

The attack ended just before daylight. Just as soon as we were sure it was light enough to see, we came cautiously out of the cabin.

 

It was not long before I saw one of the apelike creatures, standing about eighty yards away near the edge of Ape Canyon. I shot three times, and it toppled over the cliff, down into the gorge, some four hundred feet below.

 

 

This sounds like they shot one that morning. Does it not?

[jayjeti]

They may have shot one during the day before they were attacked in the cabin that night as well.  They shot at one while it was observing them, and then at its back when it was running away, and this might have precipitated the attack on the cabin that evening.  Then the next day another one was shot and likely killed, tumbling into the canyon.

[norseman]

Thats the reason they supposedly were attacked in the first place.

[Guest ChasingRabbits]

I never knew a first person account existed. Thanks for the link!

 

This is very interesting.

 

 

We had built the cabin ourselves, and had made it very sturdy. It stood for years afterward, and was visited by many sight seers until a few years ago when it was burned to the ground — the circumstances of the fire, I do not recall.

 

This account was published in 1967. So based upon this document, any accounts of seeing the cabin after 1967 is highly questionable as
"it was burned to the ground".

[Guest]

Marc Myrsell from Washington and a team of researchers found the Beck cabin site. He presented his findings at HopsSquatch in Portland, Oregon last November.

[Guest JiggyPotamus]

I had heard about the supposed finding of the cabin site. It has been an extremely long time since I've read anything of the Ape Canyon story, but what had always stuck with me was the idea that they had shot one, later setting off the attack. The way I remembered it the one they shot before the attack was the one that went over the cliff, but what you posted suggests that occurred the next day. Unless they both were shot on the edge of a cliff or the canyon. I may have misread the account initially, or just forgot. This is one of those few bigfoot stories that seem too incredible to be true. As to whether it actually happened I cannot say, but I do lean towards its authenticity. There are aspects of it that seem plausible to me, although the idea of a large group of bigfoot is still hard for me to swallow. I do find it believable that they might retaliate, even if they were not that intelligent, considering that non-intelligent animals have displayed similar behavior in the past. All primates are intelligent to some degree, which is why I find a lot of the story possible. Even the gathering of a large group with a singular purpose. Although I do wonder how well planned and coordinated that attack was, considering that the guys made it out alive. What was the goal of the sasquatch? To kill the guys in the cabin? To vent their anger by attacking, without any real goal in sight? It is intriguing to think about in my opinion, because each answer provides certain insight into not only the way sasquatch think, but what they are capable of.

[VAfooter]

Marc Myrsell from Washington and a team of researchers found the Beck cabin site. He presented his findings at HopsSquatch in Portland, Oregon last November.

 

 

I believe he also provided a short narrative of that on here as well.

[bipedalist]

^ they should be headed back when the snowline ascends some this year

Edited April 26, 2015 by bipedalist

[Guest possessed]

I think if they killed one they would have come forward with the body. Especially back then.

[jayjeti]

I think if they killed one they would have come forward with the body. Especially back then.

 

Even if they had a body, it was a long trek down a mountain, and adult sasguatches are heavy.  I'm not sure why "back then" they would be more apt to carry a body out.  But all that is academic, as was already commented on this page, the one they definitely shot and killed toppled off a 400 foot cliff.  People did go back at a later date looking for the body but couldn't find it, but many believe sasquatches take charge of the remains of fellow sasquatches and bury them.

[Guest ChasingRabbits]

Marc Myrsell from Washington and a team of researchers found the Beck cabin site. He presented his findings at HopsSquatch in Portland, Oregon last November.

 

I believe he also provided a short narrative of that on here as well.

 

Finding any building site by identifying the foundation or post holes is one thing: many historic sites are identified by similar physical remains.  Presenting a photo taken of the cabin in 1974 or any eyewitness account of seeing the cabin in 1980 is another.

Edited April 27, 2015 by ChasingRabbits

[MarcMyrsell]

Hi Fellows,

 

As always, just my two cents.

 

The Ronald/Fred Beck book of 1967 was the only account of a creature being shot off the cliff on Friday morning, July 11th. The previous accounts in newspapers of July 1924 note that the "cliff" shot was on Thursday afternoon, July 10th. There were a lot of newspaper accounts of this, but most came off the wire from the Longview Daily news. About 5 papers of the time actually took the trouble to either visit the site or interview the miners in Kelso/Longview. All 5 miners were interviewed at the time in '24. All accounts from 1924 note that on Friday, the miners looked out at dawn, coast was clear and got the hell out of there.

The 1967 book was also the only account of the cabin being burnt to the ground. I'm not confident that this took place. Beck's grandson in an interview told me that he had visited the site in the early '70's and found the remnants thereof. Bob Gimlin told me that he had visited the site in '63 or '64 and found the cabin was there but "kind of falling in on itself" from snows and dis-use. In finding evidence of the cabin site, I found no charcoal in the ground.

Intuitively, a fire that could burn a 10'x20' log structure "to the ground" would have to be a large, sustained fire that would leave charcoal, and, perhaps, take out a few trees with it. The site has newer trees around it, but also quite a few very large fir (+/- 8' diameter) trees nearby. Aerial photos before and after the eruption indicate the site had changed very little, despite the nearby volcano blowing up.

On the shot sequence (as gleaned from 1924 reports), the first shots taken were just before the 4th of July, near the spring.

The next were by Leroy Smith near the cabin as he was coming back from the spring on Tuesday, the 8th (I think, not near my notes)

The last was Thursday afternoon, again started by Leroy, the other miners joined in, about 16-18 rounds were fired in to the creature, then Fred took the final shot. The creature either fell in to the canyon or crouched and scambled down. From the cabin/mine site, it's a good 200 drop to the bottom, so retrieving a body just seems like a pain to me.

Hope this helps and, yes, having a couple trips planned up there this year for the site survey.

 

Marc

[Guest]

Thank you Marc. IMHO, you've become the definitive source for good, well-grounded information on this case. I appreciate the effort you put into getting to the bottom of this, or at least getting all the stories as well-vetted as possible and the evidence out there for us to evaluate for ourselves.

[Guest ChasingRabbits]

I have a question about the cabin. Do you know how the structure looked like? Ever since I read Daniel C. Beard's Shelters, Shacks and Shanties, I've become sort of a 'primitive' building nerd.

[MarcMyrsell]

That's a yes on both accounts CR. The SS&S book was published in 1914 (I think) and has one design that's "kind of close" to the AC cabin. One thing that really helped this project is using Beck's 1967 mostly as a  "research guideline". The real story is getting as close as one can to the original source at the point in time. More precisely, the meat of the story is in the original accounts puiblished in July, 1924. The first article came out in Longview less than 48 hours after the attack began.

While not the most informative artcle, the Oregonian of July 19th and 20th, published two photos of the cabin. One photo of the "long" 20' side and one of the short side. The photo depicts the split log chinking that was knocked out. These photos really helped the project.

A small detail that was lost in the retelling was that a creature was digging under the cabin Thursday night, trying to get it. The long side photo shows that as well.

These guys were using whatever hardware was available I believe. Their main goal was to work the mine. So the cabin was built with local wood, trees, within 20 to 30 feet or so, split pine shakes for the roof and maybe 3 to 4" diameter boughs for the battens to hold the shakes. The nails seemed to range from little 10d for small stuff & up to 60d spikes. A "nail guy" helped me out in identifying some nails and noted that some nails used were a distinct "tear-drop" style, used a lot by the railroads. Longview/Kelso is a port and a rail town, so it makes sense.

 

Marc