Incident #1001063
Heppner, Morrow Cty, Oregon
Jul 1976
Account
Three footprints 21 inches long, 10 inches at the toes and 5 inches at the heel were found by a man working for Pine Contract Logging on a new road above Johnson Creek. He had been placing markers on the road for the gravel trucks, and 20 minutes later came back to find these tracks crossing the road right by one of his markers. Guy Patterson, son of the company owner, and two friends searched for tracks off the road and found hundreds of them over about four miles. Some were right down at the creek, and there were several different sizes down to 10 inches. Some were 1.5 inches deep where human tracks hardly showed. Strides were 8 feet on the road, 5 to 7 feet in the brush. On subsequent days searchers found tracks that had not been there the day before, once stepping in one of the searchers' tracks. What appeared to be huge hand prints in moss were also found. At one point the maker of the large tracks cleared a log 5 feet off the ground, taking a 7-foot stride.
When
- Observation Date
- JUL 28 1976
- Month
- Jul
- Year
- 1976
- Season
- summer
- Time of Day
- afternoon
Where
- State / province
- Oregon
- County
- Morrow Cty
- Nearest Town
- Heppner
- Direction from Town
- East Southeast
- Distance from Town
- 16
- Population of Town
- 1500
- Elevation/Altitude
- 40
- Latitude
- 4514--
- Longitude
- 11913--
What was seen
- Individuals
- other group of large and small
- Total Individuals
- several
- Population Status
- wild
- First Seen
- in
- Terrain Object
- road
- Shot Hit
- No
- Track Photo Y/N
- Yes
- Cast Made Y/N
- No
Witnesses
- Report type
- 1st person
Setting
- Terrain
- canyon
- Exact Terrain
- dirt road
- Slope
- steep
- Nearby Water
- creek
- Distance to Water
- close
- Substratum
- forest litter
- Cover
- moderate
- Tree type
- mixed
- General
- none
- General undergrowth
- none
- Species
- pine
Weather and light
- Lighting
- daylight
Source
- Source
- Heppner, Oregon, Gazette-Times, plus Pat Chamberla
- Source Type
- newspaper
- Source Date
- AUG 5 1976
- Source reliability
- 7
- Incident reliablility
- 8
- Jwg file date
- SEP 1976
- Incident type
- 2
Footprints
- Set of Tracks
- 5
- Footprint Length
- 21.0
- Greates Width
- 10.0
- Heel Width
- 5.0
- Average Depth
- 1.50
- Stride in Inches Average
- 84
- Longest
- 96
- Shortest
- 60
- Estimated Age
- 1
- Age Unit
- hours
- Number of Tracks
- 1000
- Trail Followed Y/N
- Yes
- Trail Ended Naturally Y/N
- Yes
- Footprint Photo Y/N
- Yes
- Obsticles Offering Choice
- over
- Material Tracks Made in
- dirt
- Relation to Water
- near water
- Other Marks
- hand prints
- Remarks
- Specifications given for only one size of tracks. Several places noted where creature might have been drinking from the creek.
Witness
- Interviewer
- Will C. Phinney, Gazette-Times, also Frank Smapley, Don Lippert
- Interview date
- AUG 1976
- Witness Saw with
- naked eye
- Observer Was
- sasq. hunting
- Track witnesses
- several
- Age
- 21 to 30