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1878 Sumer
JOKO writ to rember
writ story
wake ferst time
sun rocks
big thing on 2 paths
make big snake sounds.
men see jokoo
joko climb rocks.
pain on head
dark
joko in bear box
hate men
men with fire see joko
joko hate fire
johny there

Johnny Tilbury was a coalman on the British Columbia railroad's daily run from Lytton to Yale. Used primarily for hauling timber, the train also carried mail, supplies, and a few passengers in the caboose. He worked the route after school for two summers and he loved it. But it wasn't the train that captivated him.
      The wilderness enfolded the train the moment it left the station. Soon, Johnny's worries were behind him; replaced by the music of the engine and the rails; changing tone and timbre as the train rolled over gravel bed, bridge, or through a tunnel.
           Shoveling coal into a firebox was hard and dirty work, but it afforded frequent breaks. When he had the chance, Johnny would watch the forest. With each turn of the track, even though Johnny knew it by heart, something unexpected always caught his eye; a deer, a grizzly, a new rock slide, or a fallen pine. This was mountain country, and in spite of the rail line that followed the mighty Fraser River, it was still wild, and anything could happen.
      Johnny often thought of the men who had laid the track through the mountains. What must their lives have been like? The Yale Sentinel sometimes told their stories; tales of giant bears, Indian attacks, mountain men, and legendary monsters. Johnny read them all. When he watched the forest, he would look deep into the shadows for those monsters, imagining they were watching him pass by, as curious about him as he was about them.
      But Johnny never saw monsters. He saw all the animals, though; owls and eagles, deer, elk, moose, beaver, and bear. Occasionally, if luck was on his side, he'd catch sight of an elusive bobcat or cougar, peering out at the iron monster as it cut through its land. Johnny's sharp eyes had spotted them all and wondered what they thought of him, the intruder in their kingdom. Somehow, Johnny knew that most people feared the wild, and they showed it by calling its animals monsters.
      People said the wilderness called to Johnny. Maybe it did.
      He often wondered if the fabled sasquatch - the hairy men of the north - weren't just the usual creatures of the woods seen by frightened people; people who thought nature should be tamed. Johnny thought humans, always hungry for land and riches, were the true monsters in the woods.
      Johnny hated cruelty and greed because as a boy he had seen more than enough of both. As soon as he could leave home he did so. Now his mom was gone. Dead of consumption, the doctor had said. Dead of loneliness and disillusionment, said his aunt.
      Killed by a monster, thought Johnny. A father and husband who'd been lured by gold.
      But on the sunny afternoon, late in June of the year 1876, Johnny wasn't watching for monsters. He was thinking about vacation. He had two days coming to him and figured to spend it in Yale. The town where his aunt lived was going to have its first Fair with games, celebrations and even fireworks. Some of the locals were surprised at the hoopla. After all, Yale was a former Gold Rush town whose miners now worked for the expanding railroad.
      The train worked its way up the Old Fork grade. The steam locomotive was working hard to make the grade. As it reached the top and turned a bend a steam valve blew and the train slowed.
      Ned Austin, the assistant engineer, growled angrily. "Goddam thing. I knew it would pop again. It happens every cursed time." He closed the throttle and applied the brake.
      Johnny straightened up and put down his shovel. As he quickly scanned the surroundings his eye caught something dark at the foot of a bluff about a hundred feet ahead. "Hey, Ned, what's that?"
      "The damn valve," answered Ned in disgust.
      "No," said Johnny. "Near the tracks, by the bluff."
      Ned peered in the direction Johnny was pointing. There was no doubt. Something was lying a few feet from the tracks.
      "Might have fallen," said Ned. "A bear or somethin'?"
      As the train came to a stop, Ned gave the whistle a couple of quick toots thinking he might wake up whoever or whatever was lying by the tracks. He was going to tell Johnny to run back and tell the conductor about the valve but Johnny was already out of the cab and on the ground trotting toward the thing on the tracks.
      On the ground it was hard for Johnny to see the outline of the animal and the bright sun made it even harder. Johnny squinted at the dark lump as he stepped carefully forward trying hard to step quietly on the gravel bed. Johnny mumbled quietly to himself, "What are you?"
      "Careful, Johnny," Ned called out, still in the engine cab. "Bears are mean if they're hurt."
      It wasn't a bear. It was shaped more like a man. It lay face down in the sand by the tracks, its head obscured by a patch of weeds. The body was covered with short black fur.
      Johnny had seen pictures of apes, and he knew this was no ape. He could see the animal's chest rise and fall as it breathed.
      Johnny heard footsteps approaching from behind. It was Ned and three crewmen trudging noisily forward. He noticed the conductor, J. C. Craig, carried a rifle at the ready.
      Johnny put a finger to his mouth. "Quiet. You'll spook it."
      "What the hell is it? Some kind of ape?" asked Ned, peering past Johnny. Ned's eyes widened and he grabbed Johnny's arm and pulled him away from the animal. "Look out," Ned whispered. "I think it's awake!"
      Johnny turned to see the animal crouched on all fours looking at him, its strangely human face looking bewildered and in pain. It turned its head and looked up the bluff while rubbing the side of its head. Then, with great effort, it rose up and stood on its hind legs. It remained standing twenty yards away from Johnny, swaying slightly, apparently not sure of what to do.
      It was half man and half ape. The face seemed almost human.
      And behind the eyes, thought Johnny, there was definitely somebody home. Johnny was sure they had before them a bonafide original - a new animal.
      Although it swayed in apparent pain, it stood solidly on two legs, like a man.
      It stood over five feet tall and its coarse black fur glistened with red highlights. The short hair covered its body completely like a thin suit of clothes, except for its face, which looked almost comical. Ned said it looked like a man in a gorilla suit.
      Suddenly, the race was on. The creature bolted up the bluff and in an amazingly short time was halfway to the top. But as it desperately scrambled up the loose rocks, a cloud of dirt and rock tore loose under it and the animal fell over backward. With astonishing agility it flipped in the air and managed to cling to the cliff face.
      Bill Costerson, a railroad agent, had positioned himself near the edge of the rock outcropping and was quick to react when the creature began its climb. Costerson had an easier path to the top of the bluff, and in a few seconds he was at the top, looking down at the creature, a pistol in his hand.
      Below him the creature squatted, trapped. There was no way up the bluff. Considering a retreat, it looked down at Johnny. Again, Johnny looked into the animal's eyes, and again came the feeling he was looking at a human. Suddenly he became more concerned for its welfare.
      As Johnny feared, Craig had his rifle aimed and was about to shoot. Johnny shouted at him, waving his arms frantically. "No! We should take it alive! Don't fire, J. C."
      Craig lowered his gun. "Yeah? Who's gonna do that?"
      But before Johnny could answer he noticed Costerson poised twenty feet above the creature holding a large rock. Without hesitation he let the rock fall.
      The frightened beast never saw Costerson. The rock hit him squarely on the back of the head and he slid back down the bluff, ending up almost exactly where Johnny had first spotted him.
      "Bagged him!" called Costerson in triumph.

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