Letter to the Editor: Has Big Foot ever been found?

To the Editor:

The April 5, 2017 issue of The Standard featured an article about the search for “Big Foot” in the Yellow River State Forest area. My interest perked when I got to the “Local Insight” section of the article and read the question about the area in Allamakee County which is called “Big Foot” and is located in the county’s Paint Creek and Linton Townships.

I grew up on a farm a half mile east of Rossville on Highway 13 (now Highway 76) and just “up the road” was the Crossroads. Turn north and the road goes to Waterville and turn south the Big Foot Road leads to Volney. I  was very disappointed that no one thought to ask some of the local historians about the origins of how Big Foot got its name.

The answer can be found in “Past and Present History of Allamakee County, Iowa” by Ellery M. Hancock, 1913: published by S. J. Clarke Company in the volume which has biographies. There is a biography of William D. Biggs. William D. Biggs was the son of David and Elizabeth (Fitch) Biggs, early pioneers to Allamakee County in 1853 who settled in Volney and operated a sawmill.

According to this biography:
David Biggs took delight in telling a story of his connection with the naming of the Big Foot School House and of the entire section known as Big Foot. In early times, while he was on a hunting trip, he noticed in the deep snow which lay over everything tracks made apparently by a man with enormously large feet.

There was at that time a famous Indian chief called Old Big Foot, who frequently came to the vicinity and invariably committed some depredation here, and then came upon a hunter who in order to keep out the cold had wrapped his feet in rags, this accounting for the large tracks made in the snow. The incident proved a much appreciated joke in the local community and resulted in the naming of the district Big Foot, a title which is known today.

David and Elizabeth Biggs are buried in the Maple Hill Cemetery located off the Big Foot Road. David and Elizabeth were the parents of Eugenia “Jennie” Skinner, Nancy “Nannie” Canfield, Ula Deemer, Thomas S. Biggs, William Biggs (subject of the 1913 biography), Clarence G. Biggs, John Franke Biggs, Nellie S. Biggs, Cora Foote, and Carrie Pufahl. Carrie Biggs married Emil Pufahl and they had three children, John Kenneth Pufahl, Paul W. Pufahl and Florence (Pufahl) Albright. Although these three children are deceased, there would likely be some people in Allamakee County, Clayton County and Winneshiek County who would still remember them.

I am sure that by 1913, when this account was written into the Ellery Hancock book, some of the details of the story had been lost - especially the part of the Indian Chief and the hunter. I did not quite “get the joke myself” but since many of my ancestors also grew up in that area during that time, they perhaps had a better sense of humor.

Nevertheless, even though this story from David Biggs is not as exciting as today’s wild, mysterious and legendary stories of the hairy Sasquatch, the story told by Mr. Biggs so very long ago probably is more plausible.

Connie (Kelly) Ellis
Elgin