Jacko - On Thin Ice

The story shows "Correspondence to the Colonist." Telephone service to Vancouver Island was not available, so the report had to be written and delivered to the newspaper. I suppose it could have been telegraphed, but believe it is too large and detailed for this process. The article is datelined July 3 and it appeared in the paper the next day, July 4. Here we have a tough call because getting a report from Yale to Vancouver Island in one day in 1884 would have been very difficult, if not impossible. It might be, of course, that the report was dated earlier and was simply datelined for the day it was received by the newspaper. The report also states that people heard of the incident by telephone from Spuzzum Flat. That Spuzzum had a telephone in 1884 is possible, but also a tough call (the size of Spuzzum has been joked about for years). If I were to guess as to a hoax scenario, I would say a letter was written to the paper as a hoax. The paper decided it was a good story and simply ran it without any investigation (sending someone from Victoria to Yale at that time would have been a bit of an expense.)

So, on what does the Jacko story hang? To begin, we have a game guide, Chilco Choate, who stated his grandfather, was there when this "ape" was brought in and kept at Yale. Whether grandfather Choate actually saw the creature is uncertain. Next we have a Mrs. Hilary Foskett, who stated that her mother was in Yale at the time (she was about 8 or 9 years old), and remembered stories of the creature. A Dr. Harrington, who is mentioned in the Colonist, article was well known to her. In this connection, it has been established that all of the people mentioned in the article were real people. Lastly, Ellen Neal (who carved the totem poles in the Harrison Hot Springs Hotel lobby - Harrison is near Yale) was told by Chief August Jack Khahtsahlano that the creature did reach Burrard Inlet in Vancouver and was exhibited there. John Green states that he was told Chief Khatsalano actually saw the creature (i.e., saw a sasquatch on display in 1884 - I am reasoning that it was Jacko).

Yale is still a small town, probably not much larger than it was in 1884. I visited the town museum and questioned the curator who said she had nothing on the incident (I could sense I was not the first to ask her about this). I was a little surprised with her response. I thought the museum would have at least had The Daily Colonist article.