Not just a joke &8212; big footprints were crime deterrent

The Associated Press

Centralia — A Lewis County man who worked in the northern California forests with the late Ray Wallace says the 16-inch footprints Wallace made — using big, wooden feet strapped to his boots — weren't a prank at all.

When Wallace died late last month, family members revealed his role in making the 1958 footprints, which drew national attention to Humboldt County, Calif., and are credited by some with reviving the Bigfoot legend.

But John Auman of Glenoma, 71, said Friday that he was working nearby and remembers the tracks as a theft deterrent, not just a joke.

Auman, then about 27, was working as a logger rebuilding roads. Wallace was a road builder as well.

Wallace left the giant footprints around construction equipment parked in the woods to scare away vandals who had been messing with the vehicles, Auman said.

The tactic worked — but then the tale took on a life of its own.

Auman said Wallace's innovative crime-control efforts brought tourists to the dying California town of Eureka.

"Ray should get a medal," he said.

And the big footprints scared off vandals who'd been coming to worksites and stealing fuel, batteries, engines — whatever wasn't nailed down.

"If your rig was parked overnight, you might as well figure it would have no tires in the morning," Auman said. "That's why all this started."

Locals pretty much knew there was no giant, hairy ape-man wandering the woods, Auman said.

But after media accounts drew national attention, Wallace — concerned he'd get in trouble with the sheriff &8212; kept his role to himself.

"I talked with Ray about it one time," Auman said. "And we laughed about it. He didn't say he done it, but I knew he did."

Auman returned to Lewis County and worked as a logger until he was injured on the job and retired in 1978.

From : Seattle Times, Monday, December 09, 2002.