Creature record / 1870
Autumn, 1870. The hills east of San Francisco Bay. A hunter camped on a ravine near the summit of the Diablo Range kept returning to find the campfire scattered. Then the culprit appeared. It stood full five feet high, broad at the shoulders, with arms of great length and a coat of long dark brown and cinnamon-colored hair. It threw its head back and whistled. For fifteen minutes the hunter sat and watched. That same autumn, a wild man was reported at Crow Canyon, near Mount Diablo. Two hunters saw "two gorillas" near Orestimba Creek. The letter that tied it all together was signed only "An Old Hunter."
In the autumn of 1870, California newspapers began reporting a strange visitor in the hills east of San Francisco Bay. The San Joaquin Republican reported that "a wild man has been seen at Crow Cañon, near Mount Diablo." Several attempts had been made to capture him. All failed. His tracks measured thirteen inches. The Daily Alta California reprinted the item on September 23, 1870.