Jim Wardner, of Wardner, Idaho

"A good story of a 'maybe' Bigfoot capture that occurred in the Big Hole area near Butte Montana is found in chapter 7 of Wardner's autobiography, entitled 'The Wild Man of Big Hole.'" -Bigfoottales Blog, Nov. 1, 2012
"Peculiarly American, a chronicle of pluck and courage." -New York Times Saturday Review, 1900.
"Wardner is the best-known miner from Cape Nome to Arizona, and his fame spans the continent from the Golden Gate to Sandy Hook." - New York Press, 1900
"An interesting Western character sketches his own career." - New York Evening Sun, 1900
"Wardner was a true soldier of fortune whose cheerful optimism was known in every mining camp the world around." -History of the City of Spokane (1912)

A former fur trader and one of the most persistent and tireless searchers after hidden treasures in all parts of the world, commonly known as the silver lead king of the Coeur d'Alenes, James Wardner (1846-1905) was a widely known as mining prospector and an eccentric man with operations extending from the Klondike to the Isthmus.

In 1900, this unique western miner, cat rancher, town boomer, city father, and man of legend from the Rockies to Washington, published his autobiography entitled "Jim Wardner, of Wardner, Idaho."

Heading out west in the late 1860s, Wardner's first mining adventures were in Arizona, Utah, Deadwood, South Dakota. Later he grew oranges in Los Angeles, worked as a freigter in Idaho, and was a Milwaukie butter salesman. He went back to Idaho at news of gold. In Eagle City he had a freighting business. At last he became a partner in the famous Bunker Hill Mine, which made him wealthy. From there he pursued various business and mining ventures in various locations including British Columbia, Alaska, Africa, and Panama, as detailed in his highly entertaining life story.

In describing a possible big foot or sasquatch creature which had been captured and kept in a barn, and would later star in his freak show, he writes:

"This creature was short, well built, and his body was covered with hair of the length and shade of a black bear's, had eyebrows fully four inches long, sticking nearly straight out, behind which glistened as bright a pair of round, quick, glittering brown eyes as were ever seen in ape or chimpanzee."

Wardner would eventually feel sorry for the man-like creature and allow it to "return to 'where the green grass grew' and the 'cold water ran' and fresh rabbits were plentiful, and where no 'devil's trumpet' crazed him."

In describing a close scrape while working as a saloon-keeper in Deadwood, Wardner writes:

"As scoundrelly a looking fellow as I had ever seen in the Hills walked in, apparently half drunk, and called for a drink. Just then I noticed that he had the handle of a big dirk knife in his right palm, the blade of the knife being concealed by his coat sleeve. Before I had time to even grab an ice pick he made a lunge at me...."

Indian attacks were still common in the frontier regions travelled by Wardner; he describes one such attack near Deadwood:
"I saw off to my left a party of Indians who had seen me and were evidently intent upon cutting off my trail before I could get to the crossing at Deadman's Creek. The Indians were just beginning to be troublesome. I knew I had an extra good bronco, and I also knew that I had to make the crossing before being overtaken or it would be all up with Jim Wardner.

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