Question: Origin of 'bigfoot' term for sasquatch

[David Robertson]

Good day;

I'll start with a "Sorry!" for putting this on both groups.  It seems
equally (ir)relevant to both!

It occurs to me that in my casual reading about the Sasquatch phenomenon
in the Northwest, I've seen etymologies for various related terms:  'Stick
Indian', 'sasquatch' itself, '(t)siatko' and so forth.

Before today, no likely account of the origin of 'bigfoot' as an English
term for this being had come to my attention.

Reading Lalia Boone's "Idaho Place Names:  A Geographical Dictionary"
(Moscow, ID:  University of Idaho Press, 1988) has brought the following
to my attention:

Both Bigfoot Butte and the town of Nampa, Idaho, are named after a
'renegade Shoshoni-Bannock Indian' named approximately Nam Puh, or
'Bigfoot'.

He is said to have roamed the Idaho countryside slaughtering white
settlers.  His band of followers traveled on horseback, but he reputedly
always went on foot.  Nam Puh stood six-and-a-half feet or taller, had
amazing strength, feet measuring some 17 inches long, and covered immense
amounts of terrain in a single night.

This is all remarkably consonant with the known lore of the sasquatch, and
with that of Stick Indians (to some extent).

Could indigenous stories of these latter two (groups of) beings have
influenced white people's knowledge and perception of Nam Puh?

Was Nam Puh a historical figure?!

Can we prove that 'bigfoot' is a term of Idaho, or Inland Northwest,
provenance?

Your responses will be welcomed.

Dave

 *VISIT the archives of the CHINOOK jargon and the SALISHAN & neighboring*
		    <=== languages lists, on the Web! ===>
	   http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/salishan.html
	   http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/chinook.html