WELCOME TO BIGFOOT COUNTRY : DEPRESSED TIMBER AREA PROMOTING FOREST LEGEND TO ATTRACT TOURISM.

Byline: Ralph Jennings Scripps-McClatchy Western Service

This Trinity River town is staking its fortune on what could be a hoax.

With five lumber mills closed in response to federal logging limits, the 1,000-person community is turning to a tall, hairy, apelike guy for prosperity.

That's Bigfoot.

Town leaders hope he'll make people stop to shop in town along the forested Highway 299 between Redding and Eureka.

``There was never a big push on it until we lost our lumber industry,'' said Max Rowley, a volunteer with the 90-member Willow Creek Chamber of Commerce. ``We had to grab ahold of something else. As far as the chamber is concerned, (Bigfoot) is our slogan.''

At the town museum, open Friday through Sunday, travelers can buy $10 casts of Bigfoot's alleged footprint. Or they can snag a ``Bigfoot Country California'' cap for $5.49, a ``BIG FOOT'' mock license plate for $5.99 and three books about the human-ape hybrid's suspected sightings in Northern California.

Don't forget the postcards and the miniature Bigfoot statues - starting at $3.99 - sold at Bigfoot Lumber.

A map on the museum wall shows most reported Bigfoot sightings come from the forests and waterways north of Willow Creek. Bigfoot buffs agree that the nation's first publicized footprint, a 16-incher found in 1957, came from the uninhabited Bluff Creek area 30 miles north of town.

Witness also the businesses named after Bigfoot - for example, Bigfoot Rafting Co. and Big Foot Golf and Country Club. A redwood-carved statue of the beast heralds drivers at the intersection of Highways 299 and 96.

``It's a thing we can point to about this area,'' said Brian Bottemiller, owner of the Willow Creek Pharmacy. ``We're the epicenter - we'll have to get the research center up and running.''

Some businesses, such as the weekly newspaper and the major grocery store, use Bigfoot icons as company logos. A restaurant, Cinnabar Sam's, claims in a newspaper ad that ``Bigfoot loves our fajitas.''

Every Labor Day weekend Willow Creek celebrates Bigfoot Days with a parade. In Humboldt County near the border with Trinity County, Willow Creek also serves as a staging area for Bigfoot seekers.

People come from all over the world to look for Bigfoot, merchants say. This year a film crew came from Germany and researchers came from Reader's Digest.

About five times a week, visitors ask the Chamber of Commerce about Bigfoot's vital statistics and history. The chamber hands out a brochure and tallies the request.

About once a week someone stops in at the U.S. Forest Service ranger station to ask about sasquatch. The station recently ran out of Bigfoot brochures, said receptionist Marilyn Meza.

Bigfoot seekers may stay at the town's three motels and six bed- and-breakfasts, and patronize the stores and restaurants.

``You'd be surprised. Over the years, we get a lot of people in here,'' said Al Hodgson, who has lived in Willow Creek since 1933. ``I get disgusted. We get so many who are there to catch them overnight, and it gets old.''

Hodgson believes in Bigfoot and knows its entire unconfirmed history. Most people never see a mountain lion, but they all believe in mountain lions, he noted. He can't ignore Bigfoot evidence, including famed 1967 film footage and consistent reports of oversized humanlike footprints.

Some of the curious have studied alleged sightings of the 7-foot biped and seek him as a hobby. Believers maintain that while evidence has popped up all over the country, Bigfoot's favorite stomping ground is Northwestern California.

The prospect of more Bigfoot clues brings John Green to the area from a city outside Vancouver, British Columbia. He hit Willow Creek periodically in the late 1950s and 1960s, then came back this year.

``Right in that small area is absolutely exceptional as far as tracks,'' said Green, noting that he's seen hundreds of prints near Bluff Creek. Green said the species numbers in the thousands.

A Bigfoot devotee, Green says 90 percent of those who claim to have seen evidence report the same characteristics. Bigfoot leaves tracks 14 to 16 inches long and runs away from people, he said.

``He's either an unknown animal or the product of some human activity to hoax this thing,'' Green said.

Seen him? Call the Bigfoot Research Project in Hood River, Ore., at (800) BIGFOOT. Project Director Peter Byrne said he receives about 3,500 calls a month. In the four years of the hotline's existence, he has determined 117 reports to be realistic.

A researcher interviews callers to find out whether a suspected encounter is worth investigating.

Popping the is-he-real question to Willow Creek dwellers suggests that most people back the hoax theory. Some also doubt the legend will power an economy.

``There's no way a Bigfoot store could make up for the lumber mills,'' said Janet Johnston, an 18-year Willow Creek resident who works for The Kourier newspaper. But Johnston concedes that Bigfoot has come to town to stay. Her own newspaper uses the beast as a logo.