Dave Jackson (Maine game warden)
Encyclopedia
Dave Jackson was a game warden
who lived in the Maine North Woods
through the first half of the 20th century. He was born and raised near the confluence of the Allagash River
and St. John River. As canoeing
became a popular recreational activity he was remembered as the man with the greatest canoe
skill on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. He routinely took canvas canoes through rapids at the mouth of the Allagash and both upstream and downstream through Big Black Rapids on the St. John River.
. Dave's father farmed the land during the brief summers and assisted logging
operations during the remainder of the year. Dave and his father freighted supplies up the St. John River in pine pirogue
s from the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad
at Saint Francis, Maine. Dave left school after the eighth grade to learn log driving
before leaving home to work as a timber cruiser for International Paper Company. He learned from the river drivers how to build a soft mattress of fir
boughs to keep his bedding dry above the moist ground or snow.
game warden assigned to live and work out of a small 255-square-foot (24-square-meter) cabin on Umsaskis Lake
on the upper Allagash River. The cabin was one-quarter mile (400 meters) from the unpaved Lacroix road from Lac-Frontière, Quebec
and could be reached only on snowshoe
s for most of the winter. His patrol area consisted of twenty townships with a combined population of about 3000 living mostly in 50 scattered logging camps. Patrols lasting up to ten-days were made on snowshoes through the winter months and by canoe or on foot during the summer. The area had been logged in the early 19th century, and Édouard Lacroix
began cutting second-growth hardwood and pulpwood in 1926. Many of the men working in the logging camps were French Canadian
s unfamiliar with Maine laws, unable to read English, and accustomed to animal trapping and hunting
for food. Warden Jackson narrowly avoided being hanged by an illegal snare set for deer
. When he arrested poachers, they often had to snowshoe more than 60 miles (100 km) to court.
Dave Jackson was a patient, quiet man not given to argument, bragging, or speaking ill of others. He came home from one patrol with a bullet hole through his hat, but said nothing of the cause. He became known as a good, honest, and loyal civil servant who was often called upon to assist lost hunters or upset canoes. He led a 500-man search for the crew of a crashed Canadian bomber
. Four airmen were rescued as December temperatures dipped to 40 below zero, but the body of the fifth was not discovered until the following spring.
Maine law provided a bounty on bobcat
and American black bear
at the time, and Jackson was called upon to shoot bears damaging logging camp kitchens. One bobcat lost a fight with Dave's dog, but regained consciousness as Dave was dragging it back to camp. Dave killed the 30-pound (14-kg) bobcat by swinging it around by the hind leg until its head hit something solid.
on Easter
Sunday 1932. In 1938 he was promoted to chief warden of the Allagash District and moved back to the family farm at Allagash Plantation where schooling was available for their three children born while they lived on Umsaskis Lake. Their fourth child was born in 1943. Warden Jackson retired in 1952; and began spending winters near their daughter while her husband was stationed at Eglin Air Force Base
. He and his wife spent their final years living near their daughter's family in Fort Walton Beach, Florida
where he died in 1978.
Game warden
A game warden is an employee who has the role of protecting wildlife. Game wardens may also be referred to as conservation officers or wildlife officers...
who lived in the Maine North Woods
Maine North Woods
The Maine North Woods is the northern geographic area of the state of Maine in the United States.It covers more than 3.5 million acres of top forest land in north-western Maine. It includes western Aroostook and northern Somerset, Penobscot, and Piscataquis counties...
through the first half of the 20th century. He was born and raised near the confluence of the Allagash River
Allagash River
The Allagash River is a tributary of the St. John River, approximately long, in northern Maine in the United States. It drains a remote and scenic area of wilderness in the Maine North Woods north of Mount Katahdin...
and St. John River. As canoeing
Canoeing
Canoeing is an outdoor activity that involves a special kind of canoe.Open canoes may be 'poled' , sailed, 'lined and tracked' or even 'gunnel-bobbed'....
became a popular recreational activity he was remembered as the man with the greatest canoe
Canoe
A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...
skill on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. He routinely took canvas canoes through rapids at the mouth of the Allagash and both upstream and downstream through Big Black Rapids on the St. John River.
Allagash Plantation
Dave was born 2 September 1902 at Ouellette Farm on the St. John River. He was the eldest of six children of David Jackson and Elizabeth (Gardner) Jackson. The Jackson family owned a farm in Allagash, MaineAllagash, Maine
Allagash is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. The population was 277 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and 2.8 square miles is water...
. Dave's father farmed the land during the brief summers and assisted logging
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
operations during the remainder of the year. Dave and his father freighted supplies up the St. John River in pine pirogue
Pirogue
A pirogue is a small, flat-bottomed boat of a design associated particularly with the Cajuns of the Louisiana marsh. In West Africa they were used as traditional fishing boats. These boats are not usually intended for overnight travel but are light and small enough to be easily taken onto land...
s from the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad
Bangor and Aroostook Railroad
The Bangor and Aroostook Railroad is a defunct United States railroad company, that brought rail service to Aroostook County, Maine. Brightly painted BAR box cars attracted national attention in the 1950s. First-generation diesel locomotives operated on BAR until they were museum pieces...
at Saint Francis, Maine. Dave left school after the eighth grade to learn log driving
Log driving
Log driving is a means of log transport which makes use of a river's current to move floating tree trunks downstream to sawmills and pulp mills.It was the main transportation method of the early logging industry in Europe and North America...
before leaving home to work as a timber cruiser for International Paper Company. He learned from the river drivers how to build a soft mattress of fir
Fir
Firs are a genus of 48–55 species of evergreen conifers in the family Pinaceae. They are found through much of North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, occurring in mountains over most of the range...
boughs to keep his bedding dry above the moist ground or snow.
Umsaskis Lake
In 1929 Dave Jackson was employed as a MaineMaine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
game warden assigned to live and work out of a small 255-square-foot (24-square-meter) cabin on Umsaskis Lake
Umsaskis Lake
Umsaskis Lake is a lake in Maine. It is located in Aroostook County and lies approximately from the Canada-U.S. border....
on the upper Allagash River. The cabin was one-quarter mile (400 meters) from the unpaved Lacroix road from Lac-Frontière, Quebec
Lac-Frontière, Quebec
Lac-Frontière is a tiny village of 150 people in the Montmagny Regional County Municipality within the Chaudière-Appalaches region of Quebec. It is located at the border with the United States....
and could be reached only on snowshoe
Snowshoe
A snowshoe is footwear for walking over the snow. Snowshoes work by distributing the weight of the person over a larger area so that the person's foot does not sink completely into the snow, a quality called "flotation"....
s for most of the winter. His patrol area consisted of twenty townships with a combined population of about 3000 living mostly in 50 scattered logging camps. Patrols lasting up to ten-days were made on snowshoes through the winter months and by canoe or on foot during the summer. The area had been logged in the early 19th century, and Édouard Lacroix
Édouard Lacroix
-Background:He was born on January 6, 1889 in Sainte-Marie, Quebec. He made career in forestry and opened a lumber plant in Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine. He was the grandfather of businessmen Marcel and Robert Dutil.-Member of Parliament:...
began cutting second-growth hardwood and pulpwood in 1926. Many of the men working in the logging camps were French Canadian
French Canadian
French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...
s unfamiliar with Maine laws, unable to read English, and accustomed to animal trapping and hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
for food. Warden Jackson narrowly avoided being hanged by an illegal snare set for deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
. When he arrested poachers, they often had to snowshoe more than 60 miles (100 km) to court.
Dave Jackson was a patient, quiet man not given to argument, bragging, or speaking ill of others. He came home from one patrol with a bullet hole through his hat, but said nothing of the cause. He became known as a good, honest, and loyal civil servant who was often called upon to assist lost hunters or upset canoes. He led a 500-man search for the crew of a crashed Canadian bomber
Bomber
A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...
. Four airmen were rescued as December temperatures dipped to 40 below zero, but the body of the fifth was not discovered until the following spring.
Maine law provided a bounty on bobcat
Bobcat
The bobcat is a North American mammal of the cat family Felidae, appearing during the Irvingtonian stage of around 1.8 million years ago . With twelve recognized subspecies, it ranges from southern Canada to northern Mexico, including most of the continental United States...
and American black bear
American black bear
The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...
at the time, and Jackson was called upon to shoot bears damaging logging camp kitchens. One bobcat lost a fight with Dave's dog, but regained consciousness as Dave was dragging it back to camp. Dave killed the 30-pound (14-kg) bobcat by swinging it around by the hind leg until its head hit something solid.
Family
He married Annette Hetu in Jackman, MaineJackman, Maine
Jackman is a town in Somerset County, Maine, United States. The population was 718 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water....
on Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
Sunday 1932. In 1938 he was promoted to chief warden of the Allagash District and moved back to the family farm at Allagash Plantation where schooling was available for their three children born while they lived on Umsaskis Lake. Their fourth child was born in 1943. Warden Jackson retired in 1952; and began spending winters near their daughter while her husband was stationed at Eglin Air Force Base
Eglin Air Force Base
Eglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located approximately 3 miles southwest of Valparaiso, Florida in Okaloosa County....
. He and his wife spent their final years living near their daughter's family in Fort Walton Beach, Florida
Fort Walton Beach, Florida
Fort Walton Beach is a city in southern Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. As of 2005, the population estimate for Fort Walton Beach was 19,992, and as of 2010, the population estimate for Fort Walton Beach is 19,507 recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau...
where he died in 1978.