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Albert Lewis Johnson (May 12, 1871 – March 30, 1935), better known as Jigger Johnson (also nicknamed Wildcat Johnson,[1] Jigger Jones, or simply The Jigger), was a legendary logging foreman, trapper, and fire warden for the U.S. Forest Service who was known throughout the American East for his many off-the-job exploits, such as catching bobcats alive barehanded, and drunken brawls.[2]

Key Information

Logging historians, such as Stewart Holbrook, Robert Pike, and others, have called him "the last lumberjack"[3][4][5] of the old-fashioned type who "cut a swath of timber from Maine to Oregon" and "yelled like crazy devils every spring when they pounded the bars in Bangor, Saginaw, St. Paul, and Seattle".[6]

The U.S. Forest Service maintains the Jigger Johnson Campground in the White Mountain National Forest, which they named in honor of him.[7]

Early life

[edit]

Albert "Jigger" Johnson was born on May 12, 1871, in Fryeburg, Maine, to parents of Yankee stock. According to legend, when Jigger was born he came out of his mother's womb with a wad of tobacco in his lip, caulk boots on his feet, and a peavey in one hand and an axe in the other.[8] Another legend states that he only had two formal days of schooling. On the first day, the Jigger forgot his books, and on the second day the teacher was out sick.[9]

At the young age of 12, he went to work in the woods as a "cookee", or cook's assistant, at a lumber camp in Milan, New Hampshire.[10] Jigger's duties as cookee required him to help the cook prepare food, serve the loggers their meals, clean the dishes after mealtime, and to chop fire wood during any spare time.[11]

During meals, it was forbidden for the loggers to converse with one another; they were expected to finish eating as quickly as possible and get back to cutting wood.[12] One evening, a few newcomers decided to talk during dinner, and continued to talk after the young Jigger politely asked them to stop. One logger started arguing with the boy Jigger, and the next thing the loggers knew was that the youth had jumped onto the fully grown man and sunk his teeth into his ear. After the other men separated the two, part of the man's ear remained in Jigger's mouth.[13]

The other loggers were so impressed that a young boy would even attempt to take on a fully grown man that they all combined a portion of their wages and bought the Jigger a can of chewing tobacco.[14] Later loggers would say that because of this, men who fought Jigger would never get their caulk boots near his face, due to fear of his teeth—Jigger claimed he could chew "though boot, hide, an' all."[3]

Logging career

[edit]

The young Jigger soon worked his way up the ranks in the woods—swamping roads, tending landing, and chopping, to eventually emerge at the age of 20 as head chopper in charge of a logging camp somewhere on the Androscoggin River. Old loggers who worked for him, such as Stewart Holbrook, claimed that Johnson had few equals as a woodsman at a time when a man working in the woods was judged by the smoothness of the scarf of his axe’s undercut. They said that the Jigger was an unusually good logger and that he could fell a tree uphill, downhill, with or against the wind, even so that upon falling it would drive a stake previously set in the ground.[15]

Johnson worked for many years as a logging foreman in the woods of Coös County, New Hampshire, for the Connecticut Valley Lumber Company (C.V.L.) in the winter, and as a river boss on the Connecticut River in the spring. Robert E. Pike claimed in his 1967 book Tall Trees, Tough Men that whenever Jigger entered the camp of a new logging operation, for his resume he would exclaim, "I can jump higher, squat lower, turn sideways quicker, and spit further than any son-of-a-bitch in a camp."[16]

As a foreman, Jigger was known to have kicked off the knots of a frozen hemlock log barefooted, and supposedly wouldn't hire anyone else who couldn't do the same.[17][18] He was well known to be an honest, hardworking boss, who would pay his men high wages to work for him.[19] He would walk into saloons at Berlin, New Hampshire, and Sherbrooke, Quebec, and could convince drunken loggers to work for him driving logs down the most dangerous parts of the Connecticut River.[20]

Although he paid his men handsomely, he expected a lot from them. On one occasion during a river drive, Jigger told his men to wait at camp while he went to recruit more log drivers in West Stewartstown, New Hampshire. Some of his workers disobeyed his orders and went down to the Line House on the Beecher Falls–East Hereford Border Crossing.[21] Once he returned to camp, Jigger realized at once where the missing men had gone and immediately left for the Line House.

Upon entering the Line House, the Jigger grabbed a peavey that was hung on the wall, and ran into the crowd swinging. The bouncer, a bulky French-Canadian by the name of Lapointe, then knocked Johnson to the ground and began stomping him with his cork boots. Jigger managed to grab a hold of Lapointe's feet and lifted him up and placed him onto a hot wood stove and held him there for a few minutes, all the while Lapointe bellowed.[22] When Jigger finally let up, he proceeded to jump into the air and grabbed a hold of a kerosene lamp from the ceiling and smashed it over the bouncer's head. The kerosene met the heat and ignited Lapointe's clothes.[23] Lapointe ran outside, still ablaze, and had to be put out by bystanders, while Jigger's frightened men returned to camp.

In his younger years, Jigger Johnson boasted that he would not leave any tree standing from Bangor to Seattle, nor any virgins.[24] He trekked from New England all the way to the Great Lakes States and then to the great pine forests of the Southeast,[25] before deciding to turn back to New England due to a sprained ankle and stomach problems.[26]

Johnson worked on the Connecticut River for the C.V.L. until 1915, when the last long-log drive occurred. He then continued to work for the remainder of his logging career on the Androscoggin River.[27] Sensing that the long-log drives were coming to an end, Jigger retired from working in the woods in the early 1920s.

Fire warden and the Civilian Conservation Corps

[edit]
Jigger Johnson as a fire warden on Carter Dome

Shortly after the end of his logging career, Jigger Johnson found a profession as a fire warden for the United States Forest Service and was stationed at their lookout tower on Mount Chocorua, and later at Carter Dome.[28] It was there that Johnson, when sober, looked for forest fires. On days when he drank, mostly when the weather was rainy, he clogged up the telephone lines with reports of bizarre snakes and small dragons,[29][30] a rare condition caused by extreme alcohol abuse known as alcoholic hallucinosis.

On one occasion while the Jigger worked on Carter Dome, he and a friend, Robert Monahan, set off from "The Dome" to Berlin to replenish his potato supply and to stock up on bootlegged hard liquor.[31] When they reached the town of Gorham, they stumbled upon a celebration that included a potato race. Bob and Jigger banded together and won the race, with the prize being a half-bushel of fresh potatoes. He and Monahan then lugged the sack of potatoes up to Carter Dome, where the two men had a feast.[32]

After the Forest Service was forced to let him go due to his drinking, Johnson was hired to man a privately owned fire tower on Bald Mountain in Maine. However, this job did not last too long due to a conflagration that burnt down the tower, which was caused by one of Jigger's homemade alcohol stills exploding.[33]

After this, Jigger was hired to teach survival skills for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in Gilead, Maine.[34] It is there that the Jigger entranced the young men with his tales of old. The CCC, like the Forest Service, was forced to relieve him because of his heavy alcohol consumption, which forced the Jigger into finally deciding to go into self-employment as a trapper of wild game.[35]

Trapper

[edit]

Jigger's final job before his death was fur trapping. He erected a crude cabin in the White Mountain National Forest near Douglas Brook in Albany, New Hampshire.[36] As a trapper, Johnson was known to have been somewhat of a one-man Hudson's Bay Company, catching lynx, bobcat, mink, muskrat, weasel, fox, and fisher, often alive and with nothing but his own hands.[37]

Once, the Jigger used a deer carcass to lure two bobcats under a tree that he had climbed. While the bobcats were having their feast, Johnson pounced on them and bagged them, live, barehanded. One of these cats was sold to the University of New Hampshire, which wanted a wildcat for use as a mascot, for the sum of $50.[36]

On another occasion, a man from Portland, Maine, asked the Jigger if he could catch him two bobcats for a show he was doing, and if he could, he would pay him $25. Jigger agreed, and captured two bobcats and tied their feet together and started out for the train station, occasionally hitting their heads together to keep them quiet. Johnson asked the stationmaster how much it would cost to ship the cats to Portland, and after about ten minutes, the stationmaster revealed to Jigger that there wasn't any tariff on shipping bobcats, and thus he could not ship them. Johnson ended up hiring a taxi driver to drive him to Portland, and he hand delivered the cats himself.[38]

Death

[edit]

After selling a lynx pelt for the sum of $100, the Jigger went to the town of Conway to celebrate. The next morning, after realizing he had not checked his traps in over 24 hours (as state laws required), Johnson hired a man to drive him back to Passaconaway. The car ended up sliding off the road just as the Jigger was about to get out of the car, pinning him to a tree. Jigger was taken to the Memorial Hospital in Conway, where he died on March 30, 1935.[39]

Legacy

[edit]

Following his death, Jigger Johnson was made famous by writers, such as Stewart Holbrook and Robert Pike, for his extraordinary intuition, tolerance to cold weather, ability to consume massive amounts of any proof alcohol, and his enormous strength.[40] It is through the recounting of the Jigger's numerous off-the-job exploits by these historians that the Jigger has become somewhat of an American folk hero.[41]

In the 1940 Warner Brothers film King of the Lumberjacks, there is a character played by Joe Sawyer named "Jigger", who is loosely based on Jigger Johnson.[42]

In 1969, the United States Forest Service opened the Jigger Johnson Campground in the White Mountain National Forest, near where the Jigger once trapped.

References

[edit]
[edit]
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Jigger Johnson

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Albert Lewis "Jigger" Johnson (May 12, 1871 – March 30, 1935) was an American , foreman, trapper, and U.S. Forest Service fire warden, celebrated as a and one of the last traditional woodsmen in the White Mountains region of and . Born in , to parents, Johnson began his career in at age 12 as a cook's helper in a Coos County camp, quickly rising to become a head chopper and river boss by his early twenties. Johnson's professional life spanned nearly four decades, from the late through the , during which he supervised logging operations across , including drives on the , and enforced strict discipline among his crews of rugged workers. Standing at 5 feet 6 inches and weighing no more than 160 pounds, he was known for his toughness, surviving falls from 45 feet, sleeping in snowdrifts during blizzards, and even building a homemade still called the "Johnson's Tin-Plated, Triple Worm, Little Giant Still." In his later years, after the decline of large-scale logging, Johnson served as a on peaks like Mount Chocorua and Carter Dome, taught survival skills to the in 1933, and trapped furs such as , bobcats, and in the woods. His legendary exploits, including biting off a logger's in a fight at age 12, catching bobcats barehanded, and boastfully claiming he would leave "no trees or virgins between Bangor and ," cemented his reputation as a colorful, hard-drinking character who embodied the vanishing era of frontier lumberjacks. Johnson died in a car accident in , at age 63, reportedly still referring to automobiles as "horseless carriages." His enduring legacy includes inspiring literary works, a character in a 1940 film, and the naming of Jigger Johnson Campground in the in 1969, as well as modern tributes like a brand produced by a Maine distillery.

Early Life

Upbringing in Fryeburg

Albert Lewis Johnson, better known as Jigger Johnson, was born on May 12, 1871, in Fryeburg, , to parents of stock with a working-class heritage rooted in rural life. Fryeburg, a small agricultural and forested town, provided an environment steeped in the traditions of Maine's early settler communities, where and familiarity with the outdoors were essential for survival. Local legends, originating from Johnson's later reputation as a rugged , claim he emerged from the womb with a wad of in his mouth, caulk boots on his feet, a peavey in one hand, and an axe in the other—tales that underscore the mythic persona he would cultivate but lack historical verification. His childhood unfolded amid the influences of Oxford County's logging communities, where dense forests supported seasonal timber work alongside farming, likely exposing him to early manual labor on family lands or nearby operations. Details on Johnson's life remain sparse, with the 1880 U.S. Census indicating a household that may have included siblings, though no confirmed records document them, and historical accounts noting his unmarried status and lack of children, which later contributed to his image as a solitary, itinerant figure wandering Maine's woods. This rural upbringing in Fryeburg's forested setting provided a natural progression into the industry as a young man.

Entry into Logging Camps

At the age of twelve, around 1883, Albert Lewis Johnson, known as Jigger Johnson, left his home in , to begin working in the lumber industry as a "cookee," or assistant to the camp cook, at a in , , in Coos County. His initial duties involved helping prepare meals for the loggers, serving food—often under strict camp rules prohibiting talk during suppers—and cleaning dishes afterward, tasks that immersed him in the harsh, isolated environment of the northern woods. Johnson's early reputation as a tough young worker was cemented by a notorious incident shortly after his arrival, when he bit off part of a logger's during a mealtime altercation over the man's violation of the no-talking rule, an act that earned him respect from the crew and his first wad of from the camp boss. This event, occurring when he was still a boy, highlighted the rough culture of the camps and Johnson's willingness to defend camp discipline, even against men twice his size. As he matured in the camps, Johnson took on additional responsibilities beyond kitchen work, including basic camp maintenance such as fetching water and tending fires, while beginning to learn essential tools like axes and peaveys through hands-on observation and assistance with crews. He gained early exposure to river drives on the nearby , where logs were floated downstream after winter cutting, providing insight into the seasonal rhythm of the industry. His family's heritage in rural offered informal preparation for such manual labor, but Johnson's rapid skill acquisition—driven by determination and the demanding camp life—led to quick advancement; by his late teens, around age eighteen or nineteen, he had progressed from helper roles to more skilled positions, paving the way for leadership without any formal .

Professional Career

Logging Foreman Roles

By his early twenties, around 1891, Johnson had risen to the position of head chopper, overseeing a along the for the Connecticut Valley Lumber Company. This promotion marked his transition from entry-level camp work to leadership, where he managed felling operations in the rugged terrain of northern and adjacent forests. His early experiences in camps provided the foundational skills in timber handling and crew coordination that defined his authoritative style. From the 1890s through 1915, Johnson served as a foreman, directing crews of hardy loggers across and woodlands. He was known for selecting only the toughest workers, offering high wages to ensure reliability during demanding seasons. Under his supervision, teams employed precise felling techniques to direct trees toward skid roads and rivers, minimizing waste and maximizing yield in dense hemlock and stands. Johnson's tenure included managing major log drives on the Androscoggin and Rivers, culminating in the final grand drive of 1915 organized by the Connecticut Valley Lumber Company, which transported 65 million board feet of timber with a crew of 500. He continued overseeing such operations into the , navigating the industry's shift toward , including steam loaders and railroads, which gradually supplanted traditional river drives and hand labor. These adaptations highlighted his role in sustaining output amid technological changes that reduced the need for large manual crews. As foreman, Johnson demonstrated exceptional physical prowess, exemplified by camp lore of him kicking knots off frozen hemlock logs barefoot to clear them for transport—a feat tied to his reputation for enduring harsh winter conditions and inspiring crew endurance. Such stories, recounted by contemporaries, underscored his hands-on leadership and the demanding nature of pre-mechanized logging. Johnson retired from full-time logging in the early 1920s, influenced by advancing age, health issues including alcoholism, and the broader decline of traditional methods due to mechanization.

Fire Warden and Civilian Conservation Corps Duties

Following his logging career, Johnson transitioned into roles in , applying his practical woodsman expertise to and conservation efforts. In the 1920s, he was appointed as a fire warden for the U.S. Forest Service in New Hampshire's , where he was stationed at lookout towers on Mount Chocorua and later Carter Dome around 1928. His responsibilities encompassed patrolling remote areas for signs of wildfires, monitoring the forest from elevated towers, and educating local residents on practices to mitigate risks in the densely wooded region. However, his service ended around 1928–1930 after dismissal due to excessive drinking, which reportedly caused hallucinations—such as visions of snakes and dragons—impairing his duties, particularly on rainy days when visibility was low. In 1933, amid the and the launch of programs, Johnson joined the (CCC) as an instructor in , , where he trained young enrollees in , trail building, and basic techniques, helping to instill disciplined . This role lasted only until , when he was dismissed again for alcohol-related misconduct. A notable from this era recounts Johnson winning a race at a community celebration in , demonstrating his remarkable physical endurance despite advancing age and personal challenges. Through these positions, Johnson bridged traditional logging knowledge with emerging federal conservation initiatives, supporting and habitat preservation in the Northeast during a of ecological transition.

Later Life

Trapping Exploits

Following his dismissal from the in the early due to alcohol consumption, Jigger Johnson relocated to a remote cabin in the , where he pursued trapping as his primary livelihood during the . This move marked a shift from structured roles to independent wilderness survival, leveraging his extensive prior knowledge of the region's terrain for navigation and tracking. Johnson focused on trapping furbearers such as bobcats, , , and other small game, employing traditional alongside his renowned barehanded captures. His methods reflected a solitary, self-sufficient routine centered on the harsh White Mountains environment, where he sustained himself through , , and while maintaining minimal contact with outsiders, often evading forest rangers owing to his rough reputation. This isolation contrasted sharply with his earlier team-oriented logging days, adapting his skills to solo operations amid dwindling timber industry opportunities that left few alternatives for men of his background. Notable among his exploits was the barehanded capture of two live bobcats, which he bound by the feet and transported via taxi to , for a $25 exhibition show. Just days before his death, Johnson sold a lynx pelt in , for $100, providing crucial income in an era when fur markets offered one of the few viable ways for rural trappers to endure economic hardship. These successes underscored trapping's role as a Depression-era lifeline, particularly as camps closed and programs proved unstable for independent operators like Johnson.

Death

Jigger Johnson died on March 30, 1935, at age 63, following a fatal car accident near , in which his car slid off the road and pinned him against a tree, leading to fatal injuries. The previous evening, Johnson had celebrated a successful outing by selling a pelt for $100 at a local establishment in Conway, where he engaged in heavy drinking. He had hired a driver to return to his traps near Passaconaway, as state law required checking traps every 24 hours. The crash took place on a rural road in the White Mountains region and was officially ruled accidental. Johnson died later that day at Memorial Hospital in Conway. He was buried in North Conway Cemetery in , receiving scant contemporary attention as his reputation as a grew primarily in the years following his death.

Legacy

Folklore and Literary Depictions

Jigger Johnson, born Albert Lewis Johnson in 1871, became a central figure in lumberjack folklore through exaggerated tales of superhuman feats and rowdy exploits that amplified his reputation as a wild frontiersman. Core myths include his purported ability to capture bobcats barehanded, sleep overnight in snowbanks without ill effect, and engage in brutal brawls, such as biting off a logger's ear at the age of twelve during his first job as a cookee. Other legends depict him kicking knots from trees with his bare feet, outdrinking entire crews, and boasting that he would leave "no trees or virgins between Bangor and ," portraying him as a larger-than-life of the untamed . These stories, often shared in logging camps, emphasized his immense strength, such as felling trees single-handedly or winning absurd contests like potato races on frozen rivers. Johnson's mythic image was solidified in literary works that compiled and romanticized these oral traditions. In Stewart Holbrook's 1938 book Holy Old Mackinaw: A Natural History of the American Lumberjack, he is profiled in a chapter titled "Saga of The Jigger," describing him as "the last of the old-time lumberjacks" and recounting tales of his birth—emerging fully formed with a wad of tobacco in his mouth, caulk boots on his feet, a peavey in one hand, and an axe in the other—alongside his bar fights and logging prowess. Robert E. Pike's 1967 Tall Trees, Tough Men further immortalized him by gathering anecdotes from logging communities, portraying Johnson as the quintessential "wildcat" who dominated timber camps and river drives across Maine and New Hampshire, with Pike noting his entry into camps often sparked chaos and legend. Mike Pride's 2001 The New Hampshire Century contextualizes these myths against his documented life, highlighting how his bleak biography of economic hardship and professional setbacks contrasted with the entertaining folklore that overshadowed his realities. His influence extended to popular media, notably inspiring the character "Jigger" (played by ) in the 1940 Warner Bros. film King of the Lumberjacks, directed by William Clemens and starring John Payne as a rugged entangled in romance and rivalry in the northwoods. While the film loosely drew from Johnson's persona of strength and bravado, it fictionalized his exploits into a dramatic of timberland adventure. Scholars and historians distinguish these legends from Johnson's verifiable life, noting that the myths amplified his drinking and brawls for camp entertainment, but his actual career involved multiple dismissals due to and health issues, ending in 1920 with no evidence of family or romantic entanglements to fuel isolation tropes. The evolved through oral traditions in and communities starting in the 1920s, as the era of large-scale drives waned, transforming Johnson into an enduring symbol of the vanishing frontiersman preserved in regional storytelling.

Memorials and Modern Recognition

In 1969, the U.S. Forest Service dedicated the Jigger Johnson Campground in New Hampshire's as a tribute to Johnson's service as a fire warden and his contributions to regional conservation efforts during the era. Located along the Kancamagus Highway near the Swift River, the site honors his role in protecting the forest from fires and embodies his enduring connection to the logging and stewardship traditions of the area. Maine's Devil's Half Acre Distillery launched Jigger & Jones American Gin in 2020, drawing inspiration from Johnson's "wild" persona as a larger-than-life and trapper to evoke the rugged spirit of folklore. Similarly, the Jigger Johnson Ultras, organized by Aravaipa Running, introduced a 100-mile trail race in the White Mountains in 2023, with subsequent events in 2024 and 2025, promoting awareness of regional history through challenging courses that traverse historic terrains. Johnson's story continues to influence discussions, linking his work to modern conservation themes amid climate-impacted forests. This growing interest is evident in 2024 documentaries and podcasts, such as Aravaipa Running's "Every Mile Earned" series, which explores his life alongside the ultra-marathon's routes, positioning him as a symbol of the vanishing era and rural resilience. His legacy underscores broader conversations on rural and the preservation of forested landscapes in the Northeast.

References

  1. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/235428970/albert-lewis-johnson
  2. https://www.bangordailynews.com/2023/07/31/news/albert-jigger-johnson-maine-lumberjack-gin/
  3. https://www.conwaydailysun.com/news/white-mountain-chronicles-jigger-johnson-the-last-woodsman/article_0533ca81-509e-5ca9-a80c-4c6190a579ea.html
  4. https://www.filson.com/blogs/journal/profiles-jigger-johnson-logging-foreman
  5. https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/whitemountain/recarea/?recid=74865
  6. https://issuu.com/discovermainemagazine/docs/wlm20_final/s/10996275
  7. https://www.maineforestandloggingmuseum.org/about-us/
  8. https://www.woodsplitterdirect.com/blogs/wsd/a-history-of-maine-logging
  9. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MF3L-HMF
  10. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24453993
  11. https://issuu.com/discovermainemagazine/docs/wlm20_final
  12. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1963/07/log-drive-on-the-connecticut/306235/
  13. https://www.outdoorproject.com/united-states/new-hampshire/jigger-johnson-campground
  14. https://www.conwaydailysun.com/archives/new-fire-tower-replicates-the-era-of-fire-lookouts/article_56f46b9f-9426-5094-9226-7b18c1060889.html
  15. https://www.facebook.com/groups/934654520387118/posts/2117597852092773/
  16. https://bethelhistorical.substack.com/p/the-enduring-legacy-of-jigger-johnson
  17. https://www.amazon.com/Holy-Old-Mackinaw-American-Lumberjack/dp/1941890067
  18. https://www.amazon.com/Trees-Anecdotal-History-Logging-Log-Driving/dp/0393319172
  19. https://www.amazon.com/New-Hampshire-Century-Concord-Profiles/dp/1584650877
  20. https://www.nytimes.com/1969/07/13/archives/new-campsites-blossoming-on-kancamagus-highway.html
  21. https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/news/2020/12/21/north-hampton-family-launches-gin-distillery-maine/3993257001/
  22. https://www.aravaiparunning.com/white-mountain-endurance/jigger/
  23. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wtR6vinRqY
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