president's message 2010 mhasa reunionmainehasa.org/images/may_2010_moose_call.pdf · one of...

Official Publication of the

Maine High Adventure Staff Association

May 2010 Volume No. 10 Issue 2

President's Message by Don Hanson

Thank you, thank you, thank you!! In our February Moose Call I put out a request for donations in the name of Wallace H. "Bud" Jeffrey to add to previous dona-tions in his name to help build a homebound cabin for Matagamon Base. Not only have we met our goal of $5000, but we exceeded it!! First, I want to thank all of the donors!! We received donations that were small and large, but they all added up and Deb Howard went to the bank every week with a smile on her face to deposit the funds. Now that we have finances for materials, if any of you have any carpentry skills, we need to find a lead builder and lots of helpers to put this cabin together. Just let me know if you fall in either of these categories. It is so nice to have the problem of figuring out how the plaque to be attached to the cabin will be worded!! There is also another project that the MHASA is working on. It is to become a corporation in the State of Maine and to file for 503(c)3 non-profit status with the IRS so that donations to our organization can be truly tax deductible. As part of this we have had to make some minor changes to our Constitution, soon to be called our By Laws. Both the Secretary of State's Office of Maine and the IRS require some specific wording that we did not have in our Constitution. It is our hope that we have made these changes without changing how our organization is operated. For any of you attending our Annual Meeting August 21st at Matagamon Base, we will be voting on the changes to the Constitution so that it can be submitted to the appropriate authorities in the fall. I have included a copy of the Constitution/By Laws in this issue starting on page 3, so you can see the changes. Please note that proposed additions are underlined and removals are marked with [brackets]. Have a great summer, see you again in September!!

2010

MHASA Reunion

The MHASA will hold its Seventh

Annual Reunion at Matagamon

Base August 20, 21, & 22

Come meet your former coworkers and meet

new friends.

Take a boat trip on Matagamon Lake

Just sit on the porch and recall your days in the

Maine High Adventure program

If you want more information

or want to make reservations,

please contact

Howard "Woody" Wood

at his contact info

on the next page.

The MHASA Annual Meeting

will be held Saturday at

the Reunion

The agenda includes:

Election of Secretary and Treasurer

Vote on changes to the Constitution

Moose Call - Maine High Adventure Staff Association

The

Moose Call is published four times a year:

September, November, February, and May by the Maine High Adventure Staff Association.

Contributions from Members and Non-members are welcome. The deadline for the Moose Call is the first day of the month of publication. All ed-

iting is at the discretion of the Editor. Please send contributions to the Editor listed below.

Maine High Adventure Staff Association officers

and contacts: President, Moose Call Editor Don Hanson [email protected] 207-377-2814 402 Metcalf Road Winthrop, ME 04364 Vice President Howard "Woody" Wood [email protected] 860-839-1152 150 Beechwood Ave Torrington, CT 06790 Secretary John Pluto [email protected] 207-228-4806 29 Daggett St Portland, ME 04103-4304 Treasurer Deb Howard [email protected]

Moose Call is published four times a year:

September, November, February, and May by the Maine High Adventure Staff Association.

Contributions from Members and Non-members are wel-come. The deadline for the Moose Call is the first day of the month of publication. All editing is at the discretion

of the Editor. Please send contributions to the Editor listed below.

Maine High Adventure Staff Association officers and

contacts: President, Moose Call Editor Don Hanson [email protected] 207-377-2814 402 Metcalf Road Winthrop, ME 04364 Vice President Howard "Woody" Wood [email protected] 860-839-1152 173 Chestnut Avenue Torrington, CT 06790 Secretary John Pluto [email protected] 207-400-7875 P O Box 305 Van Buren, ME 04785-0305 Treasurer Deb Howard [email protected] 207-236-6498 20 Forest Glen Drive Rockport, ME 04856 Webmaster Bob Cowdrick [email protected] Membership Info/Address changes Trudy Hanson [email protected] 207-377-2814 402 Metcalf Road Winthrop, ME 04364

First-Year Base Patches Are Still Available by Raymond Brown

Original patches from the first year of both the Mata-gamon and the Seboomook High Adventure Bases con-tinue to be available and may be ordered by any Staff Association member who has not yet purchased them. Each individual may obtain one "Maine-Matagamon 1971" patch and one "Seboomook 1973" patch. The cost is $25 for each patch. Checks should be made pay-able to "Maine High Adventure Staff Association" and should be sent to Raymond Brown in New Jersey (mail to: Raymond Brown; 628 Thomas Avenue; Riverton, NJ 08077). Be sure to include the address to which your patches should be mailed. More detailed information about the patches and the ordering procedures can be found in the September 2009 issue of Moose Call on page 5. (The contents of that is-sue and other back issues of Moose Call may be ac-cessed electronically at the MHASA web site: http://mainehasa.org/subsite/history.htm.) If you have any questions, feel free to contact Raymond (at: [email protected]). Now that those members who want to purchase these special patches have had plenty of time to do so, it looks like the Staff Association will be able to offer additional patches to those members who have already purchased one of each patch but would like to obtain more. At this time, there is no plan to sell these patches to anyone other than Staff Association members. Look for an an-nouncement about availability and procedures in Sep-tember's Moose Call. Do not send in orders or write any checks yet. But you can be thinking about whether some Scouting associate or family member or patch-collecting friend might appreciate your buying a "Maine-Matagamon 1971" or "Seboomook 1973" patch for him or her. Then you will "Be Prepared" to act when you read the details in the September 2010 issue of Moose Call.

If you are trying to get to our web-site:

http://mainehasa.org The userid/password are:

userid - mainehasa password - mha2010

Maine High Adventure Staff Association Moose Call -

By Laws [Constitution] of the Maine High AdventureStaff Association

Article I - Name of the Organization This Organization shall be known as the "Maine High Adventure Staff Association" (Also referred to in these By Laws [this Constitution] as the Organization). Article II - Purpose of the Organization The Organization shall have two primary purposes: 1) To promote communication among the membership, and 2) To assist and promote the Maine High Adventure Program. The Organization exists as a non-profit or-ganization organized under the laws of the State of Maine consistent with section 503(c)3 of the IRS Code at the time of incorporation. Article III - Officers of the Organization The Maine High Adventure Staff Association Officers shall consist of the following: President - The President shall run all meetings of the organization and shall chair the Executive Committee Vice-President - The Vice-president shall assist the President and fill in for the President in the President's absence. Secretary - The Secretary shall maintain all correspon-dence for the Organization and maintain the notes of the Annual Meeting and other meetings of the Executive Committee or the Organization. This position also per-forms the role of the Clerk for purposes of being incor-porated by the State of Maine. Treasurer - The Treasurer shall keep records of all fi-nancial matters, propose an Annual Budget to be pre-sented at the Annual Meeting, and present a record of all spending for the previous fiscal year at the Annual Meeting. Article IV - Election of Officers The President and Vice-President shall be elected by the Membership of the Organization at the Annual Meeting held on odd numbered years. The Secretary and Treas-urer shall be elected by the Membership of the Organi-

zation at the Annual Meeting held on even numbered years and at the formation of the Organization. Each of-ficer shall be elected by receiving the greatest number of votes for that office. Proxy votes for election of officers shall be counted with equal value to votes cast at the Annual Meeting. Each Member may cast only one vote for any one office. Each officer shall serve from the day of their election to the day of the next election for that office. Change of offi-cers shall take place at the Annual Meeting. The Execu-tive Committee shall fill all offices that become vacant between normally scheduled elections. Article V – Executive Committee The Executive Committee shall consist of the President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer. The Execu-tive Committee shall conduct all business functions of the Organization except those tasks specified in these By Laws [this Constitution] as being performed by the Membership. The Executive Committee may appoint any committees and fill those positions as needed to run the Organization. A quorum consists of three members of the Executive Committee. Article VI - Annual Meeting The Executive Committee shall schedule an Annual Meeting once each year and invite all Members of the Organization to attend. The purpose of the Annual Meeting shall include, but not be limited to the election of officers, presentation of annual reports and budgets to the Membership, and any possible changes to these By Laws [this Constitution] . All business at the Annual Meeting shall be voted on by the membership. An an-nouncement of the date and place of the Annual Meeting shall be sent to all Members for which the Organization has contact information in the last regular publication before the meeting. A system for proxy voting may be provided by the Executive Committee. The ballots will be tabulated and the results of all elections shall be an-nounced at the Annual Meeting and shall be contained in the next regular newsletter. Article VII - Membership The membership is open to all persons who have served at least one full season as a Staff Member of the Maine National High Adventure Area and/or Maine High Ad-venture Program. The Executive Committee can, by a

Constitution (Continued on page 5)


Where Are They Now? Coordinated by Trudy Hanson

From e-mails with Jon Tirpak (1979, Guide, Seboo-mook) in late February: Recently, Jon came for a brief visit to Saco, Maine. Here is the announcement from the Engineering Technical Society, ASM International that he gave the presentation to and what it was about:

The H.L. Hunley: Past, Present, Future, and Preservation Abstract: The H.L. Hunley was the first submarine to sink an enemy ship in combat on February 17, 1864. The Hunley was also lost that day and successfully re-covered from the sea off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.A., in August of 2000. The H.L. Hunley represents an exciting future in maritime archaeology and conservation science. From its shrouded birth to its climactic sinking to the present day, the H.L. Hunley continues to draw attention from local traditionalists, na-tional historians, and international scientists. Ultimately the H.L. Hunley represents 5 significant stages of its his-tory: its design and manufacture, its wartime service which culminated in its loss, its recovery; its excavation and long term conservation. This presentation will stitch together the past, present and future as he provides highlights to the vessel’s con-struction, loss, recovery and preservation. This presenta-tion was originally prepared by Mr. Paul Mardikian, the Senior Conservator of leading a teamed effort to pre-serve the H.L. Hunley. The presentation was made at the Fellows Breakfast 2007 in Detroit. Since then, Mr. Jon Tirpak has been granted permission by Clemson Univer-sity to share this exciting story with Chapters of ASM International. A bonus presentation on Thru Hiking the Appalachian Trail is offered should we complete the Hunley presentation early! Speaker Bio: Jon D. Tirpak, FASM, PE, is executive director, program manager, and principal investigator at the Advanced Technology Institute (ATI). Prior to his 14 years at ATI, he was the netshape program manager for the Corporate Technology Laboratory at Aeroquip Corp. (1993–96) and program manager at Universal Technology Corp. (1989–93). He served with the U.S. Air Force from 1982–88, and for two years was a pro-gram manager for the USAF Ballistic Missile Office. An ASM Fellow, Tirpak received his bachelor’s in metallur-gical engineering from Lafayette College and his mas-ter’s in materials engineering from the University of Dayton. He chairs the ASM New Products & Services

and Events Committees, and serves on other committees within ASM. He is a life member of the Air Force Mate-rials and Manufacturing Alumni Association and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. In an April e-mail from Bob Cowdrick (Floater, Guide, Driver, 1975-77, Seboomook).....Congratulations to Tim Conway (1974-77, Guide, Driver, Operations Manager, Assistant Base Director, Seboomook) on re-ceiving the Silver Beaver Award from the Chippewa Valley Council in Wisconsin in late March. He also be-came a grandfather when his daughter gave birth to a lit-tle girl, Aurora Jean, on November 9, 2009. [Membership Coordinator’s note: if you ever find your-self in the Owen, Wisconsin area, please choose to stay at the Sunset Motel. Tim is the owner. I know I am hop-ing to. I like spending my money where I know the owner.]

Results of Reunion Survey The response from our e-mail campaign was outstanding bringing in just over eighty responses regarding the lo-cation of future reunions. The responses were filled with great thoughts and recommendations and a margin of 98% voted to hold the reunion in T6-R8, Maine. Be-cause your responses were thorough, we have decided to make the following changes to the reunion in order to incorporate your suggestions. The reunion dates will be moved to a weekend earlier in the summer in order to accommodate schools starting earlier than they do in New England. Also, the Board of the Association is asking one person from each staff year to step forward

Results of Reunion Survey (Continued on page 5)

Legendary Matagamon driver Al Pulkkinen (1994-2009 Driver, Matagamon) was recognized recently by Katahdin High School as their Substitute Teacher of the Year. Former Seboomook chief guide Roy Hunter (1974-85 Guide Staff) is currently in western Minnesota work-ing on a crew that is conducting controlled burns of grasslands owned by The Nature Conservancy." Last summer, Julie Pendola (2007-08 Operations Manager Matagamon) took a position with the Boojum Institute of southern California as their manager of lo-gistics. During the winter, she moved up to a year-round position and become their staffing and training manager. (If you would like to find out more about the Boojum Institute, you can check their web site: www.boojum.


Maine High Adventure By The Numbers

by Raymond Brown

100 Years ago, in 1910, the Boy Scouts of America

were incorporated in Washington, DC.

11 Of the twelve U.S. astronauts who walked on the moon

were Scouts when they were young men.

25 Consecutive issues of Moose Call have included

this "Maine High Adventure by the Numbers" column.

7.54 Nights per crew has been the average

length of stay for Maine High Adventure crews during the past five years.

8.61 People per crew was the average crew size

during the past five years.

1589 Feet above sea level is the elevation of

Horse Mountain (at the fire tower location.)

16 Feet was the height of the steel fire tower

on Horse Mountain.

1917 Was the year when the steel fire tower was constructed on Horse Mountain

by the Maine Forest Service.

1999 Was the year when the steel fire tower on Horse Mountain was demolished and removed by Baxter State Park.

(Continued from page 3) Constitution

vote, allow any other person to be a member. Article VIII - Dues Membership Dues may be assessed by the Executive Committee upon the membership. Article IX - Changes to these By Laws [this Constitu-tion] Changes may be made to these By Laws [this Constitu-tion] by a two-thirds majority of the votes cast (including proxy votes) at the Annual Meeting. Mem-bers will be notified of any By Laws [Constitutional] change proposal when they are notified of the Annual Meeting. Article X – Dissolution of the Organization Dissolution of the Organization shall require a majority vote of the Executive Committee and a majority vote of the Membership attending the Annual Meeting at which the vote is taken. Upon the dissolution of this Organiza-tion, assets shall be distributed for one or more exempt purposes within the meaning of section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or the corresponding section of any future federal tax code, or shall be distributed to the federal government, or to a state or local government, for a public purpose. Any such assets not so disposed of shall be disposed of by a Court of Competent Jurisdic-tion of the county in which the principal office of the corporation is then located, exclusively for such pur-poses or to such organization or organizations, as said Court shall determine, which are organized and operated exclusively for such purposes.

(Continued from page 4) Results of Reunion Survey and volunteer to maintain contact with staff from their year and arrange communication, social meetings or events on a smaller scale than the reunion. Finally, each summer will now be dedicated to anniversary years for attendance. This coming year will be; 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2010, if you were on staff during these years, this is the year to attend the reunion if you’d like to reconnect with someone. Anniversary years will also allow you to plan in advance and with others from the same year to attend the reunion well in advance. If you were on staff in 1971, 1981, 1991, 2001 or 2011, we’re looking forward to seeing you next July. Not that you are not welcome at every reunion. If you are interested in helping with out with organizing and getting in touch with staff members from your year, please contact me. All Thanks, Woody.


"RIVER DRIV-ERS NOW,” pro-claimed a headline in the Bangor Daily Commercial on April 4, 1910. It de-clared, “Thousands of Men Will Soon Be at Work on Maine Rivers and Streams; Crews Going Up Now.” The annual spring migration back to the woods through Bangor had begun. The impact on the Queen City of the East back in those days when logs and schooners com-peted for space in the harbor was tremendous. After the logs were cut and moved to the sides of streams and rivers during the winter in Maine’s North Woods, hundreds of loggers headed for the Queen City to hole up in boardinghouses and to spend their money on bootleg liquor, women and perhaps a new set of clothes. When the ice cleared out in the spring, many of them returned to the woods to work on the drives. River drivers were the most skilled — and the most ro-manticized — of all the woodsmen. They were “the knights of the cant-dog,” proclaimed one bard. Employ-ment ads sometimes offered them “Klondike wages.” Only the best men were hired. The job was dangerous. And as the reporter for the Commercial on that April day a century ago concluded, life on the skids in Bangor waiting for the drives to begin was a bit less enticing than the image conveyed in story and song. “During April, May and June between 3,000 and 4,000 men will be engaged in bringing the logs down the rivers and streams of eastern Maine and most of them will be [hired] in Bangor and shipped from this city to the points where the drives start,” said the Com-mercial reporter. “Almost every day now crews are seen leaving the Union Station, and the men who have been at work in the woods all winter and who have had a little breathing spell in town, are off again to bring the logs down to the booms. Monday morning 75 men left for Moosehead Lake and this is a small shipment compared to some that will be made this week.”

The author of this detailed story offered a list of places where the crews were going that spring. E. Sawyer Jr. had started his drives at Katahdin Iron Works that morn-ing, while the men for the drives around Enfield and Costigan belonging to L.J. Butterfield had also left on the train. By the end of the next week al-

most all the drives in Maine waters would begin. “On the North and South branches of the West branch [of the Penobscot River] about 500 men are employed. On Rus-sell stream, 200; Elm stream, 75; Scott brook, 100; Ragged Stream, 150; Farrar brook, 10; Lobster lake, 50; Cuxabexis, 50; Chamberlain lake, 100; Harrington brook, 100; Sourdahunk, 100; Trout brook, 200; Hay brook, 200; Little Sebois, 100; Thorn brook, 150; the McNulty drives, 400; Sawyer drives, 150; Pleasant River Lumber Co., 50. “These are not all but they show in part something of the way in which the driving crews are distributed,” wrote the reporter. Left unsaid was his expectation that the reader would know the location of all these back-woods water corridors as well as the names McNulty, Sawyer and the other lumbermen who played such an important role in the area’s economy. Besides Maine na-tives, many Canadians would be joining the drives. “It is expected that within the next day or two many good river drivers will come into Bangor from the maritime provinces of Canada,” said the Commercial reporter. “They might find employment on the rivers at home, but the drives are shorter there, and all things considered they believe they are better off in Maine.” In the same vein, dozens of Bangor men — mostly “young rovers” — were off to the drives on the Con-necticut River and other watery thoroughfares out of state where they imagined they would find a bit of ad-venture and perhaps better pay and working conditions.

Logging Days (Continued on page 7)

Spring a Reminder of Bangor's Logging Days By Wayne Reilly

From the Bangor Daily News - Special to the NEWS


(Continued from page 6) Logging Days Most of the men hanging around Bangor were broke by now. “The men are transported to their work at the ex-pense of the employer, and according to some of the drivers interviewed Monday most of them have not one cent to their names when they go to the drives, although they have recently come out of the woods with a consid-erable bank roll,” wrote the reporter. If the men had no caulk-sole boots, the company pro-vided them at $5 or $6 a pair, but not before they had been on the job for a day or two so they wouldn’t be tempted to quit work before the boots were put to use on slippery logs. Some springs the agencies were bothered by “skippers,” who jumped off the trains before they ar-rived in camp, taking whatever the employer had pro-vided with them. With its trains and harbor and its active economy, the Queen City was an employment hub and a hobo haven that attracted many immigrants flooding in from Europe as well as farm boys and girls looking for city jobs. The presence of so many transients — especially sailors and construction workers as well as loggers — had a great impact. Reformers were trying to get officials to enforce liquor and prostitution laws and to shut down boarding houses where immoral activity was conducted. The Sal-vation Army was trying to raise enough money to build a workingmen’s hotel for men who were broke, or who wanted a bed and some Christian fellowship. “The cheaper boarding houses of the city are now filled to their capacity with the returned woodsmen waiting the opportunity to go on the drive. Many of the men now waiting are out of funds and ... spend the nights in any out of the way corner they can find, and it is not unusual to find a dozen or more of them snuggled down in a cor-ner of an old shed,” reported the Commercial. How enjoyable was this life? “Their life is unique, the life of these carefree, responsibility-shunning woodsmen and river drivers ... . That they are ready and willing to work is evident to one who steps to the entrance of one of the large [employment] agencies and finds the place so filled with humanity that he meets difficulty in squeezing through from the door to the desk at the rear. It is evident enough to the observer, that the existence of the hero of the many Maine river songs is not an ultra poetic existence after all,” concluded the reporter. An illustrated collection of Wayne E. Reilly’s columns titled “Remembering Bangor: The Queen City Before the Great Fire” is available at bookstores. Comments about this column can be sent to him at [email protected].

Pictures from May 23 Work Weekend at Matagamon Base

Don Hanson and Millard Davis painting the roof of the Main Building or "The House".

Cindy Davis and Drew Lord working in the Kitchen

Anne Chase and Danny Albert converse in the kitchen.

Maine High Adventure Staff Association 402 Metcalf Road Winthrop, ME 04364


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