Ridge Runner

Many a man lived a fulfilling life in the Maine woods back in the old days, but most of their stories were forgotten over the years.  Sure, there were some prolific writers who recorded their comings and goings in books we read today, but what about the old timers who didn’t keep records or diaries? Most had stories that have been forgotten over time, but some, like Gerald Averill, used their last days on earth to record many of their memories and stories that continue to entertain us today.

Ridge Runner, The Story of a Maine Woodsman, is a recollection of Gerald Averill’s life in the Maine woods. From a childhood in coastal Maine to life and employment in the lumber camps and finally a career as a Maine game warden, Averill’s experiences make for quite an interesting read.

 Born in a small village along the Penobscot River in the late 1800’s, Averill always had a longing to be outdoors. His somewhat rough childhood was tempered by a good-humored grandfather who encouraged him to hunt, fish and explore the outdoors.

 Gerald’s description of his grandfather in the book is pure gold – something you couldn’t make up. The first three and a half pages of the book take the reader through the motions of Averill’s grandfather lighting his pipe, and the descriptive quality of the writing is literary genius. It’s too bad Gerald didn’t write more, because he sure had a knack for it. “My grandfather was very uneasy when at our house. There was no place to spit and he was known as a very free spitter”. That pretty much sums up the man who taught Averill the outdoors. The story of the goose hunt with the Greener Gun is also classic.

When it was time to choose a career, a young Averill wanted nothing more than to be in the woods, so he signed on as a timekeeper with the Great Northern company up in the logging camps. In just a few years, he amassed a pile of experiences and stories. Averill worked in the camps in the Katahdin region during the early 1900’s. Many folks don’t realize the history of timbering in this picturesque, mountainous part of the state, but Ridge Runner shares some stories of the area.

Tales of the log drives, highs and lows in Bangor after the drive, abandoned logging camps, camp cooks, and hunting and fishing in the woods of Maine during those early years round out a good portion of the book.

All good things must come to an end, and when Averill returned to the woods after serving during World War I, the job just wasn’t the same. He took an office job with the Company in Bangor, but that wasn’t for the Ridge Runner either. So after a time, Averill found himself a newly minted game warden with the State of Maine. It was a career that fulfilled his need to be in the woods and combined it with his desire to protect and enhance fish and game in the state.

Averill served as a game warden for more than a decade beginning in 1933. He was stationed far and wide, including working in Ellsworth, Enfield (where he holed up one winter in a fishing camp near the Enfield Fish Hatchery), Rockland, North Berwick and Limerick. Though he describes some aspects of warden work that are surprisingly similar to today, overall the job was quite different back then. Averill spent most of his time checking hunters, anglers and trappers, and helping deer make it through the winter.

Gerald Averill became sick in 1944 and spent the following year writing the book that would become Ridge Runner. He died of cancer in 1946 and the book was published in 1948. Copies of Ridge Runner are quite common and can be found online or in Maine bookstores or libraries. A second printing was run in 1979, with an introduction written by Gerald’s son. Though he wrote stories for several national magazines, Ridge Runner was Averill’s only book. He lived a great life and I’m glad he shared some of it with us through his book.