“Jack the Horse” and the Rest of the Story

6.18.2023 [archived ~ originally published 12.1.2016]

** I am posting this article because it is about the lumberjack known as ‘Jack the Horse’ McDonald. It is a different last name than the man referenced as Jack the Horse in the 1935 newspaper article which I posted last Sunday!

Illustration by Van Lawrence accompanied the article “Lumberjacks I Have Known” Reflections of a Timber Cruiser written by Jerry Vessels ~ Minnesota Conservation Magazine (March 1942)

John Duncan “Jack” McDonald was born in Canada in 1863, and if he hadn’t found himself in an awful predicament on an Itasca County Lake at the turn of the century, he would have been just another one of the hundreds of men who flocked to the north woods each winter to harvest timber.  And if things had gone differently on that lake, there would be nothing more to say.

In the winter of 1899, Jack was no longer a young man, but he was strong and could think on his feet.  Both good characteristics for a lumberjack.  In the winter, they worked in dangerous conditions.  Below zero temperatures, falling trees, fading light and extremely heavy loads of cut timber.  Each lumberjack was an expert at what he did and expected the same from the others.  Teamsters had the additional responsibility of their horses and at the end of the day, made sure the four legged creatures needs were met before their own.  And the horses depended on the teamsters, sometimes more than they could ever imagine.    

A few lumberjacks got nicknames for things they did or didn’t do.  Jack McDonald was one of them.  In fact, his nickname, “Jack the Horse,” was also given to a lake in Itasca County and to a restaurant in New York.  But there is more to Jack McDonald than the legendary name.  So much, in fact, it will take two articles to tell you about Jack and his family.

While researching this piece, I became acquainted with a great-great nephew of Jack McDonald.  Colin and his wife Donna who live in British Columbia, Canada provided some facts, and just enough other pieces of information to keep me digging deeper.  But first, the story.  If you are like me, you grew up hearing that Jack the Horse was a man who put on a yoke and pulled a loaded wagon like a horse – hence Jack the Horse which then became the name of a lake, resort and the road we took to get to my grandparent’s cabin.

Searching for more details and a definitive source to this story eventually led me to an article in the March, 1942 issue of the Minnesota Conservation Volunteer Magazine.  The article, “Lumberjacks I Have Known” Reflections of a Timber Cruiser was written by Jerry Vessels and based on his interview with Mike Guthrie.

Mike was a senior state forest appraiser at Deer River at the time, and had been in the forestry business for close to 30 years.  Mike stated that though he “didn’t have a hankering to write,” he had kept a small book where he had recorded interesting information about lumberjacks.  It was aptly titled, “Lumberjack Characters I Have Known,” and from it he relayed the following about John “Jack” McDonald:

“There was Jack-the-Horse, a teamster who got his nickname while driving a tote team during the winter of 1899-1900.  One black morning when he was crossing the lake one of his horses broke through the ice.  Jack maneuvered the roll of the sleigh and saved one horse and the load.  Then he slipped into the neckyoke left vacant by the horse that was drowned and toted the supplies back to camp himself.  To this day that lake in Itasca County is known as Jack the Horse Lake.”  Vessels added, “As far as Mike knows, no other lumberjack enjoys a distinction like that.”

His Younger Years as John McDonald

1863 ~ John was born in Kenyon Township, Glengarry County, Ontario.  He was one of five sons and two daughters of Donald Rory and Mary (Cameron) McDonald. John’s parents and grandparents were also born in Ontario but all three generations are listed on the Canadian census as Scottish.  By 1875 Donald Rory moved his family to a farm on the northern side of Lake Ontario.  When the boys became young men, at least three of them were more interested in the woods than in farming.

1881~ John was the first to strike out for the woods, and the only one to leave Canada. Federal census records indicate he came to the United States.  It is unclear as to when he settled in Itasca County as he first appears Minnesota on a census in 1900, but there was plenty of woodland to harvest in the northern portions of Michigan and Wisconsin as he headed west.

1882 ~ Donald and Roderick, brothers of John went north from the family home to a logging camp near French River, Canada.  They were aboard the steamship Asia with about one hundred and twenty other passengers and crew when the ship was caught in a storm on September 14, 1882.  The boat sprang a leak and capsized, causing the deaths of all but two survivors.  The McDonald brothers and several other young men from their village drowned.  The foundering of the Asia is still counted among the worst single disasters in Great Lakes history and a ballad “The Wreck of the Asia” was written and can be found in The Great Canadian Tunebook by Barry Taylor.

And As “Jack the Horse”

1900 ~ Not long after exhibiting his athletic ability on the ice, Jack married Alta Dodge. Originally from the St. Cloud area, she moved north following the death of her young son and a failed marriage.  Jack and Alta lived in Deer River village where he bartended, and did odd jobs when he wasn’t in the woods.  And when he was, Alta worked for the local tailor.

1905 ~ In November the Bigfork Settler reported that “Jack McDonald, in the employ of the Namakin Co., broke his leg last week and was taken to the Grand Rapids hospital Monday.”  Perhaps it was during the lengthy recuperation that Jack and Alta decided to adopt an infant girl, whom they named Lucille.

1908 ~ Jack decides to run for political office and placed the following plain advertisement in the paper: “I hereby announce myself as a candidate for nomination on the Republican ticket for County Commissioner for the 1^st district.  I stand for square dealing in all matters and solicit your support. I have given careful study to the affairs of the county and if the people will confer the honor asked by me it will honestly and thankfully received and it will be my aim to carry on the duties of the office to the best of my ability.  John McDonald, Better known as “Jack The Horse,” Deer River, Minn.” [Itasca News 8-6-1908]

It seems that by the time the election rolled around, Jack had all but dropped his name from the ballot.  Cyrus King, the incumbent was fairly well liked and the newspaper pointed out that “It looks like Jack had merely consented to go ‘on the ballot,’ and no further, for he not only declines to campaign, but has gotten out of sight of it entirely.  The first of this week McDonald went out of the country on a visit and it is generally believed he will not return until after the election.  In thus practically declaring his abandonment of the game McDonald has made a clear field for King.” [Itasca News 10-31-1908] Cyrus M. King was successfully re-elected.

The next couple of years Jack faced several difficulties, and sadly ended with his own untimely death.   On March 25 1913, he was shot and killed by a disgruntled lumberjack at Jones Saloon in Deer River.  

TO BE CONTINUED…