The Allagash and the North Woods

The northern stretch of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway reaches deep into northern Aroostook County, where the river completes its journey to meet the St. John River. Long before modern recreation, this wilderness water corridor moved heavy timber northward with spring freshets, supported by dams and improvements built by 19th-century lumber companies. Lumberman William Cunliffe ran Cunliffe Depot on the river's east bank as a headquarters and supply base until the 1930s, leaving behind the remnants of two Lombard log haulers. Drivers like Sam Jalbert directed crews floating logs downstream, while Jean-Baptiste Jalbert navigated logging towboats out of Michaud Farm, an 1870s settlement that later served as a logging depot and a Waterway ranger station. Travelers on the lower river still encounter Allagash Falls, a historic drop of thirty to forty feet that presented a major obstacle to timber drives and requires a portage today.

Along these shores, homesteads and sporting outposts grew into community touchstones. In Township 15, Range 11 WELS, George and Lucinda Moir settled in the mid-19th century, where Thomas Moir constructed a hay barn around 1874 to sustain woodsmen and river travelers. Nearby, north of Michaud Farm, former game warden and guide Henry Taylor and his wife Alice built three log sporting camps during the 1930s, which the State of Maine preserves today. Upstream at Round Pond in Township 13, Range 12 WELS, Willard Jalbert Sr., known as 'The Old Guide,' built a camp at Windy Point in 1941. By 1965, his family operated camps across Round Pond, Burntland Brook, and Whittaker Brook, welcoming guests whose vintage records now rest at the Acadian Archives at the University of Maine at Fort Kent.

When hydroelectric projects like the proposed Dickey-Lincoln dam threatened to flood the river valley during the 1960s, protection became urgent. The Maine Legislature officially established the waterway in 1966, backed by a voter-approved $1.5 million bond that Aroostook County residents supported by a tally of 21,709 to 19,530. Rather than dismantling traditional camps like Jalbert's on Round Pond, the state acquired and leased them back to maintain shelter, safety, and longstanding traditions. In 1970, the corridor became the first state-administered component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. Today, downriver in Allagash on Dickey Road, the Allagash Historical Society Museum exhibits early farming, river driving, and lumbering tools, preserving the lasting frontier legacy of the North Woods.