Student shines light on obscure missionary
Frank Higgins, known as the lumberjacks sky pilot, was an obscure turn-of-the-century missionary who targeted the rough and tumble world of logging in Northern Minnesota.
Higgins worked tirelessly to try to convert lumberjacks to Christianity and preached to 30,000 men of the dangers of prostitution and alcohol.
But few today would know of his efforts if it werent for Blake Longacre, 17, of the Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield, Minn., who was seeking a subject for his one-man presentation at the annual Minnesota History Day competition.
When Longacre discovered Higgins, he became obsessed with the man and his mission. Intrigued by references he discovered about Higgins challenging line of work, Longacre began poring through records at the Forest History Center in Grand Rapids and at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul to thoroughly research the missionarys life.
The result: a 10-minute dramatic presentation that won first place in its category at the state level this spring.
As a result, he repeated his performance last week at the national U.S. History Day competition in Washington, D.C. on June 14-19.
During his presentation, Longacre recounted Higgins challenges and accomplishments with a dramatic flair. He told stories of successes and failures, wove in statistics and sang a song or two to tell the missionarys story.
In real life, Longacre is a lover of history, nature and drama. At Holy Angels, he is in the drama program, plays basketball and was junior-class president.
According to Longacre, at the height of logging operations in the early 1900s, Higgins traveled a circuit of lumber camps in northern Minnesota that drew immigrants from Europe and citizens from the East. Higgins had two concerns: the clear-cutting of virgin forests and the sordid conditions of the camps and their nearby towns.
There was no chance for privacy or cleanliness, Longacre says in his presentation as he portrays Higgins in full costume. In one scene that demonstrates living conditions, Higgins walks through a remote camp and sees two men placing bets on a cockroach fight.
Safety issues were a concern, too, as the preacher worries about the piles of logs rushing down river and hanging up at tight turns in the watery passageways. Some of the men called those piles of logs widow makers or dam breakers, Longacre says in his presentation.
But the lumberjacks, desperate for work and income, were grateful for the tough labor that logging required. Although lumberjacks made only $1.50 a day, the logging managers always had plenty of men begging for work, the student noted.
In Higgins view, the men were especially endangered by whiskey and prostitution and the preacher railed against both. At the height of logging operations, Higgins estimated there were more than 60 saloons and brothels in Bemidji.
His goal was to keep his men out of all of them. Higgins wanted to see drunks become good men, and according to Longacres research, he experienced plenty of those desperate conversions.
One evening, for example, he was telling the biblical story of the prodigal son. Afterward, Higgins told the audience in the packed house, Your father loves you. Suddenly a man jumped from the rafters and landed in front of Higgins makeshift pulpit. My father beat the hell out of me, the lumberjack told Higgins. He dont love me.
John, Higgins addressed the man, your father in heaven loves you. The man crumpled at Higgins feet and later joined the evangelist on his lumber camp circuit.
Higgins began his gospel campaign in 1895 and continued until 1911 when his health began to fail because of the long dog-sledding and walking tours of the northern frontier.
He then went to cities in the eastern United States, where he spoke to more sophisticated audiences about the vile conditions of the camps and the clear-cutting of the forests, which left seas of stumps and caused horrendous fires such as the disastrous 1894 Hinckley fire.
Clark D. Morphew
6-21-97
