Putting Jack Miner back on the world map

Hope for return to glory years

By Mark Ribble

KINGSVILLE — The Jack Miner Migratory Bird Foundation is looking toward the future and Director of Marketing and Fundraising, Tim Dobson, wants to bring back the glory years.

“People can’t imagine the history that’s in this place,” he said. “Jack was known the world over.”

Dobson doesn’t have to go far to show Miner’s place in history or the popularity of the bird sanctuary which he opened in 1904.

Hundreds of pictures, articles and paintings adorn the property on Road 3 west of Kingsville, many tucked neatly away for posterity.

“We want to get people coming back to Jack Miner’s,” said Dobson. “If not to see the geese, to see the history here.”

Dobson’s vision of the future includes a large state-of-the-art museum with interactive displays and space for all of Miner’s artifacts, books and possessions.

The current museum, a small two-storey building behind the Miner home, has some displays on the lower floor, but the upper floor currently acts as a storage facility.

The home, museum, feeding pond and other buildings sit on 420 total acres of land owned by the foundation, and Dobson is eager to fill those acres with tourists.

Ty Cobb and Jack Miner.

The foundation runs on an annual budget of $500,000, which is generated through donations and fundraisers.

Kennedy Woods, a familiar hiking spot for many locals, contains over six kilometres of trails, with picnic tables spaced throughout the woods for hikers to stop and rest.

The trails meander through the vast forest on the south side of Road 3 and it would be normal to see old abandoned farm implements with trees growing out of them.

It’s that type of display that Dobson sees as potential for tourism. After all, this was Jack Miner’s boyhood outdoor classroom. He envisions a goose-themed playground as part of the future of Kennedy Woods.

Dobson is able to tell dozens of stories about Jack Miner’s close relationships with Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Detroit Tigers great Ty Cobb.

Cobb, in particular, shows up in many of Miner’s photographs and memorabilia. The two were hunting buddies and Miner’s affection for the baseball star is evident when you visit Ty Cobb Field, directly east of the homestead, and even when you enter the home itself. Cobb had his own room upstairs, which is still arranged the way Cobb liked it.

Farm implements have grown into the trees over the years in Kennedy Woods.

Henry Ford was a close friend and had the iconic brick and iron fence built around the main property in 1929, paying local labourers four-times the going rate to erect the fence. That fence was recently replaced and upgraded by the foundation.

Locally, Miner was known as ‘Uncle Jack’ and when he passed away suddenly in 1944, he had thousands of speaking engagements that went unfulfilled. Well over 15,000 people attended his funeral.

Next week, the foundation will be holding a fundraising game dinner.

The dinner had been postponed once already from April.

The game dinner will be held on July 17, with curbside pickup from 5-7 p.m. Tickets are $30 and the menu includes water buffalo, pheasant, venison, pickerel, coleslaw potatoes and more. Anyone who purchased tickets for the original event can rest assured that those tickets will be honoured for the new date. A live band will play in the gazebo, so Dobson invites diners to eat in their car and listen to the music. Call 519-733-4034 for ticket information.

As recently as four decades ago, the Jack Miner Bird Sanctuary was the number two attraction in Canada behind Niagara Falls, with thousands of people arriving each year to view the migrating wild geese. There are photos of cars parked along Road 3 from Division Road almost out to the Arner Townline, during migration season.

Jack Miner was born in Dover Centre, Ohio, in 1865 and was one of 10 children. From a young age he was interested in hunting and trapping — often skipping school to follow his outdoor dreams.

Tim Dobson posing with Jack Miner’s famous plaid coat inside the Miner home.

In 1878, the Miner family moved to Canada, settling on Road 3, and Jack worked his fingers to the bone in the family brickyard and opted to spend time in the woods instead of attending school.

After his brother Ted was killed in a hunting accident in 1898, Jack Miner decided that it was time to forego the carefree life and give back to the world.

So at 39 years of age, in 1904, he bought seven clipped Canada geese and took them to his pond, hoping to attract other geese.

Jack Miner at the pond feeding the waterfowl.

Photo courtesy of the Jack Miner Migratory Bird Foundation.

The Jack Miner Bird Sanctuary was born, and his conservation efforts were soon renowned the world over. In 1909, Jack banded his first mallard duck and the rest, as they say, is history.

And the history is what Tim Dobson is hoping to capture and appeal to the generations to come.

“Most people that are now in their fifties have seen the sanctuary, or at least know a little bit about it,” he said. “The kids don’t come here as much anymore and we need to change that.”

He hopes to appeal to some of the large benefactors in the area to help realize this dream.

Dobson is on a mission, along with the rest of the foundation board, to put Jack Miner Bird Sanctuary back on the map, where it so rightly belongs.

More information on the annual events, the foundation or to donate, visit www.jackminer.ca.