Ira VanBibber

     Ira VanBibber was born on 15 May 1877 at West Virginia. He was the son of John Campbell Robinson VanBibber and Catherine Malinda Taylor. Ira VanBibber married Eliza Jackson, daughter of Chief Jackson and Alice Conone, circa 1908. Ira VanBibber died in 1965 at Pelly Crossing, Yukon Territory, Canada, at age 87 years.
     From Gary R. Hawpe, ed. and Dave Brown, comp., 'Letter From Ira VanBibber,' Van Bibber Pioneers E-Newsletter, Vol. 5 No. 5 (March 2002), p. 8.

LETTER FROM IRA VAN BIBBER

Thought you might be interested in this letter which I received from Ira Van Bibber when I was nine years old. I had been persuaded to write to him by my mother. I had been very fascinated by his stories of the Yukon during a visit he made to us with his brother Peters (Pat) and their friend, Stanley Williams who might have been a relative. We went canoeing and fishing during that visit.

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Selkirk Y. T.
Feb 8. 1933

Dear old Buster

Well Buster We received your letter last night and oh how very glad we were to hear from you and to know you are all well. We are all well except for Helen. She is in the Hospital in Dawson. She hasn't been well this winter and we are very uneasy about her. Jim is fine and has been very strong all winter. Now Buster about that little girl. Her papa doesn't know any thing about money so you had better pay for her with blankets traps beads Silk handkerchief Silver fox skins Martin skins and rabbit skins. You can beg your mother to give you the blankets and get your cousin Jim to help you catch the skins and in that way she will cost you less than to pay cash. You can give your cousin Jim what money you have on hand to buy himself a white girl. A white girl is plenty good enough for him but you are a very good little boy. You must have a nice little Indian girl and oh what pretty bead moccosins she will make for you. I will help you all I can and take you out and help you shoot down some big fat moose so you will have plenty to eat. I will give you a dog team and plenty of dry fish and meat to feed them. Now Buster you must let me know when you are coming so I can have a big pot of meat cooking and some nice fat moose ribs in thawing for the next feed. You will be very hungry after your long trip and when it is cold we will sit around the fire and eat fat meat and tell stories until the weather turns warm. Oh won't we have a good time. We have had some very cold weather since wrote to you 70 below. We have had the coldest winter I have ever saw since I have been in the north. Well Buster kiss Your grandmother, father, mother and Betty for me. Tell them I will come to see them some day. Tell your granmother how I love her and think of her so often. Be a good boy Buster until I see you.

Good by Buster for this time with love to all
From uncle
'Ira Van Bibber'

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This letter came to this nine year old by means of dog team, river boat, ocean liner to Seattle, and then by train to Minnesota. It took over two months. I learned a lot from his letters and even more from his subsequent visit when I was about twelve. Things like walking with my toes straight in front of me rather than the toes pointed out, like a white man. Like the things he had to do to be initiated so that he could marry his wife, a chief's daughter. And to practice thinning my lips, like what he did when he was my age and had thick lips, too. He was a fascinating man.
AN ALASKAN TREK

By Bob Kelly

The principal objective of our Northland trip was to visit with Ira Van Bibber, who for years had been urging Fred, his kinsman, to come to the Yukon. The wilderness squire lives in a comfortable house on the southwest or left bank of the Pelly River, 40 miles above Fort Selkirk, Y.T., where the Pelly joins the Lewes to form the mighty Yukon. He is a hunter and trapper par excellence. He was born and reared in Nicholas County, West Virginia, in a respected farm family. In the 1898 gold rush he went to Alaska and the Yukon, but he never really contracted gold fever. Rather, he became enamored by the wilderness and decided to make his home in the wilds of the Yukon.

For the subsequent half century he has lived in the Yukon, returning to West Virginia once for a short visit. He has prospered and is known most favorably thorough the length and breadth of the Yukon as one of its outstanding citizens. The three commodities of the Yukon are gold, wood and fur. He has worked almost exclusively with the latter.

Van Bibber selected as the most desirable parts of the Yukon the valleys of the Nahanni and the Liard, which are tributaries of the McKenzie, and the Stewart and the Pelly, which sell the Yukon. He trapped and hunted throughout these watersheds. After many years on the trap lines with a partner or alone, he took as his wife an Indian maiden of the Tatlmain Tribe. They have reared fifteen children and are as happy in the afternoon of their lives as any devoted couple could well be.

The children are all intelligent and their education is surprisingly advanced. Most of them were sent to school at Dawson, more than 200 miles away. Half of the children--and a few grandchildren--may be found at home while the others are engaged in pursuits elsewhere.

On the banks of the Pelly, at the mouth of Mica Creek, they have established their homestead consisting of a commodious and comfortable two-story log house with a number of accessory buildings, in some of which they have comfortable quarters for guest. They have a garden in which they grow potatoes, cabbage and such other vegetables as will mature in the short but intense growing season of the far north.

In spite of their isolation, which Ira prizes so highly, the family is well supplied with store food and products of city factories. Freight comes from Whitehorse by Yukon steamboat to Selkirk, from where the Van Bibber boys transport it up the Pelly in their outboard "johnboat" or their large cabin boat. They keep in touch with the "settlements" by periodicals and correspondence, supplemented by battery radian. They get their mail in summer by boat and in winter by making dog team trips to Selkirk as such times as they find convenient.

The Pelly Valley extends more than 500 miles form the Yukon to the McKenzie divide. On the length of this watershed there is one other permanent white resident, who is Van Gorder, a former trapping partner of Van Bibber. A hundred or so Indians make this region their home. One evening Van Bibber was describing the charms of the Stewart River region and we asked him why he didn't settle there. He replied, "It was getting to dammed crowded---there must have been a dozen people moved in."

Until his semi-retirement, Van Bibber was constantly on the trap line or in the bush. He knows the Yukon Territory as a farmer knows his lands. He has associated with most of the old timers in the territory and with most of the famous visitors of bygone days, such as Selous, Horniday, Sheldon and others. His knowledge of things pertaining to nature is almost equaled by his grasp of the affairs of the world. His philosophy provides complete satisfaction with his place in the world and he regards city dwellers as the most foolish of men.

The summer climate on the Pelly is most pleasant with warm days, cold nights and not much rainfall. The mosquitoes sometimes are annoying but it is not too hard to learn how to combat them. During June there is not darkness and almost no twilight. Beautiful sunsets between ten and eleven o'clock are followed by sunrises about two o'clock. Probably by climbing to the summit of one of the nearby MacMillan mountains one might see the midnight sun on June 21. On midnight of that day, even though the sky was cloudy, we held a shooting match and made creditable scores. And we successfully photographed the participants and the surrounding landscape on both still and movie film.

The livelihood of the prosperous Van Bibber family depends largely on furs. Everyone in the family, excepting the squire, runs a trap line. The mother pre-empts the territory surrounding the house while the girls extend their lines out a score of miles. The boys trap at greater distances, some of them going far within the Artic Circle and approaching the Artic Ocean. In connection with their fur business, they of course must all have dog teams. During the summer there are more than 30 dogs at the house, each of which weights in excess of 100 pounds. The dogs are an absolute necessity in the wintertime. In the summer they may be used for carrying packs and even plowing.

Van Bibber delights in nothing so much as to visit with friends. But he does not like to leave his home. When he came to Selkirk with us to see us off on our homeward journey, he visited this village for the first time in two years. Visitors at his home are always welcome and doubly so because of his over of conversation. He has a never-ending store of tales of the trap line and the hunt. Moose dominate his stories as they dominate the life in the Yukon bush. Next priority I his tales are bears.

In the Yukon moose have always been plentiful and their numbers have varied with cycles. Van Bibber says that the moose in his region started dying a dozen or more years ago from both external and internal infections. He and his Indian friends found a number of dead and dying moose and shot moose that were unfit for consumption. They are slowly make a recovery but have not reached their former numbers. He contends that the gun has been a small factor in determining the moose population in the Yukon where the total human population is only about 5,000. Generally speaking, the moose have moved back from the rivers, which are the main avenues of travel by trappers and Indians.

The moose is of first importance to the Yukon native, white or Indian. His meat, fresh or smoked, is chief item of diet. To the trapper, sometimes for months on end it is almost the sole diet. And an energy-giving healthy food it is. Almost as important is the moose hide. From it the women prepare a soft leather with which to make moccasins and other items of clothing. They tan the hide in solutions prepared from the brains of the moose and by smoking; then they repeatedly wash and work and scrape until the skin is as soft as the finest wool. In sewing moose hide they use moose sinew. Rawhides strips are used for many purposes and are cut very fine into babish for snowshoe lacing.

Van Bibber has probably killed a thousand moose. For many years he averaged about 25 annually. But he says that not a pound of the meat was wasted. When on the trap line the moose meat would be cached for future subsistence of man and dog and surplus meat would be taken to the settlements for the folks living there. In recent years the favorite rifle of Van Bibber and his acquaintances has been the 30-06 with the 108 grain ball. None of them claim that a moose can usually be killed with one shot by even the most careful and expert hunter. Moose are not generally "called" in the Yukon but they use a method of scraping a bone (the shoulder blade of a moose) on trees and bushes which frequently brings a bull grunting and snorting.

The Van Bibbers, like other natives, make use of the abundant fish in the rivers. Nearly every family keeps set a number of gill nets.

They catch whitefish, ling cod, suckers, northern pike and inconnu. The pike and inconnu, or shee-fish, will take a plug or spinner, the latter being a beautiful silvery fish with sporting qualities. Usually the whitefish are cleaned and dried for later use on the table while the other fish are used for dog food.

Van Bibber makes use of his vast store of knowledge of the wilderness to arrange hunting trips for big game hunters. He does the planning, arranging and outfitting while his sons, all expert guides, take the hunters a field. They hunt in the MacMillian Mountains and in the other environment of the Pelly and MacMillian Rivers where they find moose, sheep, caribou and both black and grizzly bears. Without going too far, they find goat.

Ira Van Bibber's hunting stories are the most interesting that we had ever heard. They would fill volumes with their intimate details of wild life and the wilderness existence of Indians and white pioneers. He has found a way of life that satisfies him and might well be the envy of his fellow West Virginians who are tied to the complexities of present day life. Certain it is that no man who is interested in the outdoors could well resist the attractions of a visit at this remarkable wilderness home.

We left this land with a feeing of regret that was mixed with the appreciation of an opportunity to have shared in its gifts. We wanted to tell everyone who would go to Alaska and the Yukon that a wonderful experience awaits them---that they would find there a land of charm and beauty---a final frontier that will resist settlement---a land best fitted for wildlife and that will refuse to be subdued. But the enthusiast is apt to mislead the visitor and to cause expectation to surpass realization. The travel circulars of the airlines and the magazine kodachromes show only a fraction of the North country. It is true that the tourist lanes are sufficiently comfortable for all the most demanding. But "back of beyound" may be regarded as somewhat of a man's world. Game and fish there are, doubtless in abundance. But in most instances their taking---by rod or gun or camera---requires some effort. Few would have it otherwise.

It is a land of strange contrast---of privation and plenty, of frontiersmen and philosophers, of wilderness and getility, of violence and tranquility. Its outstanding attribute that generates such fierce loyalty in its people is an intangible that fosters a feeling of freedom. It is a last frontier in more respects than one. It is probably the lone place on this complex globe where most men regard themselves as independent individuals---as free men. May it always so remain!

West Virginia Hills & Streams -- December 1947 -- Pages #12 & 13. The Family of: Ira VanBibber and Eliza Jackson

Surname Van Bibber
Submitted by
Bev Gillihan (bgill2)
Date submitted Aug 19, 2005      
Contact me!
IDENTIFICATION:
Peter VanBibber and Marguery Bounds
Matthias VanBibber and Margaret Robinson
David Campbell Robinson VanBibber and Jane Ann Williams
John Campbell Robinson VanBibber and Catherine Malinda Taylor
Ira VanBibber and Eliza Jackson

At Mica Creek, on the bank of the Pelly River in Canada's south-central Yukon Territory, stands the old two-story log home of Ira and Eliza Van Bibber. Eight of Eliza's 16 babies were born there.

Now the big house is silent. Only one of the children, Theodore, the youngest lives there during the winter. Eliza sits alone by her window overlooking the Pelly, watching the deep, swift waters of the wide river slip by, as the many years of her life have slipped by. During warm summer days, she often sits outside, even closer to the river, on the seat from an overland stage sleigh which once was hauled by horses over the winter trail from Whitehorse to Dawson City. Even when the river is frozen by winter, she sits inside her snug home for hours, gazing upon the Pelly and remembering. Always she remains unperturbed, like a serene island in the midst of the ever-changing river.

Eliza is a Tlingit Indian of the Crow clan, granddaughter of Chief Conone of the Taku Tlingits in the Juneau area. Eliza's mother, Alice, daughter of Chief Conone, was one of the five wives of Chief Jackson, Eliza's father. Because another wife was jealous of Alice and threatened to kill her, Alice left Chief Jackson before baby Eliza was born, and joined other Indians making a long trek over to the Yukon River.

Eliza was born in the Aishihik Lake area, probably in the early 1880's. There is no written record of her birth, but her family believes she is over 90. It was years after her birth that she and her mother registered in the white man's records and were given the names Alice and Eliza.

When they came to Fort Selkirk, near the mouth of the Pelly River, there were no white men around the deserted site of the trading post, which had been sacked by the Chilkat Indians by 1852 and abandoned by the Hudson's Bay Company.

In the nomadic way of the Tlingit people, she roamed widely with her mother and her stepfather, and later her half-brothers and sister, Susie, Peter and John. Through the Yukon and Pelly watersheds they hunted, fished and picked berries.

On one trek, when Eliza was very young, her family traveled up the Stewart River, then crossed over onto the Pelly. Eliza recalls that they were camped above Granite Canyon on their way down the Pelly, when she saw a white man for the first time. The little girl was deeply impressed by the stranger's unfamiliar language and the pale color of his skin. That first encounter with white people remains vivid in her memory.

After Alice's second husband died, she married Copper Joe, from Copper City on the Yukon River below Fort Selkirk, but they had no children. They lived mainly around Coffee Creek, where Alice died about 1921.

When Eliza was a young girl, she accompanied her mother and step-father to the Aishihik area to attend a potlatch, where, according to custom, her marriage was arranged. Eliza didn't wish to marry the man her parents had chosen. She slipped out of camp early one morning and returned with her uncle to the area of old Fort Selkirk. Several years later, she met and married Ira Van Bibber.

Ira and two of his brothers, Theodore and Pat, had left Chehalis, Washington, to join the stampede to the Klondike in 1898. There were originally from West Virginia.

After spending some time on the gold creeks, Ira and sourdough musher Tom Hebert hauled mail by dog team on the Yukon River between Whitehorse and Dawson City. Later Ira trapped and prospected in the Selkirk area and spent several years on the upper Pelly. In the early 1900's he met Eliza at Selkirk, and that was the beginning of their long adventure-filled life together.

Around 1908, Ira, Eliza and their baby, Leta, traveled to the headwaters of the Pelly and Ross rivers, then crossed the rugged MacKenzie Mountains to the head of the wild, little-known South Nahanni. With Eliza's cousin, Tommy Joe, they spent three years trapping and prospecting on the Nahanni. Their daughter May was born there above the spectacular, higher-than-Niagara, Virginia Falls.

Returning from the South Nahanni in 1911, Ira and Eliza settled on the bank of the Pelly at Mica Creek, about 40 miles above the Pelly's mouth. Here Ira built the big log house in which they raised their family, and trapped, fished and hunted in the Pelly and MacMillan watersheds, where Ira operated a big game guiding business. Van Bibber became a respected name throughout the Territory.

Eliza bore none of her 16 babies in a hospital. Some were born on traplines, some at hunting or fishing camps. Ira assisted at most of the births, and elder daughters Leta and May helped deliver the younger ones. Their first son, Abraham, was born near the head of Ross River, on the long trip back from the Nahanni. Dan was born at Tatimain Lake, and Archie at Beaver Lake. Alex, Helen and a stillborn baby were delivered at Mica Creek, and then John ("J.J.") entered the world at Russell Creek, below the forks of the MacMillan River. Pat was born at Mica Creek, and Kathleen at Selkirk. George arrived at Pelly Crossing, where the Van Bibbers lived for a time. Lucy, Linch, a baby who died at birth and "Dode" (Theodore) were born at the Mica Creek homestead.

Twelve of Eliza's children are still living, 11 of them in the Yukon. All the Van Bibber family have contributed greatly to the development of the Yukon; their exploits and remarkable experiences are both legion and legendary. Alex, for example, is highly regarded as a big game guide and outfitter and as a dog musher in the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous Races. Lucy and Linch are well-known artists. "Dode" -- who lives with his mother during the winter -- mans a fire lookout tower near Whitehorse in the summer, and despite severe disabilities caused by a crippling disease, is known to have the keenest eyes in the forestry service.

The eldest son, Abe, died in the Northwest Territories about 1933, after traveling from Mayo to Great Bear Lake by dog team during the Eldorado uranium stampede. He drowned while running a net to catch fish for his dogs. Helen died at 14, after contracting tuberculosis in Dawson, where she was attending school.

Across Mica Creek, on a high hill overlooking the valley, their father, Ira, also sleeps, in the undisturbed peace of the Pelly.

Eliza is adored by her numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Although her fine brown features are etched with lines of hardship and sorrow, her twinkling eyes and beaming smile reveal a quick wit and cheerful nature. Despite her dignified bearing, she is friendly and enjoys a joke immensely.

Less than five feet tall, Eliza could stand beneath her husband's out-stretched arm without touching it. Ira always called her "Short," a nickname still used by her many friends, who agree that in stamina, courage and patience, she is a giant. It would take a remarkable person to walk in the petite prints of her wandering moccasins!

Her ties with the past and with the traditions of her Tlingit people and the Crow clan are strong. With obvious pride, she recalls her ancestral background and Tlingit legends, these memories mingling with those of her personal life.

As Eliza watches the Pelly flow by, she recalls trading posts, stampeders, steamboats and settlements that have vanished. She remembers traveling along the river with pack dogs, poling boats, rafts, sleds. Now she sees vehicles speeding along the Klondike Highway through what used to be wilderness. Cars, campers and huge ore trucks roll down a long hill and over a bridge about a mile from her door. But except for a handful of adventurers each summer, the 460-mile river itself is deserted.

Both Eliza and her river have seen many changes. There is sadness hidden deep in the brown eyes that watch the waters rush by. But like the everlasting Pelly, Eliza's memories live on for her, as she will always live in its legends.

ALASKA/magazine of life on the last frontier -- September 1973. Pages 22, 23 & 52.
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1901 CENSUS OF CANADA (YUKON)
The Territories, Unorganized Territories, Selkirk (Yukon), f- 78.

HH #
Jackson (Chief) M I Head M 55 Yukon Trapper & Hunter Chief of Tribe
Ellen Wife F " Wife M 45 do
Arthur (Harper) M " Son S 22 do
Emma F " Dau S 12 do
Note: Chief Jackson was the father of Eliza Jackson who married Ira Van Bibber.
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Peter VanBibber, Jr. and Marguery Bounds
Matthias VanBibber and Margaret Robinson
David Campbell Robinson VanBibber and
Jane Ann Williams
John Campbell Robinson VanBibber and Catherine Malinda Taylor
~Ira VanBibber~

Date of Birth: May 24, 1876
Name of Child: Ira VanBibber
White/Colored: White
Male/Female: Male
Alive/Dead: Alive
Place of Birth: Nicholas County
Father's Name: Jackson VanBibber
Mother's Name: Malinda C. VanBibber
Name of Person Giving Information: Malinda C. VanBibber
Relation of Informant: Mother
Nicholas County, West Virginia Birth Book (1855-1904)
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