Alexander VanBibber

     Alexander VanBibber was born in 1915. He was the son of Ira VanBibber and Eliza Jackson.
     From Gary R. Hawpe, ed. and comp., 'Sportsman of the Year Teaching His Trade,' Van Bibber Pioneers E-Newsletter, Vol. 4 No. 10 (August 2001), pp. 7 - 9.

SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR TEACHING HIS TRADE

Some say Alex VanBibber is the toughest trapper in the whole Yukon. At nearly 80 years of age, he's been trapping here since he was a kid. Now, he's doing his bit to fend off the anti-trapping groups by teaching Yukoners how to use more humane trapping methods. And after being a member of the Yukon Fish and Game Association for 50 years (he signed up in 1946), VanBibber has won the Clay Pugh Memorial Award for sportsman of the year.

'For the past 16 years, people have called for the betterment of trapping,' says the stalky, fit resident of Champagne. 'The industry had been getting pressure from the animal-rights groups, so the government formed the Fur Institute of Canada and chipped in money to use for more humane traps, quick-killing traps. 'It was just to get the anti-trapping people off our backs but you can tell the difference with the quality of the fur now. 'The hides are cared for better and the animals are taken more humanely.' Yukon trappers must also now check their traps within five days of setting them. In other parts of Canada, it's two or three days.

VanBibber's family originally came from the United States. His father arrived in Skagway from West Virginia in 1898, when the Klondike Gold Rush was in full swing. He worked as a packer on the White Pass and was there when the great slide of April 1898, killed dozens of people. When he finally reached Dawson City, he found there wasn't enough gold to go around. 'He took off into the bush with his brother, who eventually went to Nome, (Alaska),' says VanBibber. 'My dad came out to Fort Selkirk and eventually married a native woman, and that's where we come from.'

VanBibber went to school in Dawson City and then started working for a gold-dredging company in 1934. But he always returned to Pelly Crossing to trap in the winter. In 1942, he headed to the Whitehorse area to get work during the building of the Alaska Highway. He ended up working on the Canol pipeline project, surveying for a railroad that was supposed to run from Prince George, B. C., to Fairbanks. Eventually, he got on the pipeline survey team. 'The army bought seven horses from Johnny Johns in Carcross and we had to walk the horses to Johnson's Crossing and cross the river on the ferry. 'We met the survey party there and headed for Quiet Lake and eventually Norman Wells,' he says. 'It was well over a 500-mile trek. Late that fall, it was slow on the South Canol. 'We were going ahead with the horses and the survey party was behind us, clearing survey lines with Cats. There were no axes or chainsaws; they just came through with Cats. 'Right behind them, they were building and finishing the roads. You could go back a little ways and drive all the way back to Whitehorse.' VanBibber also worked on the refinery in Whitehorse and received a small vial of the first crude oil to arrive in the city from Norman Wells. He has since donated it to the Yukon Transportation Museum.

He started outfitting in 1943, spending 20 years guiding near the Kusawa Lake area. He now lives in Champagne. 'I was trapping all along, too -- off and on. In fact, I still trap and I still guide and I'll be 80 on the fourth of April.' He says his secret to staying young is spending as much time as possible in the great outdoors. 'I guess it's all the fresh air outdoors. It's a great life. I'm drinking good water, getting lots of exercise and I sleep well at night and eat well, too.'

VanBibber is teaching his trade to students at many Yukon schools, he says. He also teaches sessions at the Fish and Game Association's camps. 'I just like to tell them what the fur industry is all about, that there is no great fear. 'It's being managed by the government and there is no depletion of any one species. 'It's all being monitored. If the animals were just left to roam, they would multiply so much that they would suffer a worse death by starvation and disease.' The kids learn mountain climbing, canoeing, rifle and bow and arrow shooting and first aid. VanBibber teaches them horsemanship and wilderness camping survival as well as trapping. 'Living in the North country, it's always handy to know the outdoors and the ways of the bush. 'These kids will probably never use it but it's good for them to know. It keeps them out of trouble, too.'

And VanBibber is one of the best to teach bush skills. He's been the expert called in for some great adventures. He's climbed with Senator Robert Kennedy, when Mount Kennedy was named to honor his brother, and former president, in 1965. He was also involved in a search for a couple who survived in the bush outside Watson Lake on nothing but snow for 48 days after their plane crashed. He was also part of a team that brought elk back to the Yukon, trucking them here from Elk Island National Park near Edmonton in the early 1950s. But he hasn't been hungry himself. During a 'starvation trip,' where VanBibber had to take 25 soldiers out into the bush with only shotguns, he outsmarted the group. 'I had a .22 so I just walked ahead of them all and started filling up my pack with rabbits and grouse,' he says. 'The last group at the back there was living pretty slim. They missed a few meals.'

VanBibber has received the Order of Canada. He mentions it as an afterthought but admits he can't remember whether it was in 1983 or 1993. He seems more proud of the sportsman of the year award. 'I was surprised they picked me. I just enjoy working with young people.'

By Andrea Buckley
Yukon News Reporter

Yukon News, Friday, February 2, 1996.