| Ira Van Bibber was born in West Virginia. He and his brother Theodore came to the Yukon during the Klondike gold rush. They worked on the Chilkoot Pass carrying supplies.((Yukon Archives, Ira Van Bibber biographical sketch.)) In 1898, Black Sullivan had a cabin at Bennett Lake in a little bay near the community. He ran a saloon and roadhouse in his cabin and sold drinks and off-sale liquor. Ira Van Bibber and his brother packed $50,000 worth of liquor over the White Pass and on to Dawson for “Whiskey” Sullivan.((H. Gordon-Cooper, Yukoners: True Tales of the Yukon. Vancouver: River Run Publishing, 1978: 81-83.)) In Dawson, the brothers found that riches and jobs were scarce. Theodore continued on to Alaska where his wife and daughter joined him.((Yukon Archives, Ira Van Bibber biographical sketch.)) Ira built a pole boat and went up the Yukon to trap at Fort Selkirk and Coffee Creek where he met his future wife, Eliza. They trapped all over the country, and settled at Mica Creek, near present-day Pelly Crossing, in 1911. They raised a family of twelve surviving children.((JJ Van Bibber and Naill Fink, ed., //I was born under a spruce tree.// Vancouver: Talus Publishing Group, 2012: 9-10.)) They lived off the land, did some farming, and Ira ran a big game hunting business.((Yukon Archives, Ira Van Bibber biographical sketch.)) In 1912, Ira was working on the dredges near Dawson when he met Sullivan again.((H. Gordon-Cooper, //Yukoners: True Tales of the Yukon.// Vancouver: River Run Publishing. 1978: 81-83.)) | Ira Van Bibber was born in West Virginia. He and his brother Theodore came to the Yukon during the Klondike gold rush. They worked on the Chilkoot Pass carrying supplies.((Yukon Archives, Ira Van Bibber biographical sketch.)) In 1898, Black Sullivan had a cabin at Bennett Lake in a little bay near the community. He ran a saloon and roadhouse in his cabin and sold drinks and off-sale liquor. Ira Van Bibber and his brother packed $50,000 worth of liquor over the White Pass and on to Dawson for “Whiskey” Sullivan.((H. Gordon-Cooper, Yukoners: True Tales of the Yukon. Vancouver: River Run Publishing, 1978: 81-83.)) In Dawson, the brothers found that riches and jobs were scarce. Theodore continued on to Alaska where his wife and daughter joined him.((Yukon Archives, Ira Van Bibber biographical sketch.)) Ira built a pole boat and went up the Yukon to trap at Fort Selkirk and Coffee Creek where he met his future wife, Eliza. They trapped all over the country, and settled at Mica Creek, near present-day Pelly Crossing, in 1911. They raised a family of twelve surviving children.((JJ Van Bibber and Naill Fink, ed., //I was born under a spruce tree.// Vancouver: Talus Publishing Group, 2012: 9-10.)) They lived off the land, did some farming, and Ira ran a big game hunting business.((Yukon Archives, Ira Van Bibber biographical sketch.)) In 1912, Ira was working on the dredges near Dawson when he met Sullivan again.((H. Gordon-Cooper, //Yukoners: True Tales of the Yukon.// Vancouver: River Run Publishing. 1978: 81-83.)) |
| | There is a story that Del van Gorder, a fur trader at Pelly Lakes, and Ira van Bibber were friends and partners but political enemies. After they almost came to blows at Fort Selkirk, Rev. Cecil Swanson mediated by declaring that each should name the others’ first-born child. Republican van Gorder named van Bibber’s child Abraham after Abraham Lincoln, and Democrat Van Bibber named van Gorder’s child Jefferson.((Delores Smith, “Van Gorder lured by the lust for gold.” //The Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 31 May 1995.)) |
| One winter, Ira partnered with George Steel, originally from Missouri. They trapped at the headwaters of the Pelly River, and were trapping on Willow Creek, across the Pelly River from their winter headquarters, when Steel accidentally shot himself in the gut and wrist. Van Bibber put on a poultice of soft spruce tree gum and that kept the wound open to drain. It took three days to pull Steel in a sleigh over the bare ground thirty miles downriver. They spent the night in a cabin and borrowed a boat the next day to ran down the dangerous river full of ice. They froze into an ice jam, but the ice was too soft to walk on. Ira tore some boards off the boat and walked to shore on them. He built a bridge with brush out to the boat and George crawled to shore. They made a camp, and the next day Ira travelled down river to Henry Braden's cabin. Van Bibber and Braden brought Steel down to the cabin with a dog sled. It took twelve days for the river to set and then they hauled Steel to Fort Selkirk on the ice, and then sent him to Dawson on the winter stage. Steel lived, and the next season he and Ira travelled up the Pelly and trapped around Frances Lake.((H. Gordon-Cooper, Yukoners: True Tales of the Yukon. Vancouver: River Run Publishing, 1978: 95-101.)) | One winter, Ira partnered with George Steel, originally from Missouri. They trapped at the headwaters of the Pelly River, and were trapping on Willow Creek, across the Pelly River from their winter headquarters, when Steel accidentally shot himself in the gut and wrist. Van Bibber put on a poultice of soft spruce tree gum and that kept the wound open to drain. It took three days to pull Steel in a sleigh over the bare ground thirty miles downriver. They spent the night in a cabin and borrowed a boat the next day to ran down the dangerous river full of ice. They froze into an ice jam, but the ice was too soft to walk on. Ira tore some boards off the boat and walked to shore on them. He built a bridge with brush out to the boat and George crawled to shore. They made a camp, and the next day Ira travelled down river to Henry Braden's cabin. Van Bibber and Braden brought Steel down to the cabin with a dog sled. It took twelve days for the river to set and then they hauled Steel to Fort Selkirk on the ice, and then sent him to Dawson on the winter stage. Steel lived, and the next season he and Ira travelled up the Pelly and trapped around Frances Lake.((H. Gordon-Cooper, Yukoners: True Tales of the Yukon. Vancouver: River Run Publishing, 1978: 95-101.)) |
