The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1913-01-09
JAMES G|BB|NS
THE PATHFINDER

British Columbia, Manitoba and the
Northwest territories, just elected to
the presidency of the Edmonton Old
Timers association, composed of men
and women who have lived here for a
period exceeding 80 years, has felt
the lure of the lone trail since his boy
hood and has been active more than
60 years in pushing the frontier line
to the outposts of civilization.
He was born in a village in the north
of Ireland on Christmas day, 1884, and
sailed for America when boy of 16
years, landing in New England when
the excitement was at its height fol
lowing the news of the fabulous gold
strikes in California by the original
49-ers. He joined one of the vara-
vans out of the middlewest and lived
amid scenes that would furnish ma
terial for a dozen novels. He fought
Indians on the prairies, then known
as The Great American Desert"
Mr. Gibbons has intimate acquaint-
ance with the monotonous labor of
the blanket and pan, employed in gar
nering the glittering grains of gold
from the sands OF river bars and has
felt the physical effects of the miners
pick and shovel and the slim fare of
the "diggins." He has shouldered his
pack and piodded along until bone
weary, and by ceaseless vigilance
eluded the poisoned arrow, the muder-
GUS tomahawk and the night ambush
with its unspeakable horrors. He has
shared the joys and sorrows of the
river boatman and followed trails to
camps of friendly and unfriendly
tribes; in short, lived the lives of
pathfinder, miner, rancher, navigator,
fur trader, soldier, homesteader and
man about town.
Mr. Gibbons crossed the Isthmus of
Panama in 1854, riding a mule. Vic
toria, Vancouver, the Fraser river and
the Columbia were the points from
which he migrated in earch of gold.
He met with successes and reverses.
Trailing in the province of British Co
lumbia was difficult on account of the
dense forests and heavy underbrush.
Hundreds of hostile Indians inhabiting
these groves resented the intrusion of
prospectors through their territories,
and emphasized the fact by swift ar
rows and other messengers of DEATH
Escaping these, he went to Portland,
Ore, where he arrived without capital,
or dead broke as he expressed it.
Mr.. Gibbons turned to the first va
cant position, and mastered its require
ments as he has conquered every other
situation he has since found. Plying
black and forth as far as tn junction
of. the Snake and Columbia rivers, he
soon fulfilled the requirements of a |
boatman, and was thrown in contact
with many new types of people and
new conditions of life.
One evening as the bells changed and
the chains clattered down on the decks
and gang-planks, the members of the
crew overheard the conversation of
a group of excited miners who were
leaving the boat, at a point somewhat
in advance of their booked destination
1t was learned that Nez Perce Jane,
an Indian woman, had revealed to
Pierce the location Of a rich gold field
in central Idaho
He quickly joined the gold hunterss
and assisted in stalking out such
camps as Pierce, Elk City and Boise
City. Among the men working to-
gether in these camps who were
drawn from every corner of the uni
verse, was brother of Rev. DR.. Mac /.
queen of Edmonton. Fifty years
passed before Mr.. Gibbons and Mr..
Macqueen met and retold the stories of
the camp-fires and the gulches.
The Bitter Root valley in Montana
was the next scene of operations for
Mr.. Gibbons. Settlements throughout
the western territories were few and
'ar between and opportunities for
scarce; but the days
we're rendolent with excitement. Life
was cheap. 1t was no uncommon sight
% see corpses dangling from trees
along the trail, or to meet an Indian
sporting ten or twelve scalps at his
)elt and looking for more.
Leaving the line, Mr. Gibbons and
larty again crossed to Canada I'm
luckily through the POO mile through
he mountains, they lost their food
md ammunition Starving, footsore
md weary, they pushed on till they
cached Rocky Mountain House. They
arrived at Fort Edmonton i Noyem-
,er, 1865, travelling with saddle and
,ack horses
Factors and trappers in tie employ
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