A STORY ABOUT MARSHALL VAN BIBBER
By Ann Nechodom

Marshall Van Bibber was a man always on the move. As a contractor and builder he was often on the road late at night. On one such occasion he felt a hard pull on his team of horses as they strained against their load. He reached down to set the wagon brake and was knocked almost unconscious. He did reach home that night, but when he pulled into the yard he could hardly see because of a large flap of skin that hung down over his eye. He called to the two older boys to bring a pair of scissors. Clyde and Rolfe came running out to help and Hattie shoed Leslie and Louise off to bed to keep them out of the way. Rolfe cut off the dangling piece of scalp and tossed it into the grass. Clyde seeing the blood ran to get a horse and go for help; but when no horse left the barn Rolfe found where he had fainted and he rode to phone the doctor.

By daylight they found that the team had run over a long telephone wire that caught on the wagon and pulled until it snapped. If he hadn't reached down for the brake it would have decapitated him. No wonder Hattie worried when her menfolk were still gone after dark.

NOTE; THERE IS A SMALL MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION HELD AT THE WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY WHICH INCLUDES WORKS DONE BY GOLDIE VAN BIBBER PUTNAM WHICH INCLUDE:
AUTHOR: Putnam, Goldie Van Bibber, 1885-1965.
TITLE: PAPERS, 1950-1965.
DESCRIPT.: ca. 50 items.
SUBJECTS: Ferries -- Northwest, Pacific -- History.
Ferry County (Wash.) -- History.
Mines and mineral resources -- British Columbia -- History.
Silver King Mine (B.C.).
Stevens County (Wash.) -- History.
NOTES: Correspondence, research notes, and photocopies, manuscripts of newspaper articles on ferries, Silver King Mine, and Ferry and Stevens County history.
Gift, Mrs. Putnam, 1958-1965.

Marshall Baker & Hattie Ghent Van Bibber