Edward Elgin "Ed" Kimbel was born in Dubuque, Iowa, on February 2, 1893, the son of Richard Adam Kimbel and Frances Myrtle Mayr Kimbel. He died at Prince George, BC, on October 20, 1970. In his 77 years he had many adventures, most of them in the Yukon Territory. The newspaper articles that follow will give you a good look at the man.
DAWSON CITY, Y.T. - Two human icebergs are thawing out in Mayo Hospital today after a double-miracle escape from death in 40-below-zero weather.
First escape was when their truck plunged through the ice into the Stewart River. Second - They ran four miles through temperatures and wind, cloth frozen to armor hardness. One man crawled the last quarter-mile after he fell and his frozen clothing prevented him from getting up.
Yukon Veteran Edward J. Kimbel and Fred Harper, both of Mayo, were taking a truck-load of hay from Kimbel's ranch to his sawmill, using the winter route over frozen Stewart River. The truck plunged through an air hole into 15 feet of water, the cab submerged.
"We sure thought we were goners," grinned shaggy-haired Kimbel from his hospital bed today. "It was 40 below," Ed explained, "and a heavy frost fog hung over the river, making it hard to see. We were going about 30 miles an hour when I felt a jolt. Next thing we knew the nose of the truck was slicing through open water.
"I don't know how long we were under but when water started sluicing through the cab I smashed my way out. The icy water made me gasp for breath but I managed to swim ashore.
"The truck was like a boat that had sunk, with the stern sticking up at a 45-degree angle. Fred managed to scramble to the top of the hay after I reached shore and I was able to rescue him with a rope.
"Then we started to run the four miles down river to the mill. There was a vicious wind blowing and it froze our heavy clothing until it felt we were packing heavy suite of armor.
"We kept running, our lungs bursting, gasping for every breath. About a quarter-mile from the mill, I stumbled and fell flat on my face. I couldn't get up because my clothes were frozen stiff. So I had to crawl the rest of the way."
Looking like ghosts from Mars, the men stumbled through the cabin door, then blacked out. They were rushed to Mayo Hospital a mile away.
They are suffering from severe frost bites to hands, face, feet and probably their lungs, but despite the pain both men are happy they are still alive. "Another quarter of a mile and we would have frozen to death on the trail," Kimbel grinned. "How we made it at all is a mystery to me."
Trucks had been using the river trail for six weeks, but the recent cold snap, when the temperature hit 70 below, created an air bubble.
Funeral services will be held tomorrow, Friday, October 23, from Assman's
Funeral Home at Prince George, B. C. for one of Mayo's most colourful pioneers.
Ed Kimbel, 88, who had been living with his daughter, Gail Pelland, in Prince George recently, was in the midst of building another boat when death called him
this week. He was famous throughout the north for his handcrafted riverboats, spurning the new-fangled methods of construction for the old tried and true ways.
Famous for his boxing ability in earlier days, he won an impressive number of championship bouts in the north, defeating all comers.
The son of a Mississippi riverboat man, Ed was raised on the river and learned the boat building trade there before coming to Alaska in 1917. He moved to Mayo the following year and remained there until recently, operating a sawmill and lumber
business there.
He stacked up a number of "firsts" for the record book in the Yukon, driving the first truck from Whitehorse to Mayo in 1928, taking in the first tractor. He was a friend and contemporary of T. C. Richards and Tony Besner, among other pioneers.
Pre-deceased by his wife, Lou, in 1950, he is survived by his daughter Gail and stepson Norman Hartnell, former pilot here and now city manager at Kitimat.
The family has requested no flowers, but in memory of Ed donations may be made to any charitable organization.
