James Gordon Gibson (November 28, 1904 – July 17, 1986), often referred to as Gordon Gibson Sr., was a Canadian business leader and politician based in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. He represented

Lillooet Lillooet () is a district municipality in the Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern British Columbia. The town is on the west shore of the Fraser River immediately north of the Seton River mouth. On BC Highway 99, the locality is by road abou ...

from 1953 to 1955 and North Vancouver from 1960 to 1966 in the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is the deliberative assembly of the Parliament of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The Legislative Assembly meets in Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria. Members ar ...

as a

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

. Gibson was a millionaire timber baron whose nickname was "Bull of the Woods" due to his loud lumberjack's voice. He was dismissed as a rough, hard-drinking logger who had made it rich, but was loved by many small loggers as being one of the few people to be interested in them over the interests of

big business Big business involves large-scale corporate-controlled financial or business activities. As a term, it describes activities that run from "huge transactions" to the more general "doing big things". In corporate jargon, the concept is commonly kn ...

Biography

Gibson was born at Gold Bottom Creek near

Dawson City, Yukon Dawson may refer to: People and fictional characters *Dawson (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name *Dawson (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name Places Antarctica ...

. His father was working a small mining claim while his mother was the camp cook. The claim failed and according to Gordon, he and his brother Clarke were taken out of the Yukon in an orange crate. In the 1920s, he and his brothers ran the Gibson Lumber and Shingle Company. During the Depression, they were active around Vancouver Island, Vancouver and Seattle. The Gibson brothers built a $4,000,000 sawmill business starting at

Nootka Sound , image = Morning on Nootka Sound.jpg , image_size = 250px , alt = , caption = Clouds over Nootka Sound , image_bathymetry = , alt_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = Map of Nootka So ...

on the west coast of

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...

They had more than 40 boats working the

Inside Passage The Inside Passage (french: Passage Intérieur) is a coastal route for ships and boats along a network of passages which weave through the islands on the Pacific Northwest coast of the North American Fjordland. The route extends from southeaster ...

including the five masted 2,000 ton bald headed schooner, the '' Malahat'', and the five-masted schooner ''K.V. Kruse''. The Gibson family also owned a radio station in North Vancouver and a whaling station at

Coal Harbour Coal Harbour is the name for a section of Burrard Inlet lying between Vancouver's Downtown Peninsula and the Brockton Point of Stanley Park. It has also now become the name of the neighbourhood adjacent to its southern shoreline. Neighbourhoo ...

. Gibson ended up with a 132-foot pleasure boat called the ''Norsal'' which he renamed the ''Maui Lu'' (after his first wife, Louise) and sailed it to his resort on

Maui The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...

. At his resort, Gibson had a totem pole which he had arranged to fly out from Nootka Sound to Maui. At its base was an inscription written in concrete that claimed that it was the first totem pole to fly the Pacific. Gordon took his grandson Mark on the voyage from Vancouver to Maui to give him an experience where the eleven day cruise was full of excitement and adventure. Pete Lovick and Alistair Mellander came along who looked after the engines that almost failed and looked after the course to get the Maui Lui to Hawaii. Everyone learned from Gordon's stories from the Roberts Summers issue and the love Gordon had for British Columbia, He was a great Canadian and loved his country.

Political career

He was one of four MLAs who managed to get elected in the

June 9, 1953 June is the sixth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the second of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the third of five months to have a length of less than 31 days. June contains the summer solstice in t ...

election when the Liberals received 23% of the vote. In the

riding, Gibson received 27.63% on the first count (in a preferential ballot) but on the third and final count edged out CCF rival Gordon Dowding with 51.93%. In 1967, Gibson was appointed a member of the Northwest Territories Council.

Family

In 1971, he married Ms. Gertrude Schneider and together they ran a hotel on Maui with a restaurant that was very popular. Gordon Gibson died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

in 1986. His son, Gordon Gibson Jr. led the provincial Liberals in the 1970s and carried on to become a prominent political commentator. His daughter, Louanne, raised her family in California and Guatemala before returning to B.C.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibson, Gordon Sr. 1904 births 1986 deaths British Columbia Liberal Party MLAs Canadian businesspeople in timber Deaths from lung cancer