Fred Tibbs in Tofino
by Adrienne Mason, Tofino
Fred Tibbs was a character that seemed custom-made for Tofino: eccentric, affable, creative, romantic--he would fit right in today.
Frederick Gerald Tibbs was born into comfortable circumstances in 1886 in Essex. The Tibbs house was staffed with servants and his father's family had been London oil brokers for several generations. His reasons for coming to Canada are unclear but some relatives thought that embarrassment about facial disfigurement--the result of a childhood accident--may have prompted him to leave. Based on his life, however, perhaps it was simply the adventure of it all.
When Fred was only 22 he was homesteading at Long Beach. Many letters from Fred at his Tidal Wave Ranch to Walter Dawley, proprietor of the store at Clayoquot, still survive. Much of the correspondence was to secure supplies needed for land-cleaning and house-building, including a letter requesting one tin (worth 20 cents) of pink paint to match a swatch of wallpaper Fred enclosed in the letter.
Apart from a stint in 1910 helping to build the Triangle Island lighthouse, Fred worked at his ranch, helped with local road building, and found time to work for the local Conservative party, the Clayoquot Conservative Association. In August 1912 he began to work at a salmon hatchery at Kennedy Lake. In 1912 or 1913, Fred sold his property at Long Beach and bought an island in Clayoquot Sound.
It was for his activities on this small island that Fred Tibbs became legendary. Perhaps it was the audience of the small growing town, which had a clear view of his goings-on that brought his eccentricities and creativity to the fore. Fred's first project was to clear-cut the island of all but one tree, an enormous spruce. He then removed all of the branches and erected a scaffolding around the tree. At the top of the tree was a platform from which he could look out over Tofino and Clayoquot Sound. When the weather was good, he would sit there and write letters or play his cornet.
No ordinary house would suffice for Fred and he began to build a wooden castle completed complete with a tower. He planted roses and on a large rock painted the word, "dreamisle." In his castle, Fred has a piano and a phonograph (with a sizeable collection of records) and he would often entertain his friends there. Fred also wrote poetry, which he would post in Dawley's store.
Fred had particular affection for two young ladies in town: Alma Arnet and Olive Garrard. When Fred closed up his castle in 1917 in preparation to serve in the war, he wrote a will which stated: "I give, devise and bequeath unto Miss Alma Arnet (because she's the nicest girl I ever met and another reason she knows) Tibbs Island and everything thereon, excepting the house and ten feet of land on either side..." Not to forget his other sweetheart, he went on: "The house and contents thereof, except the gramophone, go to Miss Olive Garrard ... (because it was built for her) so long as she remains single. In case of her marrying, house goes to Miss Alma Arnet if she is still single." (In preparation for leaving, Fred also put shutters on the castle windows and painted a princess on one and the likeness of Olive Garrard on the other.)
Fred survived the war and returned in 1919. He continued work on his land and at the hatchery and also began work tending the harbour buoys.
On July 4, 1921, the Clayoquot Hotel burned down and Fred, with many local men, stayed up most of the night trying to prevent the fire from spreading. The next day he went out in his skiff as he did every other day to replace the lamp on the harbour buoys. While on a lightbuoy near Stubbs Island, Fred's skiff slipped away from him. Instead of waiting for a passerby, Fred decided to swim for his boat but first he finished his work on the light. Then he carefully took off his clothes and hung them on the railing of the buoy and dived in after the launch. Tibbs never did reach his boat and ended up making it to the sandspit on Stubbs Island where attempts to revive him failed.
Although Fred never finished his castle and he never found a princess for his tower, he remains a legend in Tofino. Although it is called Arnet Island on the charts his island also remains Tibbs, or Castle, or Dream Isle, in the memories of many.
Adrienne Mason is a Tofino writer. If you have anything to add, email her at amason@seaviewcable.net.
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