Digital Bob Archive

Kobys Landing on the Taku River and Koby Slough, which branches off the river, are not on the maps or in the place name book, but should be. The best information now available is that the Jack Koby family was the first white family to live in the Taku Valley the year around, and that Jack Koby, Sr., had what was probably the only beaver farm in Alaska on Koby Slough. In the fall of 1931 it was reported that he had some four acres fenced and a dozen of the animals in captivity.

Jack V. Koby was born in Engi, Switzerland, on October 31, 1893. He emigrated to Wisconsin in 1913 and came to Alaska in 1919 to become a guide, explorer, prospector and hard-rock miner, as well as a rancher. Traveling on foot, he explored far inland up the Taku River; across to the Mackenzie River on one jaunt, down along the old Telegraph Trail to Hazelton on another.

In 1927 Koby gained some local fame when he guided Father Bernard Hubbard, who became known as the\" Glacier Priest,\" on a three-day crossing from Mendenhall Glacier to Taku Inlet at a time when the Juneau Ice Field was virtually unexplored. Father Hubbard described him as \"one of the hardiest, coolest, and most courageous men I have ever traveled with. He is an ox for strength and has an endurance I have never seen equaled.\"

The following summer Koby accompanied Father Hubbard and another man in an attempt to cross the neck of the Alaska Peninsula and through the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, but after four months of struggling and penetrating only thirty-miles into the rugged peninsula, they had to admit defeat.

After returning from that expedition, Koby married Miss Inez Giese and soon afterward they moved to Koby Slough. On the ranch they reportedly had a Model T, a plow, hogs, goats and a mule. Jack shipped live beavers to various buyers until the fur market collapsed. The Koby daughters, Betty Lou and Mary, were born in Juneau and taken to the ranch at tender ages; a son, Jack, Jr., was born after the family left the Taku area.

In May 1932, Koby had one of his many narrow escapes when he was returning from Juneau with a season's supply of provisions in his river boat. A terrific late-season Taku wind caught him near Point Cooper about 9 o?clock in the morning and smashed the boat to bits against the rocks. He climbed the cliff and started on the rugged hike to Annex Creek, some twelve miles away, with only two salvaged oranges for food. The snow was still deep in some places and it was 11 p.m. before he reached the power house and was taken in by Mr. and Mrs. R. Hayden. He was able, with help from friends, to salvage his two outboard motors and a quantity of canned goods, but his loss amounted to $1000.

After leaving the ranch on the Taku, Koby mined at Cottrell Basin north of Juneau, and at Lisianski Inlet. He helped to build the cold storage plant at Pelican and engaged in salmon trolling. He died in Juneau on March 19, 1969.