Page 131 - Vacation Country Travel Guide

WELCOME TO FAIRBANKS
JCT. RICHARDSON HWY 2, GEORGE PARKS
HWY 3 & STEESE HWY 6
Fairbanks
Location: Mile 358 George Parks Highway
and Mile 363 Richardson Highway (from See Video
Valdez); 358 miles north of Anchorage; 120
miles north of Denali National Park via the
George Parks Highway and 200 miles south
of the Arctic Circle. Population: City: 32,000,
Fairbanks-North Star Borough, 84,380. Visitor
Information: Fairbanks Convention & Visitors
Bureau Information Center: 101 Dunkel St, Suite Pioneer Park
111, Fairbanks, AK 99701-4806; Phone (907) photo by:
456-5774; Fax: 907-459-3757; Toll Free 1-800- VC Travel Guide
327-5774; Email: info@explorefairbanks.com.
Brochures are also maintained at the Alaska
Railroad Passenger Depot and Fairbanks
International Airport. Alaska Public Lands
Information Center: 250 Cushman, Suite 1-A,
Fairbanks, AK 99701; Phone: (970) 456-0527;
Fax: (907) 456-0514; Website: www.nps.gov/
aplic. Tanana Chiefs Conference, 122 First
Avenue, Suite 600, Fairbanks, AK 99701;
Email: info@tananachiefs.org; Website: www.
tananachiefs.org.

Fairbanks is Alaska’s second largest city and
the unofficial capital of the Interior. Surrounded
by picturesque mountains and forested hills, this
progressive city serves as the trade and transportation
center for Alaska’s interior.
Fairbanks was founded by chance in 1901, when
Captain E.T. Barnette was forced to disembark from
the steamship Lavelle Young and set up a temporary
trading post along the banks of the Chena River.
Barnette made his temporary post permanent the
following year when an Italian immigrant named
Felix Pedro discovered gold nearby. The word spread
quickly and a stampede of gold seekers soon reached
the Interior. In the next 70 years, military spending and
construction, the victory of statehood, the destruction
of a flood and the discovery of oil left their effects on
Fairbanks’ history of booms and busts.
Incorporated as a city in 1903, Fairbanks was named
after Senator Charles Fairbanks from Indiana, who
was later Vice President under Theodore Roosevelt, at
the suggestion of Judge James Wickersham, a man of
great political importance. In exchange for this favor,
Wickersham made the town the seat of the Federal
Court System. Needless to say, this did a great deal
towards ensuring Fairbanks’ future after the boom of
the Gold Rush.
Early miners cut trees to fuel fires to thaw the
ground in their quest for gold. The supply of easily
cut trees soon diminished and the miners ran into
bedrock. In 1908, there were 18,500 people in the
Fairbanks mining district. By 1920, this number
had shrunk to 1,100. Dredge mining, an operation
that required more capital than manpower, brought
a revival in the mining industry that remained
prominent until World War II.
With the onset of war, jobs and activity in Fairbanks
were augmented. Military construction for airfields,
roads and communication systems meant jobs for
civilians and increased sales for merchants. Statehood
was achieved in 1959.
The state welcomed its first real wealth in 1968,
with the Prudhoe Bay oil lease sale. The anticipation
of new industry and jobs was dampened however,
when petroleum development was postponed until the
critical issues of Native land claims and environmental
concerns were addressed. Pipeline construction
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