In the autumn of 1902 Felix Pedro, an experienced miner and prospector,
crossed the divide between Birch and McManus creeks and entered the
Tanana Valley.
Previous to that year many people had travelled through the valley, on
their way to the Klondike, by the Valdez route; and a few miners from
the Birch Creek and Forty-Mile diggings had wandered into the Tanana
country, without being able to do any important prospecting because of
the distance from supplies; but Pedro was the first man to discover that
gold existed in economic quantities in this region, and his coming was
an event of historical importance.
One of the best tests of the importance and value of geological survey
work lies in the significant report of Mr. Alfred H. Brooks for the year
of 1898--four years before the discoveries of Mr. Pedro:--
"We have seen that the little prospecting which has been done up to the
present time has been too hurried and too superficial to be regarded as
a fair test of the region. Our best information leads us to believe that
the same horizons which carry gold in the Forty-Mile and Birch Creek
districts are represented in the Tanana and White River basins.... I
should advise prospectors to carefully investigate the small tributary
streams of the lower White and of the Tanana from Mirror Creek to the
mouth."
Pedro's discovery was on the creek which bears his name, and before
another year gold was discovered on several other creeks. In 1901 a
trading post was established by Captain E. T. Barnette, on the present
site of Fairbanks, and the development of the country progressed
rapidly. The Fairbanks Mining District was organized and named for the
present Vice-President of the United States. In the autumn of 1903 eight
hundred people were in the district, and about thirty thousand dollars
had been produced, the more important creeks at that time being Pedro,
Goldstream, Twin Creek, Cleary, Wolf, Chatham, and Fairbanks. In the
fall of 1904 nearly four thousand miners had come in, and the year's
output was three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Fairbanks and Chena
had grown to thriving camps, and a brilliant prosperity reigned in the
entire district. Roads were built to the creeks, sloughs were bridged,
and Fairbanks' "boom" was in full swing. It was the old story of a camp
growing from tents to shacks in a night, from shacks to three-story
buildings in a month. The glory of the Klondike trembled and paled in
the brilliance of that of Fairbanks. Every steamer for Valdez was
crowded with men and women bound for the new camp by way of the Valdez
trail; while thousands went by steamer, either to St. Michael and up the
Yukon, or to Skaguay and down the Yukon, to the mouth of the Tanana.
Fairbanks is now a camp only in name. It has all the comforts and
luxuries of a city, and is more prosperous and progressive than any
other town in Alaska or the Yukon. It started with such a rush that it
does not seem to be able to stop. It is the headquarters of the Third
Judicial District of Alaska, which was formerly at Rampart; it has
electric light and water systems, a fire department, excellent and
modern hotels, schools, churches, hospitals, daily newspapers, a
telegraph line to the outside world which is operated by the
government, and a telephone system which serves not only the city, but
all the creeks as well.
The Tanana Mines Railway, or Tanana Valley Railway, as it is now called,
was built in 1905 to connect Fairbanks with Chena and the richest mining
claims of the district; and two great railroads are in course of
construction from Prince William Sound.
In 1906 the output of gold was more than nine millions of dollars, and
had it not been for the labor troubles in 1907, this output would have
been doubled. In the earlier days of the camp the crudest methods of
mining were employed; but with the improved transportation facilities,
modern machinery was brought in and the difficulties of the development
were greatly lessened.
Upon a first trip to Fairbanks, the visitor is amazed at the size and
the metropolitan style and tone of this six-year-old camp in the
wilderness.
It is situated on the banks of the Chena River, about nine miles from
its confluence with the Tanana. It has a level town site, which looks as
though it might extend to the Arctic Circle. The main portion of the
town is on the right bank of the river, the railway terminal yards,
saw-mills, manufacturing plants, and industries of a similar nature
being located on the opposite shore, on what is known as Garden Island,
the two being connected by substantial bridges. The city is incorporated
and, like other incorporated towns of Alaska, is governed by a council
of seven members, who elect a presiding officer who is, by courtesy,
known as mayor. The executive officers of the municipal government
consist of a clerk, treasurer, police magistrate, chief of police, chief
of the fire department, street commissioner, and physician.
The municipal finances are derived from a share in federal licenses,
from the income derived from the local court, from poll taxes, and from
local taxation of real and personal property. From all these sources the
municipal treasury was enriched during the year of 1906 by about
ninety-five thousand dollars.
Each of the three banks operates an assay office under the supervision
of an expert. The population of the district is from fifteen to twenty
thousand, of which five thousand belong permanently to the town. The
climate is dry and sparkling; the summers are delightful, the winters
still and not colder than those of Minnesota, Montana, and the Dakotas,
but without the blizzards of those states. In 1906 the coldest month was
January, the daily mean temperature being thirty-six degrees below zero,
but dry and still. Travel over the trail by dog team is continued
throughout the winter, skating and other outdoor sports being as common
as in Canada.
Five saw-mills are in operation, with an aggregate daily capacity of a
hundred and ten thousand feet, the entire product being used locally.
There is an abundance of poplar, spruce, hemlock, and birch; an
unlimited water supply; a municipal steam-heating plant; two good
hospitals; two daily newspapers; graded schools,--the four-year course
of the high school admitting the student to the Washington State
University and to high educational institutions of other states; a
Chamber of Commerce and a Business Men's Association; twelve hotels,
five of which are first class; while every industry is represented
several times over.
This is Fairbanks, the six-year-old mining-camp of the Tanana Valley.
[Illustration: Copyright by E. A. Hegg, Juneau
SUNRISE ON BEHRING SEA]