The Fairbanks Gold Rush was a gold rush that took place in Fairbanks, Alaska in the early 1900s. [1] Fairbanks was a city largely built on gold rush fervor at the turn of the 20th century. Discovery and exploration continue to thrive in and around modern-day Fairbanks. [2]
Felix Pedro spent years searching for gold. He tried to find gold in the creeks and valleys of the Tanana Valley where Fairbanks would begin before he found the "American Klondike". A trader named E.T. Barnette and his wife, Isabelle, were aboard the riverboat Lavelle Young in August 1901, trying to establish a trading post at Tanacross on the Tanana River. Low water conditions stopped the journey before Barnette could reach his destination. Co-owner of the Lavelle Young, Captain Charles Adams, turned into the Chena River, a tributary of the Tanana, instead. Shallow water stopped the Lavelle Young, and Adams refused to go further, so the Barnettes set up shop there. [1]
Barnette opened a trading post on the Chena River after Pedro had told him he had made some good "prospects." On July 22, 1902, Pedro discovered gold north of Fairbanks in Interior Alaska which triggered the beginning of the Fairbanks Gold Rush, [3] which set off a stampede that transformed the town. [4] Barnette dispatched Jujiro Wada, a Japanese immigrant from Ehime on Shikoku Island, to Dawson City to spread the word that gold had been found in order for Barnette to create a market for his goods. [1] After Wada spread the word about the gold being discovered, many miners who had not already left for the Nome Gold Rush traveled to Fairbanks. The prospectors soon found jobs working for Barnette—prospecting for him by panning and sluicing for gold in Fairbanks. [3]
The Fairbanks Exploration Company bought up claims within a 30 by 50 mile area and brought in gold dredges on the Alaska Railroad. The population of Fairbanks increased from 1,155 in 1920 to 2,101 in 1930. As Ira Harkey pointed out, "When the dredges finished their work, Fairbanks again shriveled. The dredges remain in the spots where they chewed their last bites, perfectly preserved in the dry arctic air, wooly mammoths for later ages." [5]
On July 22, 1910, approximately eight years after he had discovered gold north of Fairbanks, Felix Pedro died at St. Joseph's Hospital in Fairbanks of an apparent heart attack. [1] [6]
Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska.
Moose Creek is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2010 census, the population of the CDP was 747, up from 542 in 2000. It is part of the 'Fairbanks, Alaska Metropolitan Statistical Area'. Moose Creek is located south of Fairbanks, Alaska along the Richardson Highway. Moose Creek is bordered by Eielson Air Force Base to the south, the Tanana River to the west, and the Chena River Flood Control Project to the north.
The District of Alaska was the governmental designation for Alaska from May 17, 1884 to August 24, 1912, when it became Alaska Territory. Previously it had been known as the Department of Alaska. At the time, legislators in Washington, D.C., were occupied with post–Civil War reconstruction issues, and had little time to dedicate to Alaska. General Jefferson C. Davis, a U.S. Army officer, was put in charge as the first commander of the Department of Alaska, which between 1884 and 1912 was renamed the District of Alaska and was appointed a civil government by President Chester A. Arthur with the passage of the First Organic Act. During the Department era, Alaska was variously under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army, the United States Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Navy, but now the area had its own government.
James Wickersham was a district judge for Alaska, appointed by U.S. President William McKinley to the Third Judicial District in 1900. He resigned his post in 1908 and was subsequently elected as Alaska's delegate to Congress, serving until 1917 and then being re-elected in 1930. He was instrumental in the passage of the Organic Act of 1912, which granted Alaska territorial status, introduced the Alaska Railroad Bill, legislation to establish McKinley Park, and the first Alaska Statehood Bill in 1916. He was among those responsible for the creation of the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines, which later became the University of Alaska. A residence hall on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus is named in his honor.
Pioneer Park is a 44-acre (109-ha) city park in Fairbanks, Alaska, United States run by the Fairbanks North Star Borough Department of Parks and Recreation. The park commemorates early Alaskan history with multiple museums and historic displays on site. The park is located along the Chena River and is accessible from Peger and Airport Roads. A waterfront path connects the park to the Carlson Center, Growden Memorial Park and downtown Fairbanks. There is no admission fee to enter the park, though many of the museums and attractions do charge an entrance fee. Concessions are open from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, though the park is open year round and some events are held in the off-season. Free wi-fi is available.
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner is a morning daily newspaper serving the city of Fairbanks, Alaska, the Fairbanks North Star Borough, the Denali Borough, and the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the farthest north daily in the United States, and one of the farthest north in the world. The oldest continuously operating daily in Alaska, by circulation it is the second-largest daily in the state. It was purchased by the Helen E. Snedden Foundation in 2016. The Snedden family were longtime owners of the News-Miner, selling it to a family trust for Dean Singleton and Richard Scudder, founders of the Media News Group in 1992.
Chena was a former city in interior Alaska, located in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, United States, near the confluence of the Chena and Tanana rivers. It incorporated in 1903 and was disincorporated in 1973. The area is now part of the outskirts of Fairbanks, within the CDP of Chena Ridge. Its heyday was in the first two decades of the 20th century, with a peak population of about 400 in 1907. By 1910 the population had fallen to 138.
Jujiro Wada was a Japanese adventurer and entrepreneur who achieved fame for his exploits in turn-of-the-20th-century Alaska and Yukon Territory.
The F.E. Company Dredge No. 4, also known as the Pedro Dredge and the Chicken Dredge, was originally owned by the Fairbanks Exploration Company, a subsidiary of the United States Smelting Refining & Mining Co. (USSR&M). It was built by the Yuba Manufacturing Company in California, and was shipped to Pedro Creek north of Fairbanks, Alaska in 1938. It was assembled there, and operated until 1958.
The Riverboat Discovery is a tour company in Fairbanks, Alaska, which operates sternwheel riverboats on the Chena and Tanana rivers.
The Fairbanks mining district is a gold-mining area in the U.S. state of Alaska. Placer mining began near Fairbanks in July 1902, after Felix Pedro, an Italian immigrant and Tom Gilmore discovered gold in the hills north of the Tanana and Chena Rivers in 1901. Pedro died exactly eight years after finding the richest gold placer he would ever know. By 1903 a new rush started, and prospectors staked thousands of claims. However, mining results were disappointing during the summer of 1903, with little gold recovered. Then Dennis O'Shea struck it rich on Fairbanks Creek, No. 8 Above. This was one of the richest claims in the Fairbanks Mining District and paid as high as $136 to the pan. Discoveries on Cleary and Ester Creeks followed, and almost two-thirds of the gold mined in the Tanana hills before 1910 came from these three creeks. Total production of gold was more than $ 30 million. Towns grew on every creek with a combined population of 1,600 residents.
Chatanika is a small unincorporated community located in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, United States, north-northeast of the city of Fairbanks. The community runs along an approximately 20-mile (32 km) stretch of the Steese Highway, the majority of which sees the highway paralleled by the Chatanika River. The community consists of sparsely scattered residential subdivisions, several roadside businesses, a boat launch where the Steese Highway crosses the Chatanika River, relics of past gold mining operations in the area and the Poker Flat Research Range operated by the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Steamboats on the Yukon River played a role in the development of Alaska and Yukon. Access to the interior of Alaska and Yukon was hindered by large mountains and distance, but the wide Yukon River provided a feasible route. The first steamers on the lower Yukon River were work boats for the Collins Overland Telegraph in 1866 or 1867, with a small steamer called Wilder. The mouth of the Yukon River is far to the west at St. Michael and a journey from Seattle or San Francisco covered some 4,000 miles (6,400 km).
The 2008 Tanana Valley flood or the 2008 Fairbanks flood was a flood in late July and early August 2008 that affected several rivers in the central portion of the American state of Alaska. The city of Fairbanks, Alaska saw high water levels, while the towns of Nenana, Salcha, and Old Minto received heavy damage. The Salcha River and Tanana River reached their second-highest levels since record-keeping began, while the Chena River, which bisects Fairbanks, was kept below flood stage by the use of the Chena River Lakes Flood Control Project.
St. Joseph's Hospital, the very first hospital in Fairbanks, Alaska was built in 1906.
Felice Pedroni, known best to Americans by his Hispanicized alias Felix Pedro, was an Italian immigrant whose discovery of gold in Interior Alaska marked the beginning of the 1902 Fairbanks Gold Rush.
Elbridge Truman Barnette, Yukon riverboat captain, banker, and swindler, founded the city of Fairbanks, Alaska, and later served as its first mayor.
The history of Fairbanks, the second-largest city in Alaska, can be traced to the founding of a trading post by E.T. Barnette on the south bank of the Chena River on August 26, 1901. The area had seen human occupation since at least the last ice age, but a permanent settlement was not established at the site of Fairbanks until the start of the 20th century.
The Golden Days Parade occurs in July in Fairbanks, Alaska every year as part of the Golden Days Festival, a multi-day festival that honors the city's past. The Golden Days Parade is one of the most popular festival events. The overall themes for the parade and festival are "goldrush", "Alaskan pioneers", and "early Fairbanks history".
The Chena Pump House, also known just as the Pump House Restaurant, is a restaurant at 796 Chena Pump Road in Fairbanks, Alaska. The restaurant is located in the shell of a 1933 pumping station established by the Fairbanks Exploration Company, Alaska's largest gold mining operator at the time. The pump house was used to provide water to dredges operating on Cripple Creek in the Ester area. The building was abandoned by the company in 1958, and was enlarged and converted into a restaurant in 1978. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
65°0′25″N147°29′4″W / 65.00694°N 147.48444°W Coordinates: 65°0′25″N147°29′4″W / 65.00694°N 147.48444°W