The Founding of Fairbanks
Captain E.T. Barnette, whose trading post on the Chena River became the city of Fairbanks, arrived here on the sternwheeler Lavelle Young with Captain Adams on August 26, 1901.
Felix Pedro and partners, mining for gold in the hills above town, saw the Lavelle Young on the river, some twenty miles away ferrying supplies. Once they struck gold, the future of the trading post was assured.
Fairbanks eventually won out over the City of Chena on the Tanana River when Judge Wickersham chose Fairbanks as the seat of the Third Judicial District Court.
Today this section along First Avenue contains three National Register Buildings and many of Fairbanks earliest buildings.
This sign s a product of a grant to the Chena Riverfront Commission, a commission of the City of Fairbanks, Fairbanks, North Star Borough, from the Alaska Gold Rush Centennial Task Force, Alaska Division of Tourism, Department of Commerce and Economic Development.
Alaska Gold Rush Centennial
Marker is at the intersection of 1st Avenue and Barnette Street on 1st Avenue.
Courtesy hmdb.org
