About Fairbanks, Alaska |
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Fairbanks, 358 miles north of Anchorage (by way of the Parks Highway), likes to think that it (instead of Delta)
is the end of the Alaska Highway. Its central location makes it the focal point for the tiny villages scattered throughout the surrounding wilderness, and Fairbanks is a staging point for North Slope villages such as Barrow and the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay. Fairbanks is called "The Golden Heart of Alaska," a reference to the character of her people as much as to the location of Fairbanks in Alaska's interior, or to the discovery of gold in 1902. Alaska may be known for its harsh winter climate, but Fairbanksans prefer to think of their wonderful Alaskan summers, and enjoy them to the fullest while they can. The Interior has temperatures ranging from 65 degrees below zero in the winter to 90 degrees above in the summer. Because Fairbanks is just 188 miles south of the Arctic Circle (above which the sun neither sets during the summer solstice, nor rises during the winter equinox) Fairbanks also has very long summer days. The shortest winter day of the year has less than three hours of sunlight, the longest (around June 21) never really ends, though officially it has over 21 hours. Fairbanks is Alaska's second largest city and the Interior's service and supply center. Recreational activities include hunting, fishing, boating, hiking, camping, rafting, skiing, and dog mushing. Races in the area include the Yukon Quest Sled Dog Race and the Open North American Championship Sled Dog Race. The University of Alaska Fairbanks is the 2,250-acre home to the Geophysical Institute, the Large Animal Research Station, the farm of the Agricultural and Forestry Experimental Station, and one of the state's top natural history museums. |
Fairbanks, Alaska Facts & History |
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 Captain E.T. Barnette's goal in 1901 was to set up a trading post in Tanacross, where the Tanana River crossed the Valdez-Eagle trail. But on the way, he
wrecked his own boat and was stranded at the village of St. Michael on the west coast of Alaska. He persuaded the captain of the steamer Lavelle Young to take
him further up the Tanana River. Shallow water forced the boat up the Chena River. When (about seven miles from its mouth at the Tanana) the water became too shallow, Barnette was deposited onto a high spot on the riverbank. It was August, 1901, and the trading post became Fairbanks. In 1902, word of the gold in creeks around Fairbanks started a stampede. Felix Pedro is credited with that discovery. It was only the first explosion in a long history of booms and busts in Fairbanks. Gold-seekers poured in and threw up homes and businesses. Fairbanks survived as a mining town when others disappeared, in part because of how hard it was to remove gold from the ground. Early miners cut trees to build fires to thaw the ground, but in just a few years, the trees were gone and miners ran into bedrock. In 1908 there were 18,500 people in the Fairbanks mining district. By 1920 the town's population had shrunk to 1,100. |
Things To Do in Fairbanks, Alaska |
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Optional Land Excursions in Fairbanks, Alaska |
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Current Weather in Fairbanks, Alaska |
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More About Denali Fairbanks, Alaska - Fairbanks Links |
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