Evening star., 1916-10-01
Copyright, 1918, by Frank G. Carpenter,

copyright, 1915, by Frank G. Carpenter.)
FAIRBANKS, Alaska.
@AIRBANKS is the Chicago OF
H. Alaska, the future metropolis in
the heart of the territory. 1t is
& to be the terminus OF Uncle
Sans new railway, the point where the
river and rail navigation will center
and join The town might be called the
hub of Alaska. 1t is almost equidistant
between Bering sea and the interna-
tional boundary, and very nearly half
way between the Pacific and the Arctic
oceans. It lies well up on the globe and its
latitude is IS degrees north. II you should
draw a line through Fairbanks running
around the world, 1t would cross the
Seward peninsula about a hundred miles
or more north Of Nome, would go
almost in half. Thence it would go on
through Russia 800 miles north Of
Petrograd, and through Norway and
Sweden at about the same distance
north of Chrfstiania and Stockholm. 1t
would run through the center of Ice
land and cross Greenland several hun
dred miles north of it's southern boun-
Diary. 1t would go through the upper
part of Hudsons bay, and over the wild
est part of the Dominion of Canada.
crossing the international boundary not
far from where it is cut by the Yukon.
\ X
have come to Fairbanks via the Yu-
kon. There are three routes by which
the town is reached from the outside.
The first involves a thousand miles by
ocean steamer from Seattle to Skagway,
ITO miles by rail over the White pass to
the head Of the navigation of the Yu-
10 hi 70 nd
just about 1900 miles down that river
and up the Tanana to Fairbanks. An
other route is from Seattle to Nome and
st. Michael, at the mouth Of the Yukon,
This is 2,70O miles long and one has to
travel 1,100 miles more up the Yukon
river before he gets here. The first trip
takes ten or twelve days. the second,
with the stoppages necessary, from two
weeks to a month. and both must be
made in the summer. when navigation
is open. The third route is by ship
from Puget sound to Valdez or Cor
dova, on Prince William sound, and
thence here across country by dog sled
or by automobile. The last route is the
shorter, but much more expensive.
When the railroad is finished the trip
to Fairbanks will be made in four or
five days and the cost will be greatly
reduced The town viii then be one Of
the traffic points on the map OF the
world.
Fairbanks is at the junction Of the
railway and river navigation OF the terri
lies on the Yukon. Alaska is a land
of great rivers, and the Yukon has
many large navigable tributaries. One of
these is the Tanana, a stream more than
500 miles long. 1t is on a branch of the
Tanana that Fairbanks is located, and that
within ESQ miles of where it flows into
the Yukon. 1t took me two days to
come up the Tanana river from Fort
Gibbon to Fairbanks. The stream is
wide all the way and its current is
such that it tears the trees from the
banks and makes long windrows of
timber on the edge of the water. The
Tanana is navigable for some distance
above Fairbanks. and it's valley has
millions of acres Of agricultural land.
It Is In this valley that Fairbanks lies,
The place is also in the heart Of large
areas Of gold-bearing gravel The country
about is gulleyed by creeks, from which
more than eighty million dollars worth Of
gold has been taken, and where they
lion dollars year. The gold all comes
from gravel and earth that has been
frozen for thousands of years. and it
has to be thawed and dug up to get
out the metal; This requires fuel.
road at such cost that the output
Of the mines can be greatly Increased
The railroad, now building, will tap
coal fields near Fairbanks. and the cheap
fuel will make revolution in mining,
both placer and Quartz. OF these 1
shall write in detail in the future.
Let mo give you some pictures Of
the Fairbanks Of today. You know that
it Is to be the terminus OF the new
railroad, and you may have had dreams
as to. what it looks like. Whatever they
Fairbanks is like nothing In the
heavens above. In the earth beneath
or in the waters under the earth. It
might be worshiped without breaking
the first commandment It has 9
municipal entity OF Its own, and de-