Anchorage Daily News

FAIRBANKS

POPULATION: 30,552 (2006)

LOCATION: In the heart of the Interior, on the banks of the Chena River in the Tanana Valley, 358 road miles (45 minutes by air) north of Anchorage.

DESCRIPTION: The largest city in Interior Alaska, second largest population settlement in the state, a gateway to Alaska's northern communities and, through the University of Alaska Fairbanks, a world center of Arctic science. As the service and supply center for the Interior, the city offers a diverse economy, including city, borough, state and federal government services, transportation, communication, manufacturing, financial and medical services. With Eielson Air Force Base and Fort Wainwright personnel included, more than one third of Fairbanks' employment is in government. Tourism and mining add significantly to the economy. There are 20 schools, attended by about 10,100 students.

HISTORY: Koyukon Athabascans have lived in the area for thousands of years. In 1901, Capt. E.T. Barnette established a trading post on the Chena River. A year later, gold was discovered 16 miles north, and prospectors poured in. Fairbanks was named for Indiana Sen. Charles Fairbanks, who later became vice president. The population continued to grow with addition of a Judicial District Court, government offices, jail, post office and the Northern Commercial Co. Barnette, the first mayor, established telephone, fire and sanitation services, electricity, and steam heat. By 1910, the official population had grown to 3,541, although more than 6,000 miners lived and worked their claims on creeks north of town. Ladd Field (now Fort Wainwright) was built in 1938. Construction of the Alaska Highway in the 1940s and the trans-Alaska oil pipeline in the 1970s fueled growth.

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