Fairbanks is Discovered

When low water made passage to Tanacross impossible, Captain Adams dropped E.T. Barnette, his trade goods, and his family on the banks of the Chena Slough and remained long enough to build two cabins, one for storage and one for living quarters. Frank Cleary, Barnette's brother-in-law, traveled to the trading post over the winter, and in March 1901 Barnette and his wife walked to Valdez while Cleary stayed to watch the post. Barnette then went to Seattle, bought more supplies and a shallow-draft boat later named Isabelle after his wife, had it dismantled and shipped to St. Michael, and fitted with machinery from the sunken Arctic Boy. In August 1902, Barnette left St. Michael in the Isabelle for his cabin on the Chena Slough, still intending to continue to Tanacross, but soon after arriving he learned that Felix Pedro and his companions had made a major gold strike in June 1902. Barnette then abandoned his plan to settle in Tanacross and instead hoped to profit from the strikes near his unplanned cabin site along the Chena Slough.

Fairbanks, Alaska · United States