Felix Pedro

Felix Pedro, who changed his name from Felice Pedroni after immigrating to America, reached Alaska in his mid-30's and discovered gold in the Tanana hills around modern-day Fairbanks in July 1902. Before then he had prospected with only modest success and had not found gold in paying quantities. After leaving a prospecting camp at Fish Creek, he encountered a young Athabascan child from a nearby village who had been seriously injured by a sharp willow branch in his leg. Skilled in field medicine and known as a compassionate "medicine man" who provided first aid, Felix saved the boy and befriended the village. The Athabascan villagers then told him to go to the next creek over, where plenty of gold would be found. He eventually struck gold 12 miles from E.T. Barnette's trading post, becoming Barnette's first customer, and Barnette's post resupplied him through that spring and summer with beans, bacon, flour, and sundries. Felix's discovery led to the founding of Fairbanks and set off the Gold Rush stampede there. In January 1903, Barnette had letters published in Dawson City claiming that gold was plentiful in Fairbanks, even though it was 53 degrees below zero. A thousand prospectors rushed there in the freezing winter cold, only to find that Barnette had exaggerated the strike, and many came close to starving or losing their lives. Eventually, however, a pay streak of gold of historic proportion was found in streams and valleys all around Fairbanks. Felix himself was not an astute businessman or especially lucky prospector; after decades of gold fever and hard work left him hobbled, he died at age 52 amid rumors that his wife Mary Doran had poisoned him, echoed by his Italian mining partner's deathbed words, "moglie—veleno," meaning "wife-poison." Every July, Fairbanks celebrates Golden Days in honor of Felix Pedro's discovery of gold.

Chena Ridge, Alaska · United States