Chena River Waterfront: Chapter 2 Research Objectives and Historical Overview

Weaver, Robert M. (1998) 2.0 Research Objectives and Historical Overview. In Historical Development of the Chena River Waterfront, Fairbanks, Alaska: An Archaeological Perspective, edited and compiled by Peter M. Bowers and Brian L. Gannon, CD-ROM. Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, Fairbanks.

Historic research guided the Barnette Archaeological Project before a single shovelful of earth was turned. In 1986, Jim Ketz and Wendy Arundale prepared a general overview, Rivertown: A Study of Fairbanks' Historic Waterfront and the Archaeological Potential of the Barnette Street Bridge Site,¹ which analyzed historical photographs and examined the development of the Fairbanks town center between 1901 and 1935. Their efforts also established proposed research objectives that helped set the basis for assessing the significance of potential archaeological materials. These research issues were subsequently modified after guidelines on historical thematic contexts as developed by the Alaska Historical Commission.² Throughout the entire project, continual research refined and expanded the information on the specific sites targeted for investigation. This information was used by the investigators to: 1) decide the significance of each archaeological find; 2) direct the nature of research; and 3) determine whether enough archaeological data had been recovered to address historical questions in light of the thematic contexts.

The following discussions provide the underpinnings used to address research criteria applicable to the project. Included are the specific research questions developed for the Barnette Archaeological Project as well as background for the State of Alaska's historic themes. The final section of this chapter provides a synopsis of Fairbanks' history that places the archaeological finds into historical perspective.

Weaver, Robert M. (1998) 2.1 Research Objectives as Established through Rivertown. In Historical Development of the Chena River Waterfront, Fairbanks, Alaska: An Archaeological Perspective, edited and compiled by Peter M. Bowers and Brian L. Gannon, CD-ROM. Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, Fairbanks.

Rivertown accomplished a series of important objectives that set the foundation for the present archaeological study within the proposed construction corridor. While focusing on the project area, the perspectives of the authors also provides guidance for future archaeological research projects in Fairbanks' urban core.

The research design identified seven primary areas for investigation. These were later incorporated into the project Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation,³ and as key objectives guiding assessment of resources and subsequent decisions for conducting the investigations.

The research topics and questions ranged from broad concepts, relating Fairbanks to other parts of the country, to very specific aspects such as the reactions of townspeople to floods and fires. These research topics include the following:

While these questions form a backbone for research, they provide much latitude for defining relevant subsets. Ketz and Arundale⁴ freely admit that many more specific questions could frame a frontier-to-urban development theme. For example, they elaborate on questions specific to dock construction and the pattern of dock-related activities as follows.

To be sure, ample opportunity exists for future researchers to elaborate on our primary research questions due to the large collection of artifacts preserved, representing some 90 years of Fairbanks history. In addition, the initial suite of research topics included broad categories that can be only partially studied under current conditions. For example, the archaeology of gold rush communities in Alaska is just now reaching a point where researchers might begin to compare assemblages among different communities. The same condition applies for comparisons between the core supply centers, such as Fairbanks, and the outlying mining camps.

The Barnette Project excavations revealed material from the historic center of Fairbanks. We examined the former locations of two saloons and part of the waterfront area that was once the heart of the town. Since this is the first large-scale historical archaeological project done in Fairbanks, it is difficult to compare Barnette site materials with information from tests dug in other areas of the city. Consequently, this report looks at only a limited set of issues, focusing on the data (artifacts and features) presently available.

The analyses in Chapter 5, nevertheless, develop some of the key aspects of the proposed research domain. A discussion on commodity flows, namely the goods ordered and sold by local establishments, begins to show how early Fairbanks was connected to outside supply centers. The topic also looks at the availability of different types of goods and the demand effects on supply from local, West Coast, national, and international sources.

A comparison of the artifacts associated with the two saloon complexes looks at similarities and differences between the assemblages. The differences, particularly among preferred beverages, hint at the unique character of clientele frequenting each establishment and raise additional questions regarding the economics affecting commerce on either side of the Chena River.

The Chena River, itself, afforded an important topic of discussion. Excavations documented river bank stabilization techniques in much greater detail than interpreted from historical photographs. Annual floods presented an ongoing challenge to the former citizens of Fairbanks; the archaeological record demonstrates the increasing complexity and care expended on controlling the effects of flood erosion through increasing layers of riverside barriers.

Finally, analysis of the Barnette archaeological data begins to address the nature of so-called "frontier" conditions in Alaska. Any complete analysis of the frontier-urban dichotomy may, however, ultimately depend on expanded data sets from other northern gold rush communities in Alaska and the Yukon. A question still remains as to what clearly defines "the frontier" condition. The availability of efficient transportation and commodity networks, as clearly shown in the archaeological record, predisposes toward more rapid development of the original trading post into a town of commerce, law, and order. Therefore, was Fairbanks ever a true frontier town? If so, what kind, how long, and what signaled the transition to an established urban center?

Chapter 6 elaborates on potential future research based on subsets of the cited research topics. The discussion targets opportunities to use both historical sources and the archaeological data in a manner that may add some depth to the perspective of life in early Fairbanks. The chapter focuses on topics germane to the excavated record, offering suggestions for addressing issues of broader historical concern.

Bowers, Peter M. (1998) 2.2 Historical Contexts. In Historical Development of the Chena River Waterfront, Fairbanks, Alaska: An Archaeological Perspective, edited and compiled by Peter M. Bowers and Brian L. Gannon, CD-ROM. Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, Fairbanks.

An "historical context" is defined here as how a particular cultural theme is expressed at a particular time and place. The following framework has been established for the early history of Fairbanks and its waterfront, as it applies to the Barnette Project. The historical contexts are based upon the major changes to the community, which have been influenced by such factors as: exploration, settlement, urbanization, commerce and economic development, transportation, disasters, and community permanence.

A total of eight historical contexts applicable to the prehistory and history of Fairbanks are defined. In this report, however, only four of the eight themes established by the Alaska Historic Preservation Plan are addressed: "Barnette's Cache," "the boom town," "the declining years," and "the Alaska Railroad." This framework, presented in Table 2.1, is based on several earlier summaries of Fairbanks' history,⁶ from the perspective of historical archaeology.

Table 2.1 introduces several temporal and analytical terms used throughout this report, and establishes a chronological framework for those terms. The left hand column, "Historical Context," is derived primarily from established histories of Fairbanks, slightly modified in light of the Barnette data. The second column, "Dates," are the time periods for each historical context. The "Historical Theme" column lists the themes established by the Alaska Historic Preservation Plan that are related to each historical context. "Applicability to the Project" refers to whether or not a certain context falls within the scope of the research design or applies to data recovered from the excavations. The right-hand column, "Archaeological Analytical Units," shows the temporal position and the equivalent historical context(s) for units of analysis employed and discussed throughout the report (detailed descriptions are in Appendix 10). The terms "Steamboat era" and "Railroad era" are used as basic temporal distinctions in the analysis of commodities (Section 5.2). These periods span 1901-22 and 1923-41, respectively. Prohibition (1918-33 in Alaska) also had an effect on the archaeological assemblages of the two saloons we investigated. In the historical discussion of the saloons, reference is made to pre- and post-Prohibition artifacts, but only as a dating mechanism. Prohibition was not considered as an analytical unit because it was in force during several of our historic contexts.⁷

Bowers, Peter M., William H. Adams, and Andrew S. Higgs (1998) 2.3 Historical Overview of Fairbanks. In Historical Development of the Chena River Waterfront, Fairbanks, Alaska: An Archaeological Perspective, edited and compiled by Peter M. Bowers and Brian L. Gannon, CD-ROM. Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, Fairbanks.

The Fairbanks area is one of Alaska's premier historic mining centers. As such, the relatively short history of Fairbanks has been heavily influenced by mineral resource exploration and exploitation. Up until World War II, a direct correlation can be made between the rise and fall of gold production and the economic health and development of the city. Gold production for the Fairbanks Mining District is shown in the graph in Figure 2.1. However, numerous factors other than gold production also influenced the community over the years. These include transportation infrastructure (especially the riverboats in the first two decades, roads, and railroads), social institutions, and national and international events (e.g. Prohibition, labor unions, wars) beyond the control of Fairbanks.

In order to set the stage for specific discussion of the various properties investigated during the project, a brief historical overview of the Fairbanks area is helpful. In keeping with the previously discussed "Historical Contexts," this overview is organized chronologically in Table 2.1. As the first two contexts, "Prehistory and Native American History," and "Exploration of the Tanana Valley" are not represented by the data and are outside the scope of the project, they are discussed only briefly.

Historical Context	Dates	Historic Theme	Applicable to Project	Archaeological Analytical Units
Prehistory/Native American History	circa 10,000 B.P. to pres.	1,2,4,5,6,7	No	none represented
Exploration of the Tanana Valley	circa 1875 to 1901	1,5	No	none represented
Barnette’s Cache and gold rush camp	1901-04	1,2,4,5	Yes	Historic Cabin	Steamboat/Pre-Railroad
The boom town: high grade bonanza mining and urbanization	1904-09	2,3,4,5,7	Yes	Early Saloon-California Early Saloon-Area A Early Saloon-Miners' Home
The declining years of Fairbanks: falling gold production and steamboat traffic and the onset of Prohibition	1909-23	2,4,5,7	Yes
The Alaska Railroad, coal, and mining industrialization	1923-41	2,4,5,7	Yes	Railroad
The Alaska Railroad, coal, and mining industrialization	1923-41	2,4,5,7	Yes	Railroad	Late Saloon-Chena Bar
World War II	1941-45	2,3,5	No	(not in research design)	Late Saloon-Chena Bar
Post WW II community development	1946-present	2,3,4,5,6	No	(not in research design)

When Euroamericans first explored interior Alaska, they found Native Americans inhabiting the area in sparse, widely-spaced subsistence-oriented settlements. Archaeological research suggests that Native Americans have occupied the Fairbanks vicinity for at least 10,000 years, and it is probable that settlement in the study area may be extended back to at least 12,000 years ago. Despite such antiquity, however, the cumulative density of archaeological sites in the Tanana Valley is low, a function of limited subsistence resources in the area and site preservation factors. More recently-dated sites, encompassing roughly the last two millennia, are attributed to the Salcha and Chena bands of the Tanana Athapaskans. The late 19th and early 20th century context and culture of these ethnographically-documented Native American groups are discussed elsewhere.⁸

The Tanana Valley has a relatively brief span of recorded Euroamerican history, covering less than 120 years. The earliest known non-Native exploration in the greater Tanana Valley occurred in the mid 1870s, when the traders Arthur Harper and an Englishman referred to only as "Bates" traveled via river from near the present community of Dot Lake to the Yukon River.⁹ Other notable early excursions into the Tanana country included Lieutenant Henry Allen's remarkable exploration of the Copper, Tanana, and Koyukuk Rivers in 1885.¹⁰

In 1896, a U.S. government geological exploration party under the leadership of Joseph E. Spurr examined gold fields along the Yukon River. The report of that expedition¹² was in part responsible for a major increase in gold prospecting in the Tanana River area. Within two years of Spurr's report, numerous prospectors were literally combing the hills north of present-day Fairbanks.¹³ As observed by Robe,¹⁴ the geological report by Spurr was significant in that it reported on conditions in the Tanana Valley on the eve of the most massive influx of non-Native people ever to reach the Yukon River basin, during the Klondike Gold Rush.

The first report of Euroamerican vessels on the Chena River (then known as the Chena Slough of the Tanana River) were the steamboats Tanana Chief and Potlatch, both observed by Lieutenant Castner during his military reconnaissance of the Tanana in 1898.¹⁵ These probably were the first western travelers on the Chena River, thereby showing it to be navigable. According to Castner, these prospectors, including a man by the name of Fred Currier, traveled upstream from the mouth of the Chena, probably as far as the confluence of the little Chena and the Chena River, within about 12 miles of the future site of Fairbanks.¹⁶ The group reportedly spent the next two years prospecting in the upper reaches of the Chena River, and established a post called Fort Chena. An early map of the area was prepared by Currier.¹⁷

The story of Fairbanks' founding by E.T. Barnette in 1901 has been told eloquently elsewhere.¹⁸ The following narrative summarizes germane aspects of that much longer tale. Barnette had outfitted himself and set out for Tanana Crossing (Tanacross) to trade with the Indians for fur and with the prospectors of the area. He believed that the proposed interior railroad would eventually go there, thus creating a potentially profitable site for a trading post.¹⁹ In his attempt to get up the Tanana River in the steamboat Lavelle Young, Barnette's passage was thwarted by Bates Rapids. Backtracking, the Lavelle Young attempted to bypass the rapids by going up Chena Slough. The attempt was unsuccessful; after repeatedly running aground in the shallow slough, Barnette, his wife, and all his supplies were put ashore at the place that would become Fairbanks. The Fairbanks location was merely a high cut bank where the goods could be easily unloaded.²⁰

Almost immediately Barnette's success and Fairbanks' future were fortuitously secured. Felix Pedro and Tom Gilmore had seen the smoke of the Lavelle Young from their prospect, 15 miles to the northwest. Hopeful of acquiring supplies, they went down to where the boat was off-loading.

The following summer, on July 28, 1902, Felix Pedro announced at Barnette's trading post that he had struck gold. The news was to be kept a secret until the others who had staked claims here could be notified, and to avoid a premature stampede.²¹ Although news of the strike had spread, the main stampede lay ahead. Barnette was in Seattle at the time, and by the time he arrived back in Fairbanks in September 1902, some 25 men were staking their 20 acre claims in the area of Pedro Creek.²²

On December 28, 1902, Barnette sent his employee and expert dog musher Jujiro Wada to Dawson, ostensibly to sell furs, but in reality to boom the strike, thereby attracting prospective customers to Barnette's trading post. After leaving the furs in Circle City, Wada arrived in Dawson on January 16, 1903 and was the source of much public attention. The Yukon Sun interviewed him for a front page article thus precipitating a new stampede. Accustomed to previous false reports of new strikes, however, some Dawsonites remained skeptical.²³

Three months later Barnette traveled to Dawson.²⁴ The following account offers a glimpse into the physical character of the earliest days of Fairbanks. "At the time of leaving Fairbanks about 100 or 150 persons had arrived, mostly from Dawson, and a large number of others were reported within a day or two journey of the camp. Fully 200 shacks and cabins of various descriptions were in course of construction two weeks ago."²⁵ Miners and prospectors working in the Fairbanks area posted individual claims and exploited bonanza placers in the creeks. Claims were staked quickly along creeks around Fairbanks, including Fish, Cleary, Fairbanks, Dome, Vault, Ester, Goldstream, and Pedro creeks.²⁶

One view of the stampeders of the winter of 1902-03 is that they were predominantly the ne'er-do-wells kicked out of Dawson, people who wanted the easy money but were not willing to work. When it became apparent that the camp had no easy money, most left. Abe Spring noted "Not more than one hundred people who came out of the seven or eight hundred that came into Fairbanks during the winter of 1902 and 1903 remained in the Fairbanks Mining District in June, 1903."²⁷

On April 20, 1903, Judge James Wickersham wrote the following description of Fairbanks in his diary:

Another early observer of Fairbanks reported that on April 20, 1903 "Fairbanks has a couple of two-story buildings.... One the Fairbanks hotel and the other the Northern lodging house. There are three saloons, one store, and about fifteen cabins. When I reached Fairbanks many tents were to be seen in the city" (Figure 4.10).²⁹

By June 1903, the main stampede was over and the disillusioned stampeders were gone.³⁰ Building lots were selling for $10. The gold in the creeks was deeper than the Klondike and would require machinery to be brought in from outside, so the get-rich-quick miners left for easier diggings elsewhere.³¹ Barnette had gone to San Francisco to boom Fairbanks, and during this trip sold a two-thirds interest in his enterprise to the Northern Commercial Company (NC Co.). With their financial backing, his success-and ultimately the success of the town-was made possible.³²

Fairbanks was incorporated on December 26, 1903. Soon thereafter, the city's concerns were with laying sidewalks, digging drains across Front Street, and providing fire protection, water, power, and light.³³ Barnette's brother-in-law, James W. Hill, received the franchises for electricity, water, and steam heat for the city, and Barnette himself became mayor and postmaster.³⁴

With the town's incorporation the process of permanent settlement and urbanization continued. By late winter of 1903, Fairbanks boasted its own post office and fire department, the townsite had been surveyed, and electric lights were present. The population stood at 1,000; one year later it had jumped to 3,000.³⁵

The years 1904-05 are considered to be a pivotal time in the town's early history; by that time, enough changes had taken place that the town could arguably no longer be considered a "frontier" settlement. This marks the transition from the "Barnette's Cache" to the "boom town" historical contexts (Table 2.1). By this time much of the tent and log cabin commercial architecture had been replaced by frame construction after sawmills were established. Barnette's Cache was torn down in 1904 to make way for the expansion of the NC Co. complex, and most of the trappings of "urban" society in the lower latitude cities were present.

Churches and a hospital were built by the fall of 1904, and a school board had been elected.³⁶ Installation of telephones also began in 1904, and the system was operational by 1905. Central water distribution, fire mains, and fire pumps were constructed by 1906. A factor which added significantly to the prospects of Fairbanks' eventual permanence and endurance was Judge James Wickersham establishment of his court there, officially moving from Eagle in 1904.³⁷ Two 1904 views of the commercial district of Fairbanks are shown in Figures 2.2 and 2.3.

Figure 2.2. The Fairbanks Waterfront on June 1, 1904. Barnette's Cache is the cabin immediately left of the ditch at the center of the photo. The first two NC Co. buildings are complete. The one-story cabin on the extreme right of the photograph is the cabin excavated in 1992. Note also the drains being put in across First Avenue (cf. Feature 1 in Area B2). Robert Jones Collection, Alaska and Polar Regions Archives, University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

Figure 2.3. The Fairbanks Waterfront in late summer of 1904. Barnette's Cache and the early cabin are still standing. The NC Co. has finished their main store (see Figure 2.2) and completed another warehouse behind the first two structures. The original Cushman Street bridge is present. The two story log building on the left side of the bridge is the Fairbanks Hotel. Note also the large frame building under construction in the center of the frame (on James Wickersham's lot; construction is described in his dairy entries for 7/4 and 8/18/1904). Charles Bunnell Collection, Alaska and Polar Regions Archives, University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

By 1905, the town's population had doubled from the previous year to number 6,000.³⁸ During this period riverboats crowded the Fairbanks riverfront to unload groceries, mining supplies, machinery, livestock, miners, and new entrepreneurs. The town's major transportation infrastructure was also in place by 1905 with the completion of the NC Co. warehouses and dock. The Pioneer dock was completed a year later (Figure 2.4).³⁹ Those two facilities, representing the competing Northern Navigation Company and the North American Transportation and Trading Company, dominated the commercial trade and activity along the waterfront of Fairbanks until the late 1910s.⁴⁰

Figure 2.4. The Fairbanks Waterfront in August 1905. The bridge in this picture is the new Turner Street Bridge. The NC Co. complex has expanded; both Barnette's log cache and the cabin on Block 16 have been replaced by frame buildings: an NC building and the California Saloon, respectively. The Northern Navigation Co. dock is in operation. Note also the beginnings of construction on the north side of the Chena. Clara Rust Album [81.02], Alaska and Polar Regions Archives, University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

Transportation of supplies from Fairbanks to the gold fields north of town improved with the completion of wagon roads as early as 1904.⁴¹ Access to the creeks was vastly improved the following year when construction of the narrow-gauge Tanana Mines (Tanana Valley) Railroad was completed to Gilmore in 1905 and to Chatanika by 1907.⁴²

Another important transportation route, the Valdez Trail, served as an essential overland link between the Pacific Ocean and interior Alaska, and provided linkage between Valdez and Fort Egbert at Eagle.⁴³ Spurred in part by the gold boom in Fairbanks, the Federal Alaska Road Commission (ARC) authorized construction of a wagon road which would provide year-round access to Alaska's interior. The 370 mile long Valdez-Fairbanks trail was surveyed between 1904-05; in 1906, construction of the public wagon road and bridges began.⁴⁴ The road became known as the Richardson Highway, after its principal builder and early president of the ARC, General Wilds P. Richardson.⁴⁵

The remainder of the first decade of Fairbanks reflects continued economic stability and urbanization, development of social institutions and transportation networks, and a steady flow of prospectors and entrepreneurs from other regions of the Yukon, Alaska, and the Pacific Northwest. The easily accessible gold paystreaks were exhausted by 1907, and necessitated consolidation of claims and hiring wage laborers to work the drift mines. With this change in allocation of labor and capital came the miners' labor union. By 1910, many placers, some with large gold reserves, remained untouched due to the relative difficulty of digging them and increased cost in mining them compared to the bonanzas.⁴⁶

Between 1910 and 1923, a pronounced economic decline beset Fairbanks, which was greatly exacerbated by World War I. This period coincides with the "declining years" historical context (Table 2.1). The great decline resulted primarily from the easily-mined paystreaks becoming depleted, resulting in miners leaving for easier diggings elsewhere, and rising transportation costs. Gold output dropped from a high of $10.5 million in 1909 to less than $1 million in the early 1920s (Figure 2.1). Between 1910 and 1920, the population also dropped, from 4,682 to 1,356.⁴⁷ Another factor which affected the economic stability of the town during these years was World War I, which reportedly siphoned off three quarters of the Fairbanks Mining District's population.⁴⁸

With placer gold production already declining by 1909, efforts turned to mining lower grade deposits. Paystreaks were generally deeply buried and drift mining became a more common method of gold extraction. Despite the steady working of these low-grade deposits by small groups of independent miners, the Fairbanks district production sank to a low point in the early 1920s (Figure 2.1).

In the downtown commercial "core" of Fairbanks, the decline in gold output directly affected the economy, riverfront commerce, and revenues generated by the "Great White Way,"⁴⁹ the saloon district along First Avenue. Historical research of the California Saloon, for example, shows a major decline in activities by 1915; indeed, within two years, the saloon was closed. Between the demise of the steamboats by 1920, brought about ultimately by the fallen gold production, World War I, which took many men away from Fairbanks, and the closing of the saloons due to Prohibition, the once-vibrant and sometimes rowdy waterfront became comparatively quiet.

By 1923, the riverboat docks were gone. However, the year 1923 also marks the beginning of the "Alaska Railroad and mining industrialization" historical context, which lasted until the outbreak of World War II (Table 2.1). Mining in Fairbanks and other neighboring districts was given a major boost with the 1923 completion of the Alaska Railroad between Fairbanks and the port of Seward. The railroad lowered transportation costs and made feasible the freighting of new and larger mining equipment as well as exporting ore from Alaska's interior mines to West Coast smelters.⁵⁰ Coal from the Healy Coal fields became available as an inexpensive and abundant energy source. With the coming of the railroad, the steady economic decline was halted and within a few years the town was rebuilding. By 1926, the city's population was estimated as 1,725; by 1935, it had increased to 2,778; and by 1941 it stood at 4,151.⁵¹

During this period road construction and maintenance under the federally-mandated Alaska Road Commission improved transportation to the creeks surrounding Fairbanks.⁵² In time, improved transportation facilities, combined with new mining technologies revitalized the local mining industry, allowing it to expand during the 1920s through the 1930s.⁵³

Beginning in the mid-1920s, placer mining development became more industrialized as dredges began to exploit deeply buried gold placers on large tracts of consolidated claims. With mining of extensive low-grade placers came the introduction of large-scale hydraulic techniques and dredging that eventually peaked in production during the 1930s-40s (Figure 2.1). The dredges, for the most part, reworked ground that had been previously mined by smaller placer operations. One important facet of the 1930s industrial boom phase is that it dampened the economic effects of the Great Depression on Fairbanks, while so much of the rest of the United States, Canada, and many other industrialized countries were devastated.

The most successful corporate venture during this period was undertaken by the Fairbanks Exploration Company (F.E. Co.), a subsidiary of the United States Smelting Refining and Mining Company. In 1924, the F.E. Co. began purchasing large tracts of land and constructing a vast water conveyance system, the Davidson Ditch, in preparation for dredging activities. The Davidson Ditch was an engineering marvel. Approximately 90 linear miles of hydraulic ditch, flumes and siphons diverted millions of gallons of water per day to a network of drainages to be stripped of overburden, thawed, and finally dredged. Three F.E. Co. dredges began operation in 1928. By 1940, a total of eight dredges were operating and employing roughly one-third of the population of Fairbanks in F.E. Co. labor and management.⁵⁴

With the beginning of the so-called "railroad" era came a major change in focus of activities and commerce along the Chena River waterfront. Gone were the riverboat docks, once the hub of commerce and steamboat transportation, and the numerous saloons with their crowds of miners, wide-open gambling and drinking. The focus of transportation and major industrial activities shifted from the south side waterfront to the north side of the river, where the Alaska Railroad terminals were located. Construction for the railroad resulted in the demolition or relocation of all the buildings in the Riverside block. On the north side of the river, the old Miners' Home Saloon, at one time reported to be the haunt of foreign workers and pro-union miners, was torn down. Prohibition was also in effect during most of this period, necessitating that a new use be found for the once popular saloons. Many remained empty through at least part of Prohibition; those that did find a new function probably were not as financially successful as the saloons they replaced. The California Saloon sat idle for several years until it was eventually put into service as a dry goods and clothing store. When Prohibition was lifted in 1933, the California building again became a place of entertainment: the Chena Bar and Grill. However, the Chena Bar would never again attain its former pre-Prohibition glory.

Even the river itself changed during this period. Once capable of supporting up to a dozen riverboats below the Turner Street bridge, the Chena became a veritable trickle by comparison. After years of ravaging floods, culminating in the flood of 1937, the Moose Creek Dike was built about 20 miles east of Fairbanks. Dike construction was authorized in 1938 and completed in 1941, representing the first major river re-engineering project in the Fairbanks area. It was designed to prevent Tanana floodwaters from entering the Chena River and endangering Fairbanks.⁵⁵ The Chena was blocked off by means of an earthen dike between the Moose Creek Bluff and the Tanana River, thus effectively reducing the water flow to Fairbanks by about 75 %.⁵⁶

In October 1942, the federal government closed all non-strategic mineral mining nationwide⁵⁷ and mining of gold in Alaska virtually ceased until 1946.⁵⁸ With the coming of World War II this new phase in Fairbanks' history is termed the "World War II" historical period (Table 2.1). However, this period is not relevant to the research design for the Barnette Archaeological Project and therefore is not addressed.

Since the war, Fairbanks' economic base was diversified by the presence of the military and other sources, and became less dependent on mineral extraction for survival. In fact, stable military and government jobs began to attract laborers from the mines. The "post-World War II community development" context (Table 2.1) name corresponds to the period proposed by Monahan.⁵⁹ This recent period is not directly relevant to the Barnette Archaeological Project research design and our analyses have focused on the pre-1941 periods. Data were collected that can address more recent eras in future research.

¹Ketz and Arundale 1986:61-68.
²The Alaska Historical Commission 1996.
³An MOA is a legal guidance document driving the work. The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation is a federal agency with members appointed by the President of the United States.
⁴Ketz and Arundale 1986:14.
⁵Ketz and Arundale 1986:96.
⁶Robe 1943; Monahan 1959; Hedrick and Savage 1988; Cole 1981.
⁷An excellent discussion of Prohibition laws in Alaska is presented in Spude et al. 1993.
⁸McKennan 1981:562-576; Andrews 1975.
⁹Robe 1943:22-24.
¹⁰Allen, H.T. 1900.
¹¹Data from Monahan 1959.
¹²Spurr 1900.
¹³Robe 1943:39.
¹⁴Robe 1943.
¹⁵Castner 1900:692-693; Robe 1943:66-67.
¹⁶Castner 1900:692; Robe 1943:66-67.
¹⁷John Cook, conversation with Peter Bowers, Fairbanks, 1994.
¹⁸Cole 1981.
¹⁹A rival to Barnette's trading post was established in 1901 on an island at the confluence of the Chena and Tanana rivers; although nominally operating as independent traders, they were agents of the North American Transportation and Trading Company (Robe 1943).
²⁰The name Chenoa City, originally given for Barnette's Cache, did not last long; the settlement became known as Fairbanks by 1903, named after soon-to-be Vice President, Charles Fairbanks (Cole 1981).
²¹Robe 1943:124-30.
²²Cole 1981:37-38.
²³Cole 1981.
²⁴E.T. and Isabelle Barnette left Fairbanks on March 22, 1903 to replenish supplies. They arrived in Dawson on April 5, 1903 (Robe 1943).
²⁵Dawson Daily News, 7 April 1903.
²⁶Robe 1943.
²⁷Spring 1909:259-62.
²⁸James Wickersham Diaries, microfilm, Alaska and Polar Region Archives, University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
²⁹Dawson Daily News, 20 April 1903:8.
³⁰Robe 1943:173.
³¹Cole 1981:60.
³²Robe 1943.
³³Robe 1943:188.
³⁴Cole 1991:78.
³⁵Naske and Rowinski 1981:19.
³⁶Robe 1943.
³⁷Wickersham 1938:431.
³⁸Naske and Rowinski 1981.
³⁹Hedrick and Savage, 1988.
⁴⁰Kitchener 1954:297-298.
⁴¹Hildebrandt n.d.: 39.
⁴²Ketz and Arundale 1986.
⁴³Abercrombie 1900.
⁴⁴Abercrombie 1900.
⁴⁵Phillips 1985.
⁴⁶Brooks 1908: 39.
⁴⁷Hedrick and Savage 1988:77.
⁴⁸Hedrick and Savage 1988.
⁴⁹The "Great White Way" is a phrase applied by Naske and Rowinski 1981.
⁵⁰Hill 1933:52.
⁵¹Naske and Rowinski 1981.
⁵²Naske and Rowinski 1981.
⁵³Monahan 1959.
⁵⁴Boswell 1979:31.
⁵⁵Collins 1990:6.
⁵⁶Collins 1990.
⁵⁷Gold Mine Closure Order, War Production Order, L-208.1
⁵⁸Monahan 1959:99; Cole 1989.
⁵⁹Monahan 1959.