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Bowers, Peter M. (1998) 4.8 Noyes Slough. 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 proposed widening of Illinois Street includes a new bridge at Noyes Slough (Figures 1.2 and 4.3), an overflow channel of the Chena River. The proposed structure would lie just upstream from the existing bridge and consist of a single span bridge, four lanes wide, about 130 feet long and 100 feet wide.239 The bridge project would require realignment of Illinois Street to the east, as shown in Figure 4.3. Archaeological operational Areas E and F covered the road improvements and bridge, respectively.
The Noyes Slough and realignment test areas addressed archaeological concerns about: 1) the possibility of buried prehistoric archaeological resources; 2) development of an early 20th century lumber mill; and 3) possible activities of the F.E. Co. However, archaeological testing of Areas E and F did not discover significant features or artifacts that would be affected by the proposed project.
The Tanana Mill, owned by Fred G. Noyes, was among the first sawmills built in the new gold camp of Fairbanks (Figure 4.77). Noyes was among the first wave of stampeders to the Tanana country in 1902-03, having successfully operated a sawmill in Dawson.240 He located his new sawmill and planing mill close to the present-day Illinois Street bridge; based on historical documents, we believe the main part of the mill complex lay to the west of the existing bridge, beneath what is now the Golden Valley Electric Association administrative complex.241
Figure 4.77. The Tanana Lumber Company, in circa 1905-10, located approximately where the GVEA headquarters currently stand. View to the north. Clara Rust Collection [67-110-577], Alaska and Polar Regions Archives, University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
The Tanana Mill site was well positioned for success. Logs floated down the Chena River and stockpiled in Noyes Slough provided the mill's raw materials. Demand for cut lumber contributed to development of both the town and the mines. The mill was strategically located on the road leading out of town to the mines, yet was close enough to downtown to supply local demands. The narrow gauge Tanana Valley Railroad, which reached Gilmore in 1905 and to its terminus at Chatanika in 1907,242 served the mill by a spur track.
According to one historical summary of the mill,243 Noyes' lumber company was the largest sawmill in the Tanana Valley.244 The Tanana Mill, along with several others in the boomtown community, was an important part of the infrastructure and enabled the rapid transition from frontier gold rush camp to more permanent urban community.
Noyes sold the Tanana Mill property in the mid 1920s to the F.E. Co. The F.E. Co., a subsidiary of the United States Smelting, Refining, and Mining Company, built an administrative complex for their massive operation beginning in 1926. The main industrial complex, which lies west of Illinois Street and just south of what is now the Golden Valley Electric Association administrative facility, boasted as many as 30 buildings.245 One of the remaining F.E. Co. structures has been determined eligible for the National Register.246 One building lies just east of Area F, where the F.E. Co. chief executive resided in a large Colonial Revival style house (locally referred to as the "White House").247 The main period of significance of the F.E. Co. lasted from the late 1920s to World War II.
The north and south shores of Noyes Slough were archaeologically tested at approximate nodes of a 5x7 meter grid. Shovel tests in a 10x10 meter grid covered the area of the south approach realignment along Illinois Street. The work tested for both historic and prehistoric materials in proximity to the slough. Unlike other areas of the project, these areas had not been investigated under previous archaeological contracts.248 Our test efforts concluded that:
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