The lure of GOLD, riches and the good life
was just "up the road a ways" sounded too tempting for a lot of people. Where
there were only sparsely populated areas in the Yukon and Alaska Territory, they
quickly became flooded with non-native inhabitants. The events that
occurred as a result of those new citizens from the gold strike were, and still
are, staggering. Dozens of new
sternwheelers, steam ships, new towns, railroads and major stores had
suddenly appeared. All of these changes soon made all existing maps of those
areas obsolete. This is where the search began to locate old railroads in
Alaska's interior.
Starting the search at the year 1876, the results were zero. There was nothing in the interior.
Some types of civilization existed at the new military forts which were
springing up throughout the interior, but the only large scale presence were the local natives of that particular
area. The first railroads that did appear on maps were in South East Alaska and
British Columbia in Canada. The following portions of
an old map is a good example of little or no known features such as towns,
roads, villages and inhabitants in Alaska's Interior. This area did not yet have
the status of recognition which would sell and justify the updating of
mapping.
One
of the early map of the Alaska's interior was found in the 1876 edition of Rand
McNally, " New Railroads County Map". At first notice, there are no roads,
railroads or trails listed. Information for this map was initially prepared by
the U.S.Army from their new Artic Region Headquarters at Ft. Yukon. Note the
accuracy of their work: "Supposed course of the Tananah R. (From Indian
Reports)"
The next two images are a part of that original map and is used to provide
additional historical information.
Washington State Education Assoc, Seattle,WA
Some of the
first non-native inhabitants in the interior region of the Alaska Territory were
located in the North East part of the state in an area named Circle City. Some
of the details and the travel adventures of getting to that location were
recorded by Nora Crane in her diary in 1898. That husband and wife family came
from Chicago to Dawson in 1897 to open a new store by the name of The Northwest
Trading and Transfer Company known as the NT&T Co. That new company would be a
competitor with two other major stores in the area by the name of The Northern
Commercial Company (N.C.C.) and the Alaska Commercial Company. The occupation of
the areas around today's Fairbanks was not identified until 1900 with the
introduction of "miners" looking for a quick find or a strike of gold.
NOTE: The N.C. Company Building was still standing in Fairbanks when we arrived
in 1990. Even though this company has been out of business for decades, the
building had been used by another Northwestern U.S. store by the name of
Nordstrom's.
University of Washington, Department of
History, Seattle
The
first known map of the Tanana Valley Goldfields, shown here, was reprinted in
the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Golden Days Edition, July 2004, in celebration
of Golden Days. Looking over that map resulted in wonder and
amazement as to why would any person build a railroad in an area identified as
a "BIG SWAMP, No Bottom" at a spot called "New Town, Chena".
This town was originally an
Athabaskan
village and seasonal fish camp
on the Tanana River and provided a much needed fuel stop for the Sternwheelers. The
original article was taken from the first printing of "The Fairbanks Miner",
on May 1, 1903. Again, no roads or railroads are shown even though the Tanana
Mines Railway (listed as T M Rwy on photos and related documents) was a 3 foot,
narrow gage line
that was in the planning phase during this period. Although the railroad would be
a excellent reference point on any map, its' construction would not start until
the following year.
The Winter Trail out of Fairbanks appears to closely follow what is now known as
the old Steese Highway while the summer trail could be the predecessors of
today's Chena Pump and College Roads.
Restoration and imaging
provide by University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Note: Today we are still faced
with the same
"construction difficulties or engineering problems" due to permafrost. No
matter how smart one may think he may be, or how many engineering degrees one
possess, the problem is still there. It has been described as "hard as concrete"
in the winter and as a "Swamp, No Bottom" in the summer.
An
overhead photo which clearly shows the former roadbed of the Tanana Mines and Tanana
Valley Railroads and the
location of the old town Chena.
This photo courtesy U.S. Department of Agriculture. The area identified as a
"Sand Bar" in the 1903, early miners map above, is still visible.
The following is a list of the published stops along on the line.
-Fairbanks or
Chena
-Ester Siding
-Ester Creek
-Big Eldorado
-Engineer
-Fox
-10 to 21 Goldstream
-Tank
-Gilmore
-Ridge Top
-Moring
-Olness:
-4A to 20 B Dome Cr (creek)
-L. (little) Eldorado
-Chatanika
Shown below is a copy of a 1910 tariff which lists the stops and cost of shipping.
The starting point was shown to
be either Chena or Fairbanks. Chena was on the downslide during this period and
would soon be abandoned.
Photos of some of the known
stops are available in the photos section
The following historical event was provided by the Alaska Railroad.
"June 1917
......
The Tanana Valley Railroad, a 45-mile narrow-gauge line into Fairbanks from the
Chatanika mining area to the northwest, was purchased, principally to obtain its
Fairbanks terminal facilities. "
The TVRR was
eventually purchased by the U.S. Government and
continued into Fairbanks as its' northern terminus with the installation of a
third rail from Happy. Narrow gage operations
continued for several more years from Happy to Chatanika by the Alaska Railroad.
Portions of a 1946 aeronautical map showing the railroad out of Happy to just
south of Gilmore. This was the remains of the Chatanika Branch of the Alaska
Railroad.
Map image by Chris Kennedy
Last updated
May 14, 2008
