Tuesday, June 7, 2016, was our first full day in Fairbanks. Yesterday, we drove from Beaver Creek, Yukon to Fairbanks, Alaska. It was another long drive day made longer by more road construction. However, we are learning how to deal with the slow going. Now instead of dividing the drive up by miles, we drive two hours and then switch drivers. For most of our drive to Fairbanks, we followed the Tanana River. The river meanders through a huge valley twisting and splitting into numerous braids. The valley is so wide, you can just make out the mountains, off in the distance.
Today, we decided to give Great White a rest day and rode our bikes into downtown Fairbanks. For part of our ride, we followed the Chena River. The Chena is a 100-mile tributary of the Tanana River. It flows generally west from the White Mountains.
After following the river as it snakes from the suburbs, we soon found ourselves downtown. We stopped to check out some of the historic buildings on the way to the Visitors Center. At one time, this was the location of "The Radio Station" in Fairbanks. By May 1940, KFAR in Fairbanks was picking up radio broadcasts in the "lower 48" and re-broadcasting them in Alaska. Alaskans were thus able to hear speeches of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and other world leaders. (The smaller white house to the right of The Radio Station is a former Bath House and currently the location of the Mining Hall of Fame Museum - see below in this blog.)
Our sunny day didn't last long. Just as we stopped to take a picture of this statute of the First Family, located in the Golden Heart Plaza (Fairbanks is known as the Golden Heart City), the heavens opened up. (Yes. Yes. You want to know why Fairbanks is called the "Golden Heart City." Well, we don't exactly know the answer, but we think it has something to do with the gold discovered in this area and the goldfields for which Fairbanks supplied transportation and supplies.)
We quickly raced to the Visitors Center where we attempted to dry out while browsing through the tourist brochures. After getting all sorts of ideas for things to do in the area, we stopped at Soapy Smith's Pioneer Restaurant for lunch.
The restaurant is owned and operated by the son of the former governor of Alaska who presided over its becoming the 51st State. The dining area is filled with historic photos and political memorabilia. Right in the middle of our lunch, the owner addressed the entire dining room and thanked us for coming and proceeded to point out some of the more interesting artifacts, including the below photo of Soapy Smith. The restaurant was named after Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith II, a notorious con man. In 1897, Smith joined the Alaskan gold rush and eventually landed in the rough frontier town of Skagway. Short on law and long on gold dust, Skagway was the perfect place for Smith to perfect his con games. He soon became the head of an ambitious criminal underworld, and he and his partners fleeced thousands of gullible miners. These fine fellows also infected the City of Fairbanks.
After lunch, we made a stop at the Alaska Mining Hall of Fame Foundation Museum. The AMHF inductee plaques are arranged in historical sequence from the earliest mining history events to the more contemporary. These include late 19th Century mineral exploration and trading activities, the Juneau Gold Belt (Alaska's first significant mining district), the Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush, and then later periods involving copper, tin, and strategic mineral developments. We found this copy of The New York Herald from December 12, 1897 with a headline and detailed drawing of a scene on the Chilkoot Trail. The Klondike Gold Rush was big news even in New York City.
Just as we were heading back to camp, we encountered another sprinkle cloud. We took shelter in the Pioneer Park, a theme park that lets visitors walk back to an era when gold was king and narrow-gauge railroads were the way to get around. It is full of museums, a riverboat, a native Alaskan village, a mining operation, and more. For $15.00, RVs can boondock in their parking lot.
After the sprinkle cloud passed, it was back on the trail.
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