Chatanika – historic settlement along the Steese Highway approximately 25 miles north of Fairbanks
Poker Flat Research Range, owned and operated by the University of Alaska’s Geophysical Institute (GI), is a rocket range located at Chatanika, 30 miles north of Fairbanks. Construction on the facility began in 1968,...
Chatanika Gold Camp as it looked in 1994 On a southeast-facing hill just north of Mile 27.5 of the Steese Highway sits Chatanika Gold Camp. The camp used to be the Fairbanks Exploration Company’s...
Old Chatanika cabin in 1994 In 1902 Felix Pedro washed gold out of Cleary Creek about 25 miles northeast of Fairbanks. Relatively few miners worked the creeks near Fairbanks in 1902, and it wasn’t...
I enjoy tramping through the hills or along back roads, looking for hidden gems — out-of-the-way or forgotten buildings with lots of character. One of those hidden gems is the old Chatanika schoolhouse...
TVRR Engine No. 1 at Pioneer Park in Fairbanks When Falcon Joslin, the mastermind behind the Tanana Valley Railroad, began work on the line in 1904, he envisioned a railroad stretching from Fairbanks to...
Leonhard Seppala’s cabin as it looked in the 1990s Most people probably aren’t aware that Leonhard (Sepp) Seppala, who achieved fame during the 1925 diphtheria serum run to Nome and popularized the use of...
Last post I published a drawing of an old building at Little Eldorado Creek and talked about the area’s history. This time I’m putting up some photos from my hike out there a few...
Eldorado Creek building as it looked in 1994 The Tanana Valley Railroad (which operated from 1905 to 1930 under various names and owners) used to run 35 miles from Fairbanks to Chatanika through country...
