•kindle.] FAIRBANKS REGION. 69 
growth of the settlement which has sprung to importance on the once 
jiiiet Hats of the Tanana. 
Fairbanks is at present the most important supply point in the 
nterior of Alaska. Transportation from the outside during the last 
season has been largely by way of Dawson. The largest boats plying 
>n the Yukon transship their passengers and freight at Tanana to 
>oats better adapted to the conditions on the Tanana River. 
All of the boats at times of low water are liable to experience diffi- 
culty in the slough between Chena and Fairbanks, and some men 
nade good wages during the early part of the past season in poling 
upplies from Chena to Fairbanks. Supplies are brought also by 
vay of St. Michael, but the fact that boats can reach Fairbanks much 
earlier in the spring from the upper river has made this route popu- 
ar at that time of the year, when supplies of all kinds are in greatest 
lemand. Cattle were successfully brought to Fairbanks by being 
hipped to Dawson, carried thence by scow down the river to Circle, 
md driven over the trail, a distance of about 150 miles, from Circle 
Fairbanks. 
The first-class passenger rate from Seattle to Fairbanks during the 
season of 1904, either by way of St. Michael or Dawson, "was $150. 
Hie freight rate varies greatly, according to the kind of material; 
hat for ordinary supplies by way of St. Michael was $100 a ton. 
A bridge has been constructed across the slough and a wagon road 
las replaced the pack trail. The wagon road leaves the flat about 
1 miles from town, winds with easy grades among the beautiful 
irches of the lower slopes, and then follows the wooded ridge to a 
)oint about 12 miles from town, opposite the mouth of Gilmore 
>eek, where it descends rather abruptly to the creek. The road 
rom the town to the slope of the Gilmore Valley has required but 
ittle work in its construction, and freight wagons drawn by from two 
o six horses and carrying up to 3,000 pounds of freight find but lit- 
le difficulty in traversing this portion of it. From here on the con- 
litions are different. There is much soft ground along the creeks, 
md considerable work and expense are involved in making roads 
uitable for the transportation of heavy freight wagons. The fact 
hat good roads are possible under similar conditions has been 
>roved again and again on the Canadian side of the boundary, but 
n the Yukon-Tanana region such roads are not yet in existence. 
The miner on a claim which is producing only a fair living has no 
ime and little money to spend in combination with other miners in 
vorking on roads. It is imperative for him to get as much gold out 
)f the ground as possible during the short season at his command, 
nd the work accomplished on the roads is generally of the intermit- 
ent, temporary character which the demands of the moment necessi- 
ate. Work was being done, however, on the worst places along the 
