North to Alaska 2010

Fairbanks and surrounding area

First a little about Fairbanks. It is the second largest city in Alaska; it is the start of the Alaska Highway; it was named in 1902 by Captain E.T. Barnette convincing 25 or so miners in the area to use the name "Fairbanks" for the town that he expected would grow up around his trading post. The name had been suggested by Judge James Wickersham who admired Charles W. Fairbanks, the senior senator from Indiana. The senator later became vice president of the United States under Theodore Roosevelt. The town has grown from a census population in 1910 from 3,541 to 31,639. More than 30 percent of employment in Fairbanks is through the government. Fort Wainwright - formerly Ladd Field - was the first Army airfield in Alaska, extabslished in 1938. Eielson Air Force Base, located 25 miles southeast was completed in 1944. Originally a satellite base to Ladd Army Air Field, it served as a storage site for aircragt on their way to the Soviet Union under the WWII Lend-Lease program.