Alaska or Bust: Revisited: Tangle River to Fairbanks, AK Part 1 (6/27/2017)

Day 14
1964, the Plan: Mt McKinley National Park to Milepost 400 in Alaska.
1964, the Actuality: On Thursday, July 30, the Explorer Scouts traveled from Tangle River to Fairbanks, AK.
Kent had a brochure from Capt Jim Binkley's Alaska Riverboat Excursions in Fairbanks.

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Taken at 2:15 am

We planned to spend the day in Fairbanks, AK.
Kent found an auto repair facility close to the Riverboat Discovery dock where we had a 9:00 sailing and were supposed to check in at 8:30. The repair shop opened at 7:30, and we were there. The staff readily took us right away and fixed the flat tire, finding a 1-1/2" bolt that left a nearly 1/4" hole, about the maximum size that can be plugged and repaired! They replaced the tire and did a quick check of the car, and we had just enough time to check in at the dock at 8:30.

Flat tire repair; thanks to the folks at Simard Automotive!

The bolt

Riverboat Discovery was established in 1950 by Captain Jim Binkley, Sr and it is now run by his grandchildren.

Riverboat Discovery is quite the operation,
almost like a Disney World attraction

As we waited to board the paddlewheeler Discovery III, we could experience the temperature of 60 degrees below zero in a small room (and have our photo taken for a fee), and pose with Susan Butcher and her dogs.

Kent with Susan Butcher's dog sled

Susan Butcher was the second woman to win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, became the second four-time winner in 1990, and the first to win four out of five sequential years. She also held the Iditarod speed record from 1986 to 1992. She died of acute myeloid leukemia in 2006.
At 9:00 we set sail down the Chena River, being piloted by a granddaughter of Captain Jim.

Passed the Discovery II

If you could not hop up to view the action outside, you
could view the live action on the TV monitors (KSS)

There was a bush pilot demonstration
of a float plane taking off

There he goes!

And landing; the pilot was able to speak to
the passengers over the boat's sound system

We passed the Pump House, now a popular saloon and restaurant,
with the pump hose spewing water to the right; the pump house once
provided water for the gold dredges on Cripple Creek

The mouth of Cripple Creek, which yielded a great deal of gold

This homeowner on the Chena River built a new house,
but kept the sled dog houses of the former owner

This was Susan Butcher's home and sled dog kennel, now run by
her husband, David Monson; the Discovery III stopped and David
could be heard on the boat's sound system explaining about the sled dogs

Sled dogs puppies get socialized

The sled dogs were barking raucously, showing their excitement and desire
to run; once they took off, dragging an ATV minus motor, all was quiet

The next stop was the replica Athabascan Chena Village; this part was
the summer fishing camp with a fishwheel out in the river, and a
young man spoke to us about catching, drying, and smoking salmon

At another stop, a herd of reindeer came out on cue,
representing the caribou the Athabascans would have hunted

We turned around where the clear Chena River
flowed into the muddy Tanana River

On the way back, the passengers disembarked at Chena Village;
here are the disguised restrooms

The passengers were divided into three groups, and each followed two well-trained "guides," rotating through three demonstrations.

After arrival of non-Natives, the Athabascans quickly adopted the
log cabin for their winter homes, and the meat or fur cache on stilts

At the second stop, we saw pre-non-Native era lodgings,
such as the temporary shelters used by men on the hunt (KSS)

Winter lodging made of bent branches covered with caribou skins (KSS)

Birch bark was used to make baskets and baby carriers

An Athabascan woman's coat is modeled
at the third stop

We had time to explore the village...

Kent pets one of the retired sled dogs

Each of the cabins was moved from Athabascan villages (KSS)

Beds were made with spruce branches and caribou skins (KSS)

Heat source (KSS)

An early snowmobile, or snow machine as it is called in Alaska (KSS)

Dried salmon in the smoke house (KSS)

A statue of Granite, Susan Butcher's lead dog,
who grew from being the runt of the litter
to help Susan win four Iditarod races

Susan Butcher wrote a book about Granite, and we decided to purchase one - it was signed by David Monson.

This home on the Chena River has a hot tub on the back deck

This homeowner built a small cabin,
and spent the rest of his money on a float plane!

New houses in Fairbanks are built on slabs
with underfloor heating that heat the whole house

Fairbanks is the third largest city in Alaska. In 1901, E T Barnette was hauling supplies on the SS Lavelle Young on the Tanana River to the Tanacross gold fields. He detoured up the shallow Chena River and became stranded at the "corner of 1st Avenue and Cushman Street." Barnette set up a trading post, and the next year Felix Pedro discovered gold nearby. By 1908, Fairbanks was a boomtown.
The next boom era was World War II with military bases and the building of the Alcan Highway. The biggest boom was the building of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline/Alyeska Pipeline in 1973-1977. A rebound occurred in the 1980s with more gold and tourism.
In the winter, Fairbanks has 23 hours of daylight, and an annual Midnight Sun baseball game is held on the winter solstice, beginning at 10:30 pm. It was first played in 1908.
We learned that Fairbanks has the most extreme temperatures in Alaska, from up to 99 °F/37 °C to below −60 °F/−51.1 °C. The shallow Chena River quickly freezes in the winter, and people commute to work on the frozen ice.
After the Riverboat Discovery tour, we stopped for lunch at Lulu's.