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THE ROLE OF TRANSPORTATION IN THE FAIRBANKS AREA Robert L. Monaiian Western Washington College The Yukon River with its numerous affluents dominates the great central plain of Alaska. The valley of the Yukon provides ready access to a territory which stretches from the Brooks Range on the north to the Alaska mountain system on the south, and penetrates southeastward across the border in a great crescent deep into the Canadian Klondike. This master river, 2,300 miles in length, is also the central transport artery of the interior. Of its many affluents, none is more centrally located than the Tanana-Chena, where Fairbanks has become the recognized trade and transportation hub. The city proper is located on die banks of the Chena River a few miles from its confluence with the Tanana, the urban area including a small portion of the southern fringe of the Yukon Tanana Upland with its gold bearing gravels. Here, placer mining was responsible for the founding and early growth of Fairbanks. A spur of the upland extends to the bank of the Tanana some eight miles west of Fairbanks; known as Chena Ridge, this spur marks the westernmost spread of settlement along the floodplain. The right bank floodplain of the Tanana is relatively narrow because the stream has been deflected by the heavy deposition of tributary glacial streams from the Alaska Range to the south. Coriolis force, deflecting moving masses to the right in the northern hemisphere, also has contributed to this phenomenon, Settlement is concentrated on the floodplain and the south facing slope of the adjacent upland, South of the river, the plain has never been settled. A military reservation, Ladd Air Force Base Bombing and Gunnery Range, is now located on the plain and, together with the difficulties and expense associated with bridging the river, will negate civilian settlement in this direction in the foreseeable future, Surface transport arteries enter the area from the west and from the southeast. The Alaska Railroad reaohes Fairbanks from die west after entering the valley via 2,363-foot Broad Pass through the Alaska Range. The Alaska Highway approaches from southeast via the low divide between the Tanana and White Rivers. This Canadian highway for passenger vehicles and trucks is joined at Big Delta, ninety miles southeast of Fairbnnks, by the Richardson Highway, now a year-round link with tidewater at Vnldez. Viewed from the air in summer, the area surrounding Fairbanks is a mosaic of greens and blues. In the floodplain lowlands where the drainage is poor, the coloration varies from the fight greens of mosses and lichens to the blue green of the black spruce. The small oxbow and ice-wedged lakes are ciel blue although shades deepen with the depth of the water. In the better-drained and undisturbed areas where sjiruce prevails and where burns have occurred, birch and aspen contribute their intermediate greens. In the ^Li-Jg S0Uth aCr0SS ?ß Chena mveT toward ?ß "ß"™1 business district of Fairbanks. At one time largely restricted to sommer steamer service via the Yukon and Tanana rivers, Fairbanks is now the northern terminus of the Alaska Railroad and ?ß Alaska Highway as well as an international air center for trans-Pacific and trans-Polar fliehts LoMlair routes and highways fan out in every direction; the city is a supply point for numerous sub-Arctic and Arctic projects, military, scientific and commercial.Wien Alaska Airlines photo by Frank Whaley Yukon Tanana Uplands, stretching north of the city, a series of sharp crested ridges culminates in several higher peaks, commonly called domes. On the southern slopes of these ridges, which have been cut over and burned, birch and aspen make their appearance. On the northern slopes, moss and lichens are interspersed with the tell-tale black spruce—always an indicator that permafrost is near the surface. On south slopes, cleared fields planted to ¿jotatoes appear as light green or even white corduroy. On other areas, silage crops, occasional grain fields, and pastureland can be readily identified. In winter, however, the mosaic of blues and delicately varied greens is overlain with a vast and sweeping whiteness, in sharp contrast to the black-greens of the visible conifers. Both summer and winter...

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