Fairbanks

Native Alaskans have lived and traveled through Interior Alaska for thousands of years, but it wasn't until the early 1900s that a permanent settlement took shape along the banks of the Chena River. In one sense, Fairbanks was an accident waiting to happen. In 1901, E. T. Barnette, a merchant traveling upstream, was forced to get off the boat with all of his trading goods at a wooded spot along the Chena River because the water was too low to pass. He was left for a year, awaiting passage farther east. His luck improved when an Italian prospector discovered gold 12 mi north of Barnette's settlement the next summer. The resulting gold rush created customers for Barnette's stockpile of goods and led to the birth of the city, which for a brief time became the largest and wealthiest settlement in Alaska.

At first glance Fairbanks appears dominated by a sprawling conglomeration of strip malls, chain stores, and other evidence of suburbia (or, as a local writer once put it, "su-brrr-bia"). But look beyond the obvious in Interior Alaska's biggest town and you'll discover why thousands insist that this is the best place to live in Alaska. Many of the old homes and commercial buildings trace their history to the city's early days, especially in the downtown area, with its narrow, winding streets following the contours of the Chena River. Even if each year brings more chain stores, the beautiful hillsides and river valleys aren't leaving.