The Fairbanks Housing Market

When entrepreneur E.T. Barnette was unceremoniously dumped on the banks of the Chena River in late summer over a century ago, it would have been impossible to foresee that the second-largest city in Alaska would form where he landed after a forced detour. Fueled by gold rush fever and en route to Tanacross to establish a trading post, Barnette was thwarted by river water too low to navigate and the shadow of fall hanging over his journey. After pushing the steamboat captain as far as he could, Barnette found himself hundreds of miles from his destination with a long winter ahead in the Tanana Valley.