From Pat Durand:

I am sending a CC on this to Dan Gulickson in FBX, the mover and shaker on FBX RR history. DAN, PLEASE CORRECT OR ADD TO MY COMMENTARY. WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE CHURCH? THE NAME OF THE HOSPITAL? WAS THIS A SISTERS OF PROVIDENCE FACILITY? THE THREE STORY LOG BUILDING IS THE OLD STATION RIGHT? CAN YOU BE MORE SPECIFIC ON THE DATE BY CHANCE. Was it still FEC Federal Electric Corporation or had it become USSRM by 1940? Was that their power plant then or had Golden Valley Coop already been founded?

Please Dan correct and add to my commentary on the photo which is attached below.

What a fantastic photo of early 1940's Fairbanks. So many of the early landmarks are featured here in one eye full. My best guess this is about noon on an early May day because the snow is gone but the leaves have not popped out yet. Shadows on the bridge are nearly vertical and all ice is gone from the Chena River.

Dead center is the Alaska Railroad Depot with a passenger train at the platform. The locomotive is most likely one of the 600 class mogul 2-6-0 locomotives. Setting on display there is US #1, Porter #1973 which is now in steam at Pioneer Park in Fairbanks. Just off the end of the bridge at the curve in the road is a three story log building which was the original Tanana Valley RR station.

The black horizontal incline line across the photo above the roof lines, is the railroad trestle going to the top story of the coal bunkers. The long building behind the church steeple was the coal bunker from which the town was served with coal from the Usibelli Mines in Healy.

At the right end of the bunkers can be seen just the tip top of the stiff leg crane and the shop complex of the United States Smelting Refining and Mining Co., or USSRM, the company that operated most of the gold dredges in the area. Right under the radio tower is where you would find Mr. Glavanovich in his office in a beautiful three story cut stone building with a huge walk-in safe on the first floor. Further to the right are the twin stacks of the Golden Valley Electric power plant.

Moving to the foreground is the hospital and Catholic Church home of the Fairbanks Diocese.

In the mid distance at the left is the huge barn and out buildings of Creamer's Dairy. Today Creamers is a local historical site under reconstruction and open for tours. The surrounding fields are a wildlife sanctuary hosting thousands of geese, Sandhill cranes and other migratory birds in spring and fall.

This photo brings back many memories of my early sales calls in Fairbanks which began about 1966. By then the depot had been replaced by a new building for the Fairbanks Daily News Miner and there was a new depot just behind it where the end of track terminated. Porter #1 had been moved to Alaska Land for the Purchase Centennial Celebration in 1967. Today the bunkers and just about everything else in the photo is gone, except for the church, Mr. Glavanovich's USSRM three story edifice and the Creamers Dairy complex.

From Dan Gulickson:

There will be a lot of corrections, but I'm going to consult with one of the Pioneers to make sure that I got all the history! I'll put my comments in bold italics, interspersed throughout this missive!

The image had to have been taken from the top of the old Federal Office Bldg/Courthouse on Cushman Street.

> DAN, PLEASE CORRECT OR ADD TO MY COMMENTARY. WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE CHURCH?

Immaculate Conception, built in ?

> THE NAME OF THE HOSPITAL?

St. Joseph's, built in ?

> WAS THIS A SISTERS OF PROVIDENCE FACILITY?

> THE THREE STORY LOG BUILDING IS THE OLD STATION RIGHT?

No. The original station is the Two-story structure right across the track from the 2-6-0 Loco. They moved it there, and turned it into a bunkhouse, when the new ARR station was built.

The Three Story log structure, built in was used for many different purposes over the years including the local offices of the Railway Express Agency, which originally was located in the ARR Station.

> CAN YOU BE MORE SPECIFIC ON THE DATE BY CHANCE.

Vehicles date the image to middle/late 30's, I couldn't identify any post WW-II vehicles. The Coal Bunker may give a hint as the L-O-N-G extension ramp, which the Loco's used to back up to dump coal, is still in place. I can find out when it was replaced by the bucket line. There are other structures in the image that are no longer around too, such as the original TVRR Station; finding out the removal dates will help, and I'm working on it!

> Was it still FEC Federal Electric Corporation or had it become USSRM by 1940? Was that their power plant then or had Golden Valley Coop already been founded?

I'm a-checkin!