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E. T. Barnette
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E. T. Barnette
Elbridge Truman Barnette (1863 – May 22, 1933) was a Yukon riverboat captain, banker, postmaster and swindler, who founded the city of Fairbanks, Alaska, and later served as its first mayor.
He was born in 1863 in Akron, Ohio to Truman C. Barnett (1832-1872) and Amanda Averill (1835-1913). In 1886, he was sentenced to four years in prison in Oregon state for stealing from a partner in a horse-trading venture in Canada. Political connections of the Barnette family saw the sentence commuted after one year, on the condition that Barnette never return to Oregon.
Barnette was in Helena, Montana, in the summer of 1897 when he received the news of gold strikes in the Klondike. On August 2, 1897, he arrived in Seattle, Washington, where with 160 other passengers, he boarded the steamer Cleveland, bound for St. Michael, Alaska, on the Bering Sea. At St. Michael, Barnette partnered with other stampeders to purchase another steamer, the St. Michael, with the intention of steaming up the Yukon River to Dawson. Barnette was nominated the captain. He was henceforth known as "Captain Barnette".
The St. Michael only made it as far as Circle, Alaska, before a series of misfortunes including a breakdown, a fire, an outbreak of disease among the crew, and the freezing over of the Yukon halted any further progress. Barnette set out for Dawson by dogsled, but he arrived to find himself months too late: Every creek already had been staked.
Barnette took a job in Dawson managing mines for the North American Trading and Transportation Company (NT&T). At NT&T, he made the acquaintance of John Healy, an entrepreneur from Montana. Healy laid out a plan to build a railroad from Valdez, Alaska, to Eagle, Alaska, what he called an "All-American Route" to the Klondike. Barnette came away with the idea of establishing a trading post at the halfway point, where the railroad would cross the Tanana River (near modern-day Tanacross, Alaska). Barnette imagined such a settlement could grow to become the "Chicago of Alaska".
Barnette returned to Helena in 1898, where he married Isabelle Cleary.
In 1901, Barnette partnered with Charles Smith, an acquaintance from Circle, arranging for $20,000 in supplies to be shipped from San Francisco, California, to St. Michael. Back in Circle, he purchased the 124-foot steamer Arctic Boy, steaming down the Yukon to meet the cargo with the intention of carrying it back up the river to establish the trading post. At St. Michael, the Arctic Boy was loaded with 130 tons of merchandise, but the steamer ran aground before reaching the mouth of the Yukon and had to be beached in order to save the cargo. Having no other means to transport the merchandise further, Barnette and Smith sold it to local entrepreneurs, only to repurchase it when customs officer James H. Causten invested $6,000 in the enterprise in return for a third share of profits.
Barnette and Smith used the $6,000 from Causten to hire Charles Adams, captain of the 150 foot sternwheeler, the Lavelle Young. Captain Adams agreed to carry E.T. and Isabelle Barnette, Charles Smith, their employees and their cargo to the head of navigation of the Tanana River, at least as far as the Chena Slough. This was 200 miles short of Tanana Crossing, where Captain William R. Abercrombie had just completed the U.S. Army's trail between Valdez and Eagle. The construction of the Valdez-Eagle Trail seemed to confirm Healy's vision of the "All-American Route" to the Klondike. But it was late in the year, when Alaska's glacier-fed rivers run shallow, and Adams doubted that the heavily laden steamer could make it that far.
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E. T. Barnette
Elbridge Truman Barnette (1863 – May 22, 1933) was a Yukon riverboat captain, banker, postmaster and swindler, who founded the city of Fairbanks, Alaska, and later served as its first mayor.
He was born in 1863 in Akron, Ohio to Truman C. Barnett (1832-1872) and Amanda Averill (1835-1913). In 1886, he was sentenced to four years in prison in Oregon state for stealing from a partner in a horse-trading venture in Canada. Political connections of the Barnette family saw the sentence commuted after one year, on the condition that Barnette never return to Oregon.
Barnette was in Helena, Montana, in the summer of 1897 when he received the news of gold strikes in the Klondike. On August 2, 1897, he arrived in Seattle, Washington, where with 160 other passengers, he boarded the steamer Cleveland, bound for St. Michael, Alaska, on the Bering Sea. At St. Michael, Barnette partnered with other stampeders to purchase another steamer, the St. Michael, with the intention of steaming up the Yukon River to Dawson. Barnette was nominated the captain. He was henceforth known as "Captain Barnette".
The St. Michael only made it as far as Circle, Alaska, before a series of misfortunes including a breakdown, a fire, an outbreak of disease among the crew, and the freezing over of the Yukon halted any further progress. Barnette set out for Dawson by dogsled, but he arrived to find himself months too late: Every creek already had been staked.
Barnette took a job in Dawson managing mines for the North American Trading and Transportation Company (NT&T). At NT&T, he made the acquaintance of John Healy, an entrepreneur from Montana. Healy laid out a plan to build a railroad from Valdez, Alaska, to Eagle, Alaska, what he called an "All-American Route" to the Klondike. Barnette came away with the idea of establishing a trading post at the halfway point, where the railroad would cross the Tanana River (near modern-day Tanacross, Alaska). Barnette imagined such a settlement could grow to become the "Chicago of Alaska".
Barnette returned to Helena in 1898, where he married Isabelle Cleary.
In 1901, Barnette partnered with Charles Smith, an acquaintance from Circle, arranging for $20,000 in supplies to be shipped from San Francisco, California, to St. Michael. Back in Circle, he purchased the 124-foot steamer Arctic Boy, steaming down the Yukon to meet the cargo with the intention of carrying it back up the river to establish the trading post. At St. Michael, the Arctic Boy was loaded with 130 tons of merchandise, but the steamer ran aground before reaching the mouth of the Yukon and had to be beached in order to save the cargo. Having no other means to transport the merchandise further, Barnette and Smith sold it to local entrepreneurs, only to repurchase it when customs officer James H. Causten invested $6,000 in the enterprise in return for a third share of profits.
Barnette and Smith used the $6,000 from Causten to hire Charles Adams, captain of the 150 foot sternwheeler, the Lavelle Young. Captain Adams agreed to carry E.T. and Isabelle Barnette, Charles Smith, their employees and their cargo to the head of navigation of the Tanana River, at least as far as the Chena Slough. This was 200 miles short of Tanana Crossing, where Captain William R. Abercrombie had just completed the U.S. Army's trail between Valdez and Eagle. The construction of the Valdez-Eagle Trail seemed to confirm Healy's vision of the "All-American Route" to the Klondike. But it was late in the year, when Alaska's glacier-fed rivers run shallow, and Adams doubted that the heavily laden steamer could make it that far.
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