The Impossible Journey

The Impossible Journey. . , In August 1901, the sternwheeler Lavelle Young was chartered by E. T. Barnette from Captain C. W. Adams to transport Barnette, his wife Isabelle, three men in Barnette's employ, and 130 tons of supplies for Barnette's future trading post. The trading post was to be near the military trail/telegraph line between Valdez and Eagle where the line crossed the Tanana River. This site is near present day Tanacross and was expected to become an All-American route to the gold fields. It was reported that the military trail/telegraph line would soon become a railroad route with Tanacross as a stopping point. Barnette thought his supplies would certainly be sought after if the railroad were to make Tanacross a destination. The supplies he brought to furnish the trading post consisted of a horse, dog team, hardware and food., Barnette had bought the sternwheeler Arctic Boy. It was accidentally sunk just before Barnette was to depart St. Michael for the trip to Tanacross. Barnette was quickly able to find the Lavelle Young as the Arctic Boy's replacement., The Lavelle Young was available for the voyage. Captain Adams knew the route to the future trading post would be difficult. His charter agreement with with [sic] Barnette was that he would set Barnette and all his goods and people at the first place they could no longer navigate upriver. Barnette agreed and the voyage soon started., [Photo captions, clockwise from center left, read] , . The Arctic Boy sternwheeler shown here in 1898, . The Lavelle Young sternwheeler shown in operation, . Lavelle Route Legend [and map], . E. T. Barnette is shown at the far right many years after Fairbanks was established. The boxes in the foreground contain gold that was found in the areas surrounding Fairbanks.