Felix Pedro

Felix Pedro. Felice Pedroni's 1902 Goldrush. , Felix Pedro changed his name from Felice Pedroni when he immigrated to America and then made his way to Alaska in his mid-30's. Felix discovered gold in the Tanana hills surrounding modern day Fairbanks in July 1902. Felix was E.T. Barnette's first customer and his gold discovery led to the founding of Fairbanks. Barnette's trading post resupplied Felix through that spring and summer with beans, bacon, flour and sundries. Prior to 1902, Felix prospected with only modest success, not finding gold in paying quantities. Leaving a prospecting camp at Fish Creek, his luck changed when Felix came upon a young Athabascan child from a nearby village. The boy had been seriously injured from a sharp willow branch stuck in his leg. Felix was skilled in field medicine and was a compassionate person who acted as a "medicine man" providing first aid. Having saved the boy and befriending the village, the Athabascan villagers told Felix to "go up to the next creek over, where plenty of gold would be found." Eventually, Felix struck gold 12 mile[s] from Barnette's trading post and the Gold Rush stampede to Fairbanks was on., Barnette, ever the opportunist, had letters published in Dawson City in January 1903, stating that gold was plentiful in Fairbanks. It was 53 degrees below zero. A thousand "lucky" prospectors clamored to get to Fairbanks in the freezing winter cold, to find out that Barnette had exaggerated the gold strike. Many miners came close to losing their lives and going hungry. Eventually a pay streak of gold of historic proportion was discovered in streams and valleys all around Fairbanks. Sadly, Felix was not an astute businessman or a particularly lucky prospector. Decades of gold fever and hard work left Felix hobbled and he died at age 52, with rumors swirling that his wife Mary Doran had poisoned him. His Italian mining partner said on his own deathbed, referring to Felix's wife, "moglie, veleno" which means: wife-poison., Every July, Fairbanks celebrates Golden Days in honor of Felix Pedro's discovery of gold.