Alphonso L'Kievicz

Alphonso L'Kievicz. Goldsmith, Miner and Dredger. , Alphonso L'Kievicz was a man well calculated for frontier life, for to him all things seem easy and nothing to be excited about. He came to Fairbanks in the early days and brought the first suction dredge here in 1908, which he set up and operated in the Chena River in downtown Fairbanks, much to the chagrin of the other residents of the city. It was said of him that the accidents and variety of his life would put Othello's record to shame. Prior to coming to Fairbanks, Alphonso was a well-known miner from Dominion Creek in the Klondike. It was said that he was of Russian nationality, but born in Peru where he learned to be a goldsmith., "During the heyday of life there (Klondike), he indulged in many curious luxuries some of which he still carries. For instance, he uses constantly a gold comb, which he made for himself. He made also a gold knife, fork and spoon and retained them, using them when his fancy pleases., He at one time turned in a lot of gold to the Alaska Commercial company in the North, and among the lot he threw upon the counter a dog chain. The clerk took up the gold and threw the chain under the counter. When the dust was weighed. Mr. L'Kievicz remarked quietly to the clerk: "How about the chain?" The clerk replied with a laugh that it wasn't necessary to weigh a brass dog chain. Mr. L'Kievicz suggested that he take a look at it, which the clerk did. It proved to be a chain of solid gold which Mr. L'Kievicz had fashioned when the mood took him, and he had been tying his dog up with it until he brought his gold into town. Something unusual might well be expected from so original a man." , Fairbanks Daily Times, September 26, 1908, Story provided by the Fairbanks igloos of the Pioneers of Alaska..