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Beaver City is located on the north bank of the Yukon River, approximately
60 miles southwest of Fort Yukon and 110 miles north of Fairbanks.
It lies at approximately 66° 21' N Latitude, 147° 23' W
Longitude (Sec. 30, T018N, R002E, Fairbanks Meridian). The community
is located in the Fairbanks Recording District.
Gold discoveries in the Chandalar region in 1907 led to the founding
of Beaver. It was established as the Yukon River terminus for miners
heading north to the gold fields. The Alaska Road Commission built
a trail from Beaver north to Caro on the Chandalar River around
1907. In 1910, Thomas Carter and H.E. Ashelby established a store
at Beaver, and three freight companies operated on the trail, commonly
known as Government Road. In 1911, about the time the gold rush
was over, Frank Yasuda, a Japanese who had traded at Point Barrow
and prospected in the Brooks Range, arrived with a group of Eskimos
and became a partner in the trading post. They served the remaining
mines in the region, supplied riverboats with firewood, and traded
with Eskimo and Indian fur trappers. A post office was established
in 1913, and a second trading post opened in the early 1920s. The
first Beaver school opened in 1928, and an airstrip was built in
the 1930s. Beaver's population remained stable from 1950 through
the 1970s. (Source)
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