Reckard, M. K.2020-05-072020-05-071993-08https://hdl.handle.net/1794/25344202 pagesLarge scale corporate mining operations had a broad impact on the sparsely settled areas of western North America in the early twentieth century. The Fairbanks Exploration Company's gold dredging operations were probably the most remote of these, and their Townsite on Illinois Street is one of the best preserved and most coherent examples of this development, with national historical significance. It has regional importance as the headquarters of the dominant force in the economy of Interior Alaska in the 1920s and 30s. It is significant architecturally, as it contains much of the finest local residential, commercial, and industrial architecture of the period. It contains important examples of period technology and engineering, including a complete collection of machine tools and the region's first concrete and steel framed buildings. There is little doubt that the Townsite is the most important historic site in Fairbanks, perhaps all of Interior Alaska, and the F.E.'s Industrial Complex is its most important part. Most of the historic resources of the Townsite, long an almost forgotten part of Fairbanks, will soon be gone. Much of the Industrial Complex in the Townsite's western half is being destroyed as this is being written (a few buildings will probably be relocated to one side of the site). Highway construction threatens the landscape, if not the buildings, of the remainder of the Townsite. A number of opportunities will be lost along with the Industrial Complex. Of foremost importance to this report are the lost opportunities for historic preservation.en-USCreative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0-USTerminal Project