Founded nearly a century ago when a sternwheeler chartered by trader E.T. Barnette got stuck on the Chena River, Fairbanks attracted fools and visionaries, characters and people with character, and above all, men and women with determination and grit who came to stay. While other gold rush towns became ghost towns, Fairbanks survived floods, fires, a harsh climate, and an economic history with as many peaks and valleys as the Alaska Range. The city drew strength from its isolation to become the regional hub of transportation, resource development, education, and government that it is today.