iquor licences to
the dance-halls, and voted unanimously in favour of an "open town"; when
a diamond star was presented to the "chief of police" by the enforced
contributions of the prostitutes; when the weekly gold-dust from the
clean-ups on the creeks came picturesquely into town escorted by
horsemen armed to the teeth. The outward and visible signs of the Wild
West are gone; the dance-halls and gambling tables are a thing of the
past; the creeks are all connected with Fairbanks by railway and
telephone; an early closing movement has prevailed in the shops; and
the local choral society is lamenting the customary dearth of tenors for
its production of "The Messiah."

Despite the steady decline in the gold output of late years, a drop of
from twenty millions down to four or five, there is little visible decay
in its trade, and despite stampedes to new diggings all over Alaska,
there is no marked visible diminution in its population, though as a
matter of fact both must have largely fallen off. The thing that more
than any other has sustained the spirits and retained the presence of
the business men is the expectation that seems to grow brighter and
brighter, of the development of a quartz camp now that the placers are
being exhausted. And in that hope lies the chance of Fairbanks to become
the one permanent considerable town of interior Alaska. It is a
substantial place, with good business houses and many comfortable homes
electric-lit, steam-heated, well protected against fire--better than
against flood--and, though it does not display the style and luxury of
the palmy days of Nome, it has amenities enough to make disinterested
visitors and passers-by wish that its hard-rock hopes may be realised.

[Sidenote: FAIRBANKS]

The little log church that is still, as a local artist put it, "the only
thing in Fairbanks worth making a picture of," no longer stands open all
day and all night as the town's library and reading-room, but has
withdrawn into decorous Sabbath use in favour of the commodious public
library built by a Philadelphia churchman; the hospital adjoining it,
that for two or three years cared for all the sick of the camp, is
supplemented by another and a larger across the slough; young
birch-trees have been successfully planted all along the principal
streets, and the front yards everywhere are ablaze with flowers the
summer through. You may eat hot-house lettuce and radishes in March;
hot-house strawberries