FAIRBANKS, ALASKA

Changes brought by the Trans-Alaska Pipeline

 

During the 1970's Fairbanks residents watched in horror as prices started going up rapidly in the build up to the building of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.   In 1974, Tom Snapp published the above picture and story in the All Alaska Weekly.     Horrors!  Apartments were up to $500 from $250!    Fuel oil was 47c a gallon, gasoline 72c a gallon, cigarettes were 60c a pack....   motels were $20-40 a night!     Housing took a huge leap as there wasn't much extra housing to start with.   A building boom ensued, but prices jumped dramatically.    Did it go down when all the extra people left and the pipeline work was completed?    No....   many of the people stayed, real estate took a hit, but most everything else stayed much higher than anywhere else in the US, and housing eventually caught up.

 

 During the pipeline building, people who didn't know better would try to live in a tent in the winter.  One man, unknown to anyone else, brought his children to live with him in a tent, and they all froze to death.    Workers flooded in from all over the world, for oil field work.

 

The lady with the basket of toilet paper depicts a strike Sealand had in the middle of everything.   You couldn't find paper products anywhere in town.    When they finally started moving again,  people hoarded.   (Sealand was the only game in town for a long time....  they moved cargo ships of goods into Alaskan ports.    When they weren't moving,  you had no other choices.)    In the years since,  trucking plays a much larger role in moving goods into Alaska.    Perishable goods are flown in.   Stores like Wal Mart and Home Depot have arrived in the 2000's, and they bring their own methods of moving and storing goods.