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Chena is on the Tanana River ten miles below Fairbanks near the
confluence of the Chena and Tanana rivers. It's heyday was in the
first two decades of the 1900s. In 1909 it was an incorporated town
of 500 inhabitants. By 1910 the population had fallen to 138. It
was also the southern terminal of the Tanana Valley Railroad but
moved its general manager's office to Fairbanks in 1915.
Businesses included two hotels, two general stores, a bakery, a
laundry, and two restaurants. By 1910, Chena had a police department,
a public school, churches, and a fire department. By 1915, however,
the population had dropped to 50 and by 1920, the population had
dropped to only 18. The town gradually faded away and today is a
suburb of Fairbanks.
There was a pump station to provide water for the hydraulic mining
operations on the other side of Chena Ridge, near Ester.
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