Pedro, Livengood, and Tanana: A study of place-names near Fairbanks, Alaska

In the early hours of March 30, 1867, Secretary of State William H. Seward completed the purchase of the remote and unexplored land known as Russian America, or Alaska. Discovered in 1741 by Vitus Bering, Alaska progressed from a Czarist colony to a territory of the United States, and finally, to its present status as the largest of the 50 States. As part of the commemoration of the centennial of Alaska's purchase, the U.S. Geological Survey published the Dictionary of Alaska Place Names. This paper is an outgrowth of my opportunity to participate in the compilation of the Dictionary. It presents a comparative study of the geographic names of a relatively small area comprising 11,000 square miles in the central part of Alaska lying between the Tanana and Yukon Rivers. The area studied was generally confined to the Fairbanks and Livengood 1: 250,000-scale maps, which are centered around Fairbanks, the supply center for interior and northern Alaska.