Minnie Slater’s grave at Birch Hill Cemetery – Fairbanks, Alaska

 

The white picket fence in this photograph, located on the lower slope of Birch Hill Cemetery just north of Fairbanks, encloses the grave of Minnie Starr Slater. She was married to Charles Slater, and died in 1938.

Minnie and Charles staked and farmed a homestead on the north bank of the Chena River, across from the nascent town. A 1911 photograph in the University of Alaska archives shows their farm with a large oat field in front of the farmhouse.

In the 1930s Charles subdivided the homestead, forming the suburb of Fairbanks called Slaterville. Slaterville has two parts: North and South. The dividing line is Minnie Street–most probably named after Charles Slater’s wife.