Juneau, Alaska has continued as the capital. In the 1970s, voters passed a plan to move the capital to Willow, a town north of Anchorage. But pro-Juneau people there and in Fairbanks persuaded voters also to approve a measure (the FRANK Initiative) requiring voter approval of all bondable construction costs before building could begin. Alaskans later voted against spending the estimated $900 million. A 1984 "ultimate" capital-move vote also failed, as did a 1996 vote. Juneau remains the capital. Once Alaska was granted statehood in 1959, Juneau's population increased along with the growth of state government. After construction of the Alaska Pipeline
William Barker (prospector) William Barker (prospector) William "Billy" Barker (1817–1894), was an English prospector who was famous for being one of the first to find a large amount of gold in the Cariboo of British Columbia. He also founded Barkerville which is preserved as a historic town. Barker was born in 1817 in March, Cambridgeshire, England and was baptised on 7 June 1817 in St Wendreda's Church, March. As a child he worked as a waterman on the waterways of England. He married Jane Lavender in Earith, Cambridgeshire in 1839 and had one daughter named Emma Eliza. Jane died in the workhouse in