Blake D. Mills (b. 1867)
Blake Mills was born in Port Blakely, Washington. When he was a young man he became associated with the Puget Mill Company, served in various departments in the mercantile department, and took charge of several of their stores. He stampeded north in 1898 and crossed the Chilkoot Pass with a shipment of merchandise which he sold profitably in Dawson. He returned to Dawson in the fall of the same year. In the following year, he went to Eagle City to establish a trading post for the Seattle-Yukon Transportation Co. In 1901 he became the manager of the North Coast Transportation and Trading Co, at Eagle, where he remained until 1903. In the winter of 1903, Mills organized the Tanana Development Co. and built a large sawmill in Fairbanks. In 1906, a consolidation of mill interests formed the Tanana Mill Co. of which he became the president. In 1906, he was elected mayor of Fairbanks. In the fall of 1906, he left the north to develop the Pierce County coal properties in Washington.1)