Chatanika is a small

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

located in the

Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska The Fairbanks North Star Borough is a borough located in the state of Alaska. As of the 2020 census, the population was 95,665, down from 97,581 in 2010. The borough seat is Fairbanks. The borough's land area is slightly smaller than that o ...

, United States, north-northeast of the city of Fairbanks. The community runs along an approximately stretch of the Steese Highway, the majority of which sees the highway paralleled by the Chatanika River. The community consists of sparsely scattered residential subdivisions, several roadside businesses, a boat launch where the Steese Highway crosses the Chatanika River, relics of past

gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold resources by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. However, with the expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface, ...

operations in the area and the Poker Flat Research Range operated by the Geophysical Institute of the

University of Alaska Fairbanks The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF or Alaska) is a public land-grant research university in College, Alaska, a suburb of Fairbanks. It is the flagship campus of the University of Alaska system. UAF was established in 1917 and opened for c ...

. Chatanika was one of over a dozen small communities in the vicinity of Fairbanks whose prosperity was tied to gold mining during the

Fairbanks Gold Rush The Fairbanks Gold Rush was a gold rush that took place in Fairbanks, Alaska in the early 1900s. Fairbanks was a city largely built on gold rush fervor at the turn of the 20th century. Discovery and exploration continue to thrive in and around mod ...

. Chatanika, as the northern terminus of the narrow-gauge

Tanana Valley Railroad The Tanana Valley Railroad (TVRR) was a narrow gauge railroad that operated in the Tanana Valley of Alaska from 1905 to about 1917. A portion of the railroad later became part of the Alaska Railroad. History The TVRR was incorporated as the ...

, also owed much of its early prosperity to railroad operations, which were closely tied to the mining activity. Chatanika, along with

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

, are the only two of the numerous communities in the hills immediately north of Fairbanks which has managed to remain populated and maintain a distinct community identity.

History

A mining settlement established about 1904, it received a railroad station when the

was completed in 1907. The Chatanika post office was established in 1908.

Demographics

Chatanika first appeared on the 1910 U.S. Census as an unincorporated village. It did not appear on the 1920 census. It appeared again in 1930 as Chatanika River, but the name was restored to Chatanika in 1940. That was the last time it appeared on the census to date (as of 2010).

Etymology

The community was named after the Chatanika River.

Geography

Located east of the confluence of Cleary Creek and the Chatanika River, Chatanika lies northeast of Fairbanks. Its altitude is .

Gold dredge

The Chatanika gold dredge was a historic relic of gold dredge #3 owned and operated by F.E. Company between 1928 and 1958. The dredge is located at about along the Steese Highway east of Fairbanks in a pond it dug itself, directly across the road from the Chatanika Lodge. The dredge was private property and off-limits to the public. In August 2013 an accidental fire destroyed the dredge.Friedman, Sa
Historic Gold Dredge No. 3 destroyed by fire; 2nd fire reported at Mile 47
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, 8/4/2013

References

{{authority control Mining communities in Alaska Unincorporated communities in Alaska Unincorporated communities in Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska