Chatanika is a small unincorporated community located in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, United States, north-northeast of the city of

Fairbanks Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska and the second largest in the state. The 2020 Census put the po ...

. The community runs along an approximately stretch of the

Steese Highway The Steese Highway (known as the Steese Expressway within Fairbanks) is a highway in the Interior region of the U.S. state of Alaska that extends from Fairbanks to Circle, a town on the Yukon River about 50 miles (80 km) south of the Arc ...

, the majority of which sees the highway paralleled by the

Chatanika River The Chatanika River (Lower Tanana: ''Ch'edenano'') is a tributary of the Tolovana River in the U.S. state of Alaska. The Chatanika River is a clear or lightly tannic stained rapid-runoff stream that has its headwaters in the White Mountains and ...

. 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 operations in the area and the

Poker Flat Research Range The Poker Flat Research Range (PFRR) is a launch facility and rocket range for sounding rockets in the U.S. state of Alaska, located on a site at Chatanika, about 30 miles (50 km) northeast of Fairbanks and 1.5 degrees south of the Arcti ...

operated by the

Geophysical Institute The Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks conducts research into space physics and aeronomy; atmospheric sciences; snow, ice, and permafrost; seismology; volcanology; and tectonics and sedimentation. It was founded in 1946 by ...

of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. 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. Chatanika, as the northern terminus of the narrow-gauge Tanana Valley Railroad, 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''). Twelv ...

, 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 Tanana Valley Railroad 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

Geography

Located east of the confluence of Cleary Creek and the

, Chatanika lies northeast of

. 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

east of

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