The Denali Borough is a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

. As of the 2020 census the population of the borough was 1,619, down from 1,826 in 2010. The borough seat and most populated community is Healy, and its only incorporated place is Anderson. The borough was incorporated in December 1990. The area was previously a part of the Unorganized Borough, with the Upper Railbelt School District serving as the region's rural education attendance area (which was replaced by a school district under the borough's umbrella upon incorporation). The earliest inhabitants were nomadic native Alaskans. A mining camp was established near Healy prior to 1902, and construction of the Alaska Railroad brought additional settlers to the area in the early 1920s. Clear Space Force Station, the Usibelli Coal Mine and tourism at the Denali National Park and Preserve have brought growth and development.

Geography

The borough has a total area of , of which is land and (0.2%) is water. The borough contains

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

's highest point:

Denali Denali (), federally designated as Mount McKinley, is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of above sea level. It is the tallest mountain in the world from base to peak on land, measuring . On p. 20 of Helm ...

(federally Mount McKinley), from which it derives its name, at .

National protected area

* Denali National Park and Preserve (part) ** Denali Wilderness (part)

Adjacent boroughs and census areas

* Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area - west/north * Fairbanks North Star Borough - northeast * Southeast Fairbanks Census Area - east * Matanuska-Susitna Borough - south

Demographics

At the 2000 census there were 1,893 people, 785 households, and 452 families residing in the borough. The population density was . There were 1,351 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the borough was 85.74%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 1.43%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 4.75% Native American, 1.53% Asian, 0.37%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.95% from other races, and 5.23% from two or more races. 2.48%. were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. Of the 785 households 31.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.40% were married couples living together, 4.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.30% were non-families. 35.00% of households were one person and 1.40% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 3.03. The age distribution was 23.80% under the age of 18, 6.70% from 18 to 24, 36.80% from 25 to 44, 29.70% from 45 to 64, and 3.10% 65 or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 139.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 147.10 males. Denali Borough is the 63rd highest-income county in the United States, and highest-income county in Alaska, by personal per capita income .

2020 Census

Politics

Apart from the two Democratic victories in 1960 and 1964, Denali Borough was carried by Republicans in presidential elections except in 1992, when it was carried by independent candidate

Ross Perot Henry Ross Perot ( ; June 27, 1930 – July 9, 2019) was an American businessman, politician, and philanthropist. He was the founder and chief executive officer of Electronic Data Systems and Perot Systems. He ran an Independent politician ...

Communities

City

* Anderson

Census-designated places

* Cantwell * Denali Park *

Ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

* Healy (Borough seat)

Unincorporated communities

* Clear * Kantishna * Usibelli

Historical locations

Diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...

* Suntrana

Popular culture

In the ''

Twilight Twilight is daylight illumination produced by diffuse sky radiation when the Sun is below the horizon as sunlight from the upper atmosphere is scattered in a way that illuminates both the Earth's lower atmosphere and also the Earth's surf ...

'' Saga by

Stephenie Meyer Stephenie Meyer (; Morgan; born December 24, 1973) is an American novelist and film producer. She is best known for writing the vampire literature, vampire romance series ''Twilight (novel series), Twilight'', which has sold over 160 million ...

, the Denali vampire coven (consisting of Tanya, Kate, Irina, Eleazar and Carmen and later Garrett) lives in Denali because of the lack of sunlight. The film '' Into the Wild'', based on a

book A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...

of the same name, featured a bus where Christopher McCandless died became a destination for film fans. The 1940s bus was taken to a remote trail about 60 years ago (from 2020) by a road crew, according to Denali Borough Mayor, Clay Walker. Visitors to the site had to cross the Teklanika River. In 2019 a newlywed Belarusian woman drowned trying to cross the swollen river on her way to the site. Another drowning took place in 2010. A stranded Brazilian had to be rescued in April 2020 and five Italians were rescued in February 2020, with one suffering from severe frostbite. In total 15 bus-related search and rescue operations for visitors to the bus were carried out between 2009 and 2017. In June 2020 the bus was removed because of public safety concerns. It was air-lifted by a US army Chinook helicopter. Alaskan authorities are quoted as saying the bus would be kept in a "secure location" until a decision is made about its future. Clay Walker said, "It (the bus) is part of our history and it does feel a little bittersweet to see a piece of our history go down the road."

References

External links

Official website
{{Coord, 63, 47, 20, N, 150, 11, 30, W, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-AK_source:GNIS-enwiki_scale:2000000 1990 establishments in Alaska Populated places established in 1990