Iditarod is an

abandoned town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area 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 ...

. It is presently located within the boundaries of the Flat Census Designated Place, which has no residents as of 2000.

History

The town of Iditarod was named after the Iditarod River. ''Iditarod'' comes from the

Athabascan Athabaskan ( ; also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large branch of the Na-Dene language family of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, ...

word ''Haidilatna'', meaning distant or distant place.Allan Curtis, "Iditarod's Newspapers: Optimist, Nugget, Pioneer" ''Alaska Journal'' 6 no.2 (Spring 1976) 78-83. On Christmas Day 1908, prospectors John Beaton and W.A. "Bill" Dikeman found gold on Otter Creek, a tributary to the Iditarod River. News of the find spread, and in the summer of 1909 miners arrived in the gold fields and built a small camp that was later known as Flat. People and supplies traveled to the gold fields by boat from the

Yukon River The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. From its source in British Columbia, it flows through Canada's territory of Yukon (itself named after the river). The lower half of the river continues westward through the U.S ...

, up the Innoko River, and up the Iditarod River to the current town site, a short walk from Flat. More gold was discovered, and a massive stampede headed for Flat in 1910. The steamboat ''Tanana'' arrived June 1, 1910, and the city of Iditarod was founded as a head of navigation for all the surrounding gold fields, including Flat, Discovery, Otter, Dikeman, and Willow Creek. Iditarod quickly became a bustling boomtown, with hotels, cafés, brothels, clothing stores, three newspapers (only one would last the year), a Miners and Merchants Bank, a mercantile store, electricity, telephones, automobiles, and a light railway to Flat. By 1930 the gold was gone and most of the miners had moved to Flat, taking many of the buildings with them. Iditarod is now a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

. Only one cabin and a handful of ruins remain, including the concrete bank vault from the Miners and Merchants Bank.

Demographics

Iditarod first appeared on the 1920 U.S. Census as an incorporated city of just 50 residents, as the boom had already played out. In 1931, it was disincorporated, leaving just a single resident by 1940. It did not report again on the census after that. However, the area was included in the census designated place of Flat beginning in 2000, but with the departure of their remaining residents, the population is now back to zero.

Geography

References

{{Authority control Geography of Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska Ghost towns in Alaska Unincorporated communities in Alaska