Ophir is an unincorporated area located 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 was named by miners after the wealthy land of

Ophir Ophir (; ) is a port or region mentioned in the Bible, famous for its wealth. Its existence is attested to by an inscribed pottery shard found at Tell Qasile (in modern-day Tel Aviv) in 1946, dating to the eighth century BC, which reads "''go ...

mentioned in the Old Testament. The area was the site of a gold rush in 1906. Ophir reached a peak population of 122 in 1910. Ophir is now abandoned, but serves as a checkpoint in the

Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, more commonly known as The Iditarod (), is an annual long-distance sled dog race held in Alaska in early March. It travels from Anchorage to Nome. Mushers and a team of between 12 and 16 dogs, of which at lea ...

. An airport with a single gravel runway exists at the village, built prior to 1949. It is currently in disuse and unmaintained. There are a number of creeks near Ophir, all on the west bank of the Innoko, where gold placers were located starting about 1906. Yankee Creek is the closest to the source of the river, then , Little and Spruce Creeks, all above Ophir Creek. The original Iditarod trail ran above Ganes Creek in the summer, down the Innoko valley in the winter; the current race trail goes through the old townsite, which was destroyed in a brush fire started by a camper in the 1970s, and is a rest stop. Mining still goes on at and Little Creeks, and probably at Ophir Creek (2006). Further downriver, on the east side, there were mining operations at Folger, Cripple, Bear and Colorado Creeks. Bear Creek and Colorado still are actively mined (2006). Mining of tailings was underway at Cripple in 2010. There were at least eight mining operations near Ophir in 1949, including two dredges, but $35 gold winnowed them down to none by about 1955. Ophir's population was (an estimated) 18 in 1960. There was sporadic mining after that, with new operations starting in the 1970s.

Demographics

Ophir first reported on the 1910 U.S. Census as an unincorporated village. It continued to report until 1950. Although Donald J. Orth 1967 U.S. Geological Survey (Professional) Paper (Report No. 567) reported an estimated population of 18 in 1960, the census did not report an official separate figure that year or in any census since.

Geography

Ophir is located at . Ophir is located on the west bank of the

Innoko River The Innoko River (; (Deg Xinag: ''Yooniq'') is a tributary of the Yukon River in the U.S. state of Alaska. It flows north from its origin south of Cloudy Mountain in the Kuskokwim Mountains and then southwest to meet the larger river across from ...

in western Alaska, northwest of

McGrath McGrath or MacGrath derives from the Irish surname Mac Craith and is occasionally noted with a space: e.g. Izzy Mc Grath. In Ireland, it is pronounced "Mack Grah" "Mick Grah" or "Ma Grah". In Australia and New Zealand it is pronounced ''MuhGrah''. ...

, at the mouth of Ophir Creek, which was mined for many years by Gust Utilla.

References

External links

Information on the Ophir airport
{{authority control Geography of Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska Ghost towns in Alaska Unincorporated communities in Alaska