Iditarod (Alaska)

Unorganized Borough, Yukon - Koyukuk Census Area

Iditarod is a ghost town in the Unorganized Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. It belongs to the Yukon - Koyukuk Census Area.

Geography

Iditarod is located on a horseshoe-shaped lake, which was once a very strong here meandering loop of the Iditarod River. The nearest town is flat, about 11 kilometers south- south-east.

History

The name has the same name from the Iditarod River. This has, in turn, the name of the Athabaskan word Haidilatna, the name of a village of Ingalik.

On Christmas of 1908 found the prospector John Beaton and WA "Bill" Dikeman at Otter Creek, a tributary of the Iditarod River Gold. The following summer, prospectors came up the Yukon and the Iditarod and initially founded Flat.

Iditarod itself was founded on 1 June 1910, when the steamboat Tanana docked here. It was in the following years as a guidance and a starting point for the now following the gold rush. Several settlements were established in the area, including Discovery, otters, Dikeman and Willow Creek ( Alaska). Iditarod has quickly become a real gold rush town with hotels, bars, brothels, three newspapers ( of which only a one year lived), a bank, electricity, phones and even a railway to Flat.

1930, the gold reserves were exhausted in Iditarod and moved on the gold seekers, many of them by Flat. The houses they have taken away, leaving only a single house and a few ruins are left in the Iditarod. The concrete vault of the bank is the only thing that is left over from the financial institution.

From the town of Iditarod Iditarod Trail, and the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race have their name. Iditarod is on the southern route of this famous sled dog race.