Chicken is a small community southeast of Fairbanks in Alaska and one of the last active gold mining regions in the state. The town is an outpost for the 40 Mile Mining District that has numerous active gold mines. The city is thought to have been given its unique name in 1902 when gold miners settled the region, setting up a post office. Since the post office required a name, the town decided to name it after a local grouse known as ptarmigan, which was quite prevalent in the area. Unfortunately, the locals couldn't agree on the spelling of the name "ptarmigan," so to avoid embarrassment they named the community Chicken. The town’s name stuck despite the ups-and-downs of gold mining. Chicken only has three months without snow — June, July, and August. It gets an average of 36.5 inches of snow annually, while the snowiest month is December when the region records about 8.1 inches of snow. The population of the town was 20 in 1940, but by 1980 it had climbed to 37. By 2000, the population dwindled to a paltry 7 residents, which remain today. During the summer months, an average of 50 people descend on the town to engage in gold mining. While the tiny town has its own airport — Chicken Airport — it only has one runway and sees about 475 flights arriving and departing each year. For comparison, LAX in Los Angeles averages 580,000 flights a year. Even though it's surrounded by a black spruce forest, the region is still quite famous among tourists. Gold is still being mined in Chicken a century after most gold rush places were deserted.
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| Downtown Chicken |
