| Official Name: | Chatanika, Alaska |
| Pushpin Map: | USA Alaska |
| Pushpin Label: | Chatanika |
| Pushpin Label Position: | bottom |
| Pushpin Mapsize: | 300 |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in the U.S. state of Alaska |
| Coordinates: | 65.1122°N -147.4772°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | United States |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | Alaska |
| Subdivision Type2: | Borough |
| Subdivision Name2: | Fairbanks North Star |
| Subdivision Type3: | Township |
| Subdivision Name3: | T N R W Meridian |
| Leader Title: | Borough mayor |
| Leader Name: | Bryce J. Ward |
| Leader Title1: | State senator |
| Leader Name1: | Click Bishop (R) |
| Leader Title2: | State rep. |
| Leader Name2: | Dave Talerico (R) |
| Established Title: | Settled |
| Established Date: | 1904 |
| Named For: | Chatanika River |
| Unit Pref: | Imperial |
| Elevation Footnotes: | [1] |
| Elevation M: | 273 |
| Elevation Ft: | 896 |
| Timezone: | Alaska (AKST) |
| Utc Offset: | -9 |
| Timezone Dst: | AKDT |
| Utc Offset Dst: | -8 |
| Postal Code Type: | ZIP code |
| Postal Code: | 99712 |
| Area Code: | 907 (local exchange phones use) |
| Area Code Type: | Area code |
| Blank Name: | FIPS code |
| Blank Info: | 02-12460 |
| Blank1 Name: | GNIS feature ID |
Chatanika is a small unincorporated community located in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, United States, north-northeast of the city of Fairbanks. The community runs along an approximately 20miles stretch of the Steese Highway, the majority of which sees the highway paralleled by the Chatanika River. The community consists of sparsely scattered residential subdivisions, several roadside businesses, a boat launch where the Steese Highway crosses the Chatanika River, relics of past gold mining operations in the area and the Poker Flat Research Range operated by the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Chatanika was one of over a dozen small communities in the vicinity of Fairbanks whose prosperity was tied to gold mining during the Fairbanks Gold Rush. Chatanika, as the northern terminus of the narrow-gauge Tanana Valley Railroad, also owed much of its early prosperity to railroad operations, which were closely tied to the mining activity. Chatanika, along with Fox, are the only two of the numerous communities in the hills immediately north of Fairbanks which has managed to remain populated and maintain a distinct community identity.
See also: Chatanika Gold Camp. A mining settlement established about 1904, it received a railroad station when the Tanana Valley Railroad was completed in 1907. The Chatanika post office was established in 1908.[1]
Chatanika first appeared on the 1910 U.S. Census as an unincorporated village.[2] It did not appear on the 1920 census.[3] It appeared again in 1930[4] as Chatanika River, but the name was restored to Chatanika in 1940.[5] That was the last time it appeared on the census to date (as of 2010).
The community was named after the Chatanika River.[1]
Located 2miles east of the confluence of Cleary Creek and the Chatanika River, Chatanika lies 20miles northeast of Fairbanks. Its altitude is 896feet.[1]
The Chatanika gold dredge was a historic relic of gold dredge #3 owned and operated by F.E. Company between 1928 and 1958. The dredge is located at about 27.5miles along the Steese Highway east of Fairbanks in a pond it dug itself, directly across the road from the Chatanika Lodge. The dredge was private property and off-limits to the public.[6] In August 2013 an accidental fire destroyed the dredge.[7]