List of ghost towns in Alaska explained

This is an incomplete list of ghost towns in Alaska. Ghost towns can include sites in various states of disrepair and abandonment. Some sites no longer have any trace of civilization and have reverted to wilderness. Other sites are unpopulated but still have standing buildings. Some sites may even have a sizable, though small population, but there are far fewer citizens than in its grander historic past.

Classification

Barren site

• Sites no longer in existence
• Sites that have been destroyed
• Covered with water
• Reverted to pasture
• May have a few difficult to find foundations/footings at most

Neglected site

• Only rubble left
• Roofless building ruins
• Buildings or houses still standing, but majority are roofless

Abandoned site

• Building or houses still standing
• Buildings and houses all abandoned
• No population, except caretaker
• Site no longer in existence except for one or two buildings, for example old church, grocery store

Semi-abandoned site

• Building or houses still standing
• Buildings and houses largely abandoned
• Few residents
• Many abandoned buildings
• Small population

Historic community

• Building or houses still standing
• Still a busy community
• Smaller than its boom years
• Population has decreased dramatically, to one fifth or less.

Table

Name	Other names	Borough/census area	Location	Settled	Abandoned	Current status	Remarks
Afognak		Kodiak Island Borough		~5,500 B.C.E.^[1]	March 27, 1964		A native Alutiiq village, first settled by Russia in 1784, the community never recovered from the 1964 Good Friday earthquake.
Akulurak		Kusilvak Census Area	62 ° 33' 8" N, 164 ° 33' 10" W				An Alaska Native village which has been largely abandoned due to runoff from a nearby mountain pass.^[2]
Amalga		Juneau Borough		1902	1927		mining stopped for good at the Eagle River Mine, and the town of Amalga was abandoned. Many of the buildings were dismantled, and, along with some of the lighter pieces of equipment, hauled out on the seven-mile long horse tram.
Attu		Aleutians West Census Area		1880 U.S. Census			Location of the only land battle to be fought in the United States during World War II.^[3]
Aurora		Kenai Peninsula Borough	At Kachemak Bay near Homer	1901		Barren	An elaborate failed hoax built by wealthy businessman Thomas C. Dunn.^[4]
Ayak	Ahyak, Ayaaq, Asaaq	Nome Census Area	Sledge Island				Abandoned during the 1918 flu pandemic.
Belkofski	Selo Belkovskoe^[5]	Aleutians East Borough	12 miles southeast of King Cove	1823	1980s	Barren^[6]	Many of the villagers emigrated to King Cove and the village was completely abandoned about 1990.
Bettles	Old Bettles	Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area		1898	1997	Neglected	The Palm Sunday Avalanche
Big Port Walter							A former fishing community.^[7]
Biorka		Aleutians West Census Area	Vicinity of Unalaska	1900		Barren	A native Aleut village.^[8] Former mining town
Caniliaq
Cape Fanshaw				August 14, 1794	1937		^[9]
Caro				1907 (post office opened)	1912 (post office closed)	Historic	^[10]
Chatanika		Fairbanks North Star Borough		1904		Historic	A former gold rush boom town, the population of Chatanika is sparse.
Chena		Fairbanks North Star Borough		1903		Barren	A boom town that was never properly surveyed, the exact location of Chena was lost until it was found buried beneath a suburb of Fairbanks.^[11]
Chenega		Chugach Census Area			1964		The old village was destroyed in a Tsunami caused by the Good Friday earthquake in 1964 and was resettled at a different location as Chenega Bay.^[12]
Chernofski		Aleutians West Census Area	Vicinity of Unalaska		1928		A native Aleut village.
Chisana		Copper River Census Area
Chisna
Chomly
Coldfoot							A mining boom town until the mines ran dry in 1912^[13]
Copper City
Coppermount
Council		Nome Census Area
Curry		Matanuska-Susitna Borough
Dickson		Nome Census Area
		Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area	64.759093, -148.787643			Barren	A former railroad town Dunbar, Ak (site)Wikimapia^[14]
Dyea		Municipality of Skagway Borough				Neglected	Known for containing "The Slide", a cemetery in which almost everyone interred died in the same avalanche on April 3, 1898.^[15]
Flat	Flat City	Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area		`1909	2004		A gold rush town that never recovered from a large fire in 1924.
Fort Egbert		Southeast Fairbanks Census Area
Funter Bay
Gilmore
Hamilton	Nunapiggluugaq
Iditarod		Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area
Independence Mines		Matanuska-Susitna Borough				Historic
Kaguyak
Kalakaket
Kashega		Aleutians West Census Area	Vicinity of Unalaska				A native Aleut village.
Katalla		Valdez-Cordova Census Area			1943
Katmai		Kodiak Island Borough			1912		Buried in ash by the 1912 eruption of Mount Katmai.
Kauwerak		Nome Census Area					An Inupiat village abandoned when most of the residents left for Mary's Igloo.
Kennicott		Copper River Census Area	4.5 miles from McCarthy		1938	Abandoned/historic	^[16]
Kern		Kenai Peninsula Borough
Kijik	Lake Clark Village, Nijik, Nikhkak, Nikhak, Old Keegik	Lake and Peninsula Borough			1909		A native Athabascan village.^[17]
King Island	Ugiuvak	Nome Census Area			1970	Abandoned	Once home to a tribe of Inupiat people known as the Ugiuvaŋmiut, the Bureau of Indian Affairs closed the island's school in the mid 20th century, forcing the children to move to the mainland for school and leaving the adults and elders unable to maintain their lifestyle.
Knik	K'enakatnu, Old Knik Townsite	Matanuska-Susitna Borough
Loring		Ketchikan Gateway Borough				Semi-abandoned
Makushin		Aleutians West Census Area	Vicinity of Unalaska				A native Aleut village.
Mary's Igloo	Aukvaunlook	Nome Census Area
Meehan
Mumtrak		Bethel Census Area					Repeat flooding caused the residents to abandon the site for Goodnews Bay.
Ohagamiut		Bethel Census Area
Old Minto							Old Minto was abandoned due to repeat flooding.
Olnes
Ophir		Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area
Otter		Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area					A former mining village near Flat and Iditarod.^[18]
Pastuliq
Pedro
Pilgrim Springs	Pilgrim Hot Springs, Kruzgamepa^[19]						A mission that once contained an orphanage for children orphaned by the Influenza epidemic of 1918.
Poorman		Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area
Port Alexander						Historic
Port Wakefield		Kodiak Island Borough
Portage		Anchorage
Portlock		Kenai Peninsula Borough
Prospect Creek		Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area
Seaside
Snettisham		Juneau Borough
Speel River
Sulzer		Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area
Three Saints Bay		Kodiak Island Borough
Tikigaq	Point Hope						Tikigaq, the Tikigagamiut village which existed before the current settlement of Point Hope, was abandoned due to erosion.
Tin City		Nome Census Area
Toklat
Treadwell		Juneau
Unga		Aleutians East Borough
White Eye		Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area
York		Nome Census Area	West of Wales				Every resident of York died during the Influenza epidemic of 1918.

External links

• Alaska on Ghosttowns.com
• https://alaskagoldrush.info/LocationsTowns.htm

Notes and References

1. http://www.afognak.org/ Native Village of Afognak.
2. Web site: Akulurak . 2023-02-28 . Alaska Guide . en.
3. Web site: Battle of the Aleutian Islands . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20211112043635/https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-the-aleutian-islands . 2021-11-12 . 2021-11-12 . history.com. 30 June 2020 .
4. Web site: Aurora - Ghost Town . 2023-02-28 . www.ghosttowns.com.
5. Web site: Domestic Names .
6. Web site: Historic Alaskan village destroyed by fire . May 2013 .
7. Web site: KCAW Staff . 2010-12-03 . Port Alexander museum preserves coastal history . 2023-05-10 . KCAW . en-US.
8. Web site: July 1, 2015 . Mike . Dunham . Alaska ghost villages are recalled by Native elders and scholars in two new books . 2023-05-10 . Anchorage Daily News . en.
9. Web site: CBJ Cover Letter and Responsive Brief . commerce.alaska.gov . 34.
10. Web site: William Sulzer . 2023-05-10 . alaskamininghalloffame.org.
11. Gutoski . Martin . 2013 . Where is Chena? . The American Surveyor . 10.
12. Web site: Ghost towns scattered across Alaska map Geophysical Institute . 2023-05-09 . www.gi.alaska.edu . en.
13. Book: Alaska almanac, 1909 . The Harrison Publishing Company . 1909 . 39.
14. Web site: Dunbar, Ak (site) . 2023-10-20 . wikimapia.org . en.
15. Web site: The Slide Cemetery . 2023-05-10 . Atlas Obscura . en.
16. Web site: Kennicott Ghost Town . 2023-05-10 . Atlas Obscura . en.
17. Vanstone . James . Townsend . Joan . January 16, 1970 . Kijik: An Historic Tanaina Settlement . Fieldiana: Anthropology . 15 . 1–202 . 29782443.
18. Web site: 20 January 2019 . Geological Survey Professional Paper . 20 January 2019 . U.S. Government Printing Office . Google Books.
19. Web site: 2022-09-11 . 12 Ghost Towns In Alaska You May Have Never Heard Of . 2023-05-10 . en-US.