Chicken, Alaska represents a lot of why Researcher/Team Leader and I love the North Country. Alaska and Northern Canada offer some of the most unique and unusual people and places on earth. Those of you who have made the trek know about the town of Chicken, Alaska.
Chicken beat the Klondike to a gold strike by a country mile. Prospectors found gold on Franklin Creek in 1886. In 1959 gold mining in Chicken went big time when The Fairbanks Exploration Company moved in a dredge. It operated until 1967.
In 2000 17 people lived in Chicken. By 2010 10 remained.
Legend has it that when a local post office came in 1902 the citizens of Chicken wanted to name their town “Ptarmigan” in honor of a prevalent local bird. Nobody knew, though, how to spell it. They settled for “Chicken”.
You can fly to Chicken—land at the Chicken Airport. You can drive to Chicken via the Taylor Highway—if you’re brave and have a really stout vehicle and if it’s between mid-March and mid-October when the Alaska Highway Commission maintains it.
According to Wikipedia, the average high temperature in Chicken in July is 70 degrees. The average low is 40 degrees. The average high in January is 14.4 below zero and the average low is 31 below zero.
On his website, https://quirkytravelguy.com/quirky-town-chicken-alaska/ Scott Shetler lists the important things about Chicken—its population has dropped to seven, its saloon requires you to check your firearms at the door, and if you need to relieve yourself, Chicken offers a really upscale outhouse—three stalls—known as “Chicken Poop”.
Chicken has its own website https://www.chickenalaska.com/
Since Chicken owes its existence to gold miners and gold mines, it is fitting that you can buy gold from Chicken on eBay https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=chicken+alaska+gold&ul_noapp=true/
If you can’t afford to buy it on Ebay, you can drive your RV to the “Chicken Gold Camp & Outpost”, check in and pan or mine your own. The Gold Camp has a website as well… Chicken Gold