Alaska Ghost Towns You've Probably Never Heard Of
Alaska Ghost Towns
...You've Probably Never Heard Of
By Cecil Sanders
Settlements in frontier lands have a history of coming and going. The prospect of riches can lure people from all across the world to far off places. Untouched land can grow into a bustling town in a matter of days, and just as quickly as the people arrive, they can disappear. Sometimes they leave for better prospects elsewhere, sometimes natural disasters cause irreparable tragedy, and occasionally the reasons are much more sinister. Disappearing artifacts and faded images are all that remain of these Alaska ghost towns.

Dyea
Located on the south side of Chilkoot Pass, Dyea was one of the Alaska ghost towns that was once a booming place filled with gold miners and entrepreneurs chasing opportunity. During the Klondike Gold Rush, prospectors used the Chilkoot Trail, originally a trade route carved out by the Tlingets, to cross over the mountains to Dawson City, Yukon.


Three Saints Bay
Founded in August of 1784 by Russian fur trader, Grigory Shelikhov, Three Saints Bay was the first permanent Russian settlement built in Alaska. It was located upon a 9-mile long jut of land on the south side of Kodiak Island. Later excavation of the site determined that it was built upon a much older native site dating back to 100 B.C.

Portlock
Portlock, or Port Chatham, (south of Port Graham in Southcentral Alaska) was originally founded by the British Royal Navy in 1787. A post office opened in the town in the 1920s. Portlock later became the location of a territorial school and cannery.

24 comments
What’s going on in port Chatham? Is Bigfoot really killing people in that area?
Was there ever an old town set in the hills surrounded by what looks like Fir trees, with a school, a huge hotel/mansion, and some stragglers still living in the area?
How about the old gold mining town of Candle, on the Seward Peninsula..had it’s own saloons and all the emnities of the old mining days..
Ghost town of Treadwell, and Amalga in Juneau.
Curry was a bustling railroad stopover north of Talkeetna. Lavish Silence is a great book about Curry.
How about Katalla, and Redwood City on the coast.
Dall City
Check out the history of Unga. I’ve been there twice. It’s fascinating to see a town dissolving into the moss!
Kashega, Makushin and Biorka Villages are abandoned since WWII. All on Unalaska Island. My Grandmother was born and raised in Kashega, both of my Grandparents and an Aunt were part the Unangax (Aleut) Internment after the Japanese bombing of the Naval base of Dutch Harbor, Unalaska Alaska. They spent the remainder of war in Burnett Inlet.
I’d like to hear more on Allamar. How was it accessed? What happened for it to possibly be called a ghost town?
Ellamar has about ten or so year rounders and connects to Tatitlek native village by four wheeler trai. How about Katalla? Was once a booming town south of Cordova in Gulf of Alaska
how bout Mary’s Igloo ?
back in 71, the seiner I worked on docked up in Metlakatla, an abandoned cannery. All that was left of that settlement was a house or two with inhabitants. Why we stopped there was to bath in the hot spring, that was covered and blocked in with cement, there was a large pool to swim in. Through my travels in Southeast, there were several abandoned villages.
And There’s Allamar due south of Valdez. Although I suppose the area is still inhabited.
Chena just downstream of Fairbanks. Golden city north of Fairbanks in the Cleary area. Richardson 30 miles North of Delta Junction. Only 2 graves still marked there as the Tanana River washed aaway the rest and many of the old cabins. Olnes up the Elliot before the Chatanika.
And the tragic story of Kokrines..
Great idea for a show about Alaska Alaska’s Mysteries and Ghosts.
Don’t forget McDouglas over on the Yetna River.
Ya, we went and found the old settlement of Sunrise in the early 70’s with the Top of the World 4 Wheelers. Not much left, but found the foundations.
Yes, that’s definitely a good one. We may need to do a full article on all Alaska ghost towns!
http://inwanderlust.weebly.com/blog/ghost-towns-and-forgotten-cities-alaska
That’s a good one! A lot of boom and bust in Alaska.
Don’t forget the town of sunrise near hope/anchorage.
How about Livengood? It was a prosperous gold mining town for many years…. now just a lot of decaying old cabins and a AKDOT station.