Nome, Alaska
City in the United States in Nome Census Area
About Nome
Nome (; Inupiaq: Sitŋasuaq, pronounced [sitŋɐsuɑq], also Sitŋazuaq, Siqnazuaq) is a city in the Nome Census Area in the Unorganized Borough of the US state of Alaska. The city is located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast on the Norton Sound of the Bering Sea. It had a population of 3,699 in 2020, up from 3,598 in 2010. Nome was incorporated on April 9, 1901. It was once the most populous city in Alaska. Nome lies within the region of the Bering Straits Native Corporation, which is headquartered in Nome.
Prior to being settled by non-indigenous people, the area around Nome was home to Iñupiat natives. The area came to world attention in 1898, when three Nordic-Americans discovered gold on the ocean shores of Nome, prompting the Nome Gold Rush. Within a year, the area became popular among miners of European descent, who built and incorporated the city. Nome quickly reached a population of more than 10,000. Gold mining supported this population into the early 1900s, but the city's population had fallen considerably by 1910.
A series of fires and violent storms destroyed most of Nome's Gold Rush era buildings between 1905 and 1974. In the winter of 1925, a diphtheria epidemic raged among Alaska Natives in the Nome area. Fierce territory-wide blizzard conditions prevented the delivery of a life-saving diphtheria antitoxin serum by airplane from Anchorage. A relay of dog sled teams was organized to deliver the serum, which was successfully led by Balto and Togo. Today, the Iditarod Dog Sled Race follows the same route they took, and ends in Nome.
In the 21st century, Nome's economy remains based around gold mining, which is now mostly carried out offshore. Nome claims to be home to the world's largest gold pan, although this claim has been disputed by the Canadian city of Quesnel, British Columbia.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
How Nome is governed
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Residents of Nome
Registered voters elect the officials below.
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Mayor
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The city's chief elected official. Presides over the executive branch, proposes the budget and represents the city.
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City Manager / Administrator
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The professional administrator who runs day-to-day operations (in some cities appointed by the council instead of the mayor).
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Police Chief
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Fire Chief
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Public Works Director
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Streets, water, sewer, and city buildings.
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Finance Director
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The budget, taxes, and city accounts.
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Planning & Zoning Director
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Land use, zoning, building permits.
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Parks & Recreation Director
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Parks, programs, and public facilities.
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City Council
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The elected body that passes ordinances, sets the tax rate and approves the budget.
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City Clerk
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Keeps the official records, runs meeting agendas and, often, local elections.
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City Attorney
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The city's lawyer; advises officials and prosecutes ordinance violations.
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Boards & Commissions
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Citizen advisory bodies, such as planning, zoning appeals and library boards.
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Municipal Court
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Municipal Judge
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Presides over the municipal court.
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- Website
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Population over time
From 3,598 in 2010 to 3,699 in 2020 (+2.8%).
Show the numbers
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 3,699 |
| 2010 | 3,598 |
History
Pre-Goldrush
Inupiat hunted for game on the west coast of Alaska from prehistoric times. There is recent archeological evidence to suggest that there was an Inupiat settlement at Nome, known in Inupiat as Sitnasuak, before the discovery of gold.
Gold rush
In the summer of 1898, the "Three Lucky Swedes": Norwegian-American Jafet Lindeberg, and two naturalized American citizens of Swedish birth, Erik Lindblom and John Brynteson, discovered gold on Anvil Creek. News of the discovery reached the outside world that winter. By 1899, Nome had a population of 10,000 and the area was organized as the Nome mining district. In 1899, gold was found in the beach sands for dozens of miles along the coast at Nome, which spurred the stampede to new heights. Thousands more people poured into Nome during the spring of 1900 aboard steamships from the ports of Seattle and San Francisco. By 1900, a tent city on the beaches and on the treeless coast reached 48 km (30 mi), from Cape Rodney to Cape Nome. In June 1900, Nome averaged 1,000 newcomers a day.
In 1899, Charles D. Lane founded the Wild Goose Mining & Trading Co. His company constructed the Wild Goose Railroad from Nome to Dexter Discovery. It was extended in 1906–1908 to the village of Shelton, also known as Lanes Landing.
Many late-comers tried to "jump" the original claims by filing mining claims covering the same ground. The federal judge for the area ruled the original claims valid, but some of the claim jumpers agreed to share their invalid claims with influential Washington politicians. Alexander McKenzie took an interest in the gold rush and secured the appointment of Arthur Noyes as the federal district judge for the Nome region for the purpose of taking control of gold placer mines in Nome. McKenzie seized mining claims with an unlawfully procured receivership granted by Judge Noyes. McKenzie's claim-jumping scheme was eventually stopped by the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The practice provided the plot for Rex Beach's best-selling 1906 novel The Spoilers, which was made into a stage play, then five films, including one starring John Wayne: The Spoilers, co-starring Marlene Dietrich. The similarly themed Wayne film North to Alaska also takes place in the environs of Nome, and mentions Nome in its theme song. Wyatt Earp, of Tombstone, Arizona, fame, lived in Nome during gold-rush days. In September 1899, Earp and partner Charles E. Hoxie built the Dexter Saloon, the city's first two-story wooden building and its largest and most luxurious saloon out of more than 60 saloons.
Between 1900 and 1909, estimates of Nome's population reached as high as 20,000. The highest recorded population of Nome, in the 1900 United States Census, was 12,488. At this time, Nome was the largest city in the Alaska Territory. Early in this period, the U.S. Army policed the area, and expelled any inhabitant each autumn who did not have shelter, or the resources to pay for shelter, for the harsh winter.
In 1910, Nome's population had fallen to 2,600, and by 1934, to less than 1,500.
In May 1910, the Industrial Worker, the newspaper of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), published a notice from the Nome Miners' Union and Local 240 of the Western Federation of Miners for all unemployed workers to stay away, saying that "All the rich mines are practically worked out."
Fires in 1905 and 1934, and violent storms in 1900, 1913, 1945 and 1974, destroyed much of Nome's gold rush-era architecture. The pre-fire "Discovery Saloon" is now a private residence and is being slowly restored as a landmark.
The Black Wolf Squadron, under the command of Capt. St. Clair Streett, landed here on August 23, 1920, after the culmination of a 4,527-mile flight from Mitchel Field. Noel Wien and Gene Miller based their air services from Nome in June 1927.
Serum run
In 1925, Nome was the destination of the famous Great Race of Mercy, in which dog sleds played a large part in transporting diphtheria antitoxin serum through harsh conditions. In 1973, Nome became the ending point of the 1,049+ mi (1,600+ km) Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. The latter part of its route was used in the serum run.
The sled driver of the final leg of the relay was the Norwegian-born Gunnar Kaasen. His lead sled dog was Balto. A statue of Balto by F.G. Roth stands near the Central Park Zoo in Central Park, New York City. Leonhard Seppala ran the penultimate, and longest, leg of the 1925 serum run to Nome. One of his dogs, Togo, is considered the forgotten hero of the Great Race of Mercy. Another of his dogs, Fritz, is preserved and on display at the Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum in Nome.
World War II and later
During World War II, Nome was the last stop on the ferry system for planes flying from the United States to the Soviet Union for the Lend-lease program. The airstrip currently in use was built, and troops were stationed there. One "Birchwood" hangar remains and has been transferred to a local group with hopes to restore it. It is not located on the former Marks Air Force Base, now the primary Nome Airport. Rather, it is a remnant of an auxiliary landing field a mile or so away: "Satellite Field". In the hills north of Nome, there were auxiliary facilities associated with the Distant Early Warning system that are visible from Nome but are no longer in use.
Total gold production for the Nome district has been at least 3.6 million troy ounces (110,000 kg).
Nome's population decline continued after 1910 although at a fairly slow rate. By 1950 Nome had 1,852 inhabitants. By 1960 the population of Nome had climbed to 2,316. At this point placer gold mining was still the leading economic activity. The local Alaska Native population was involved in ivory carving and the U.S. military had stationed troops in the city also contributing to the local economy. In 1995, Nome was "connected to the Internet."
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.