Interior Alaska is the central region of Alaska's territory,roughly bounded by the Alaska Range to the south and the Brooks Range to the north. It is largely wilderness. Mountains include Denali in the Alaska Range,the Wrangell Mountains,and the Ray Mountains. The native people of the interior are Alaskan Athabaskans. The largest city in the interior is Fairbanks,Alaska's second-largest city,in the Tanana Valley. Other towns include North Pole,just southeast of Fairbanks,Eagle,Tok,Glennallen,Delta Junction,Nenana,Anderson,Healy,and Cantwell. The interior region has an estimated population of 113,154.
Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough,Alaska,United States. Fairbanks is the largest city in the interior region of Alaska and the second largest in the state. The 2020 census put the population of the city proper at 32,515 and the population of the Fairbanks North Star Borough at 95,655,making it the second most populous metropolitan area in Alaska after Anchorage. The Metropolitan Statistical Area encompasses all of the Fairbanks North Star Borough and is the northernmost metropolitan statistical area in the United States,located 196 miles by road south of the Arctic Circle.
Manley Hot Springs is a census-designated place (CDP) in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area,Alaska,United States. At the 2020 census the population was 169,up from 89 in 2010.
Nenana (Lower Tanana:Toghotili;is a home rule city in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area of the Unorganized Borough in Interior Alaska. Nenana developed as a Lower Tanana community at the confluence where the tributary Nenana River enters the Tanana. The population was 378 at the 2010 census,down from 402 in 2000.
Tanana is a city in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. At the 2010 census the population was 246,down from 308 in 2000. It was formerly known as Clachotin,adopted by Canadian French.
Tanacross is an endangered Athabaskan language spoken by fewer than 60 people in eastern Interior Alaska.
The Tanana River is a 584-mile (940 km) tributary of the Yukon River in the U.S. state of Alaska. According to linguist and anthropologist William Bright,the name is from the Koyukon (Athabaskan) tene no,tenene,literally "trail river".
The Richardson Highway is a highway in the U.S. state of Alaska,running 368 miles (562 km) and connecting Valdez to Fairbanks. It is marked as Alaska Route 4 from Valdez to Delta Junction and as Alaska Route 2 from there to Fairbanks. It also connects segments of Alaska Route 1 between the Glenn Highway and the Tok Cut-Off. The Richardson Highway was the first major road built in Alaska.
The Elliott Highway is a highway in the U.S. state of Alaska that extends 152 miles (245 km) from Fox,about 10 miles (16 km) north of Fairbanks,to Manley Hot Springs. It was completed in 1959 and is part of Alaska Route 2.
The Yukon Quest,formally the Yukon Quest 1,000-mile International Sled Dog Race,is a sled dog race scheduled every February since 1984 between Fairbanks,Alaska,and Whitehorse,Yukon,switching directions each year. Because of the harsh winter conditions,difficult trail,and the limited support that competitors are allowed,it is considered the "most difficult sled dog race in the world",or even the "toughest race in the world"—"even tougher,more selective and less attention-seeking than the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race." The originator envisioned it as "a race so rugged that only purists would participate."
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner is a morning daily newspaper serving the city of Fairbanks,Alaska,the Fairbanks North Star Borough,the Denali Borough,and the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the farthest north daily in the United States,and one of the farthest north in the world. The oldest continuously operating daily in Alaska,by circulation it is the second-largest daily in the state. It was purchased by the Helen E. Snedden Foundation in 2016. The Snedden family were longtime owners of the News-Miner,selling it to a family trust for Dean Singleton and Richard Scudder,founders of the Media News Group in 1992.
Lower Tanana is an endangered language spoken in Interior Alaska in the lower Tanana River villages of Minto and Nenana. Of about 380 Tanana people in the two villages,about 30 still speak the language. As of 2010,“Speakers who grew up with Lower Tanana as their first language can be found only in the 250-person village of Minto.”It is one of the large family of Athabaskan languages,also known as Dené.
Alaska Route 2 is a state highway in the central and east-central portions of the U.S. state of Alaska. It runs from Manley Hot Springs to the Canada–United States border,passing through Fairbanks and Delta Junction. Alaska Route 2 includes the entire length of the Alaska Highway in the state,the remainder of the highway being in the Yukon Territory and British Columbia,Canada.
The 2008 Tanana Valley flood or the 2008 Fairbanks flood was a flood in late July and early August 2008 that affected several rivers in the central portion of the American state of Alaska. The city of Fairbanks,Alaska saw high water levels,while the towns of Nenana,Salcha,and Old Minto received heavy damage. The Salcha River and Tanana River reached their second-highest levels since record-keeping began,while the Chena River,which bisects Fairbanks,was kept below flood stage by the use of the Chena River Lakes Flood Control Project.
Isabel Pass is a 40 mile long gap in the eastern section of the Alaska Range which serves as a corridor for the Richardson Highway about 11 miles from Paxson. It is named after Isabelle Barnette,the wife of E. T. Barnette,who helped found Fairbanks. The pass separates four regions,the Tanana Valley to the north,the Delta Mountains to the east,Copper River Basin to the south,and the Hayes Range to the west.
Jumble ice is a phenomenon that occurs when ice atop a river or other flowing body of water fractures due to the different flow rates beneath the ice. On a lake,pond,or other stationary body of water,ice forms undisturbed and generally does not move as long as the entire surface of the body of water is frozen. When a river freezes,water flow typically continues beneath the ice,exerting pressure on it. If the ice fractures,pieces of ice torn free by the river's current will collide with stationary or slower-moving pieces. After becoming stuck in place,the loosened pieces of ice refreeze irregularly,causing a rough,or jumbled,surface.
Eagle Summit is a 3,652 feet (1,113 m)-tall gap through the White Mountains of central Alaska. The gap was named after the nearby Eagle River by prospectors from nearby Circle,Alaska.
The history of Fairbanks,the second-largest city in Alaska,can be traced to the founding of a trading post by E.T. Barnette on the south bank of the Chena River on August 26,1901. The area had seen human occupation since at least the last ice age,but a permanent settlement was not established at the site of Fairbanks until the start of the 20th century.
The Tanana Athabaskans,Tanana Athabascans, or Tanana Athapaskans are an Alaskan Athabaskan people from the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group. They are the original inhabitants of the Tanana River drainage basin in east-central Alaska Interior,United States and a little part lived in Yukon,Canada. Tanana River Athabaskan peoples are called in Lower Tanana and Koyukon language Ten Hʉt'ænæ,in Gwich'in language Tanan Gwich'in. In Alaska,where they are the oldest,there are three or four groups identified by the languages they speak. These are the Tanana proper or Lower Tanana and/or Middle Tanana,Tanacross or Tanana Crossing,and Upper Tanana. The Tanana Athabaskan culture is a hunter-gatherer culture with a matrilineal system. Tanana Athabaskans were semi-nomadic and lived in semi-permanent settlements in the Tanana Valley lowlands. Traditional Athabaskan land use includes fall hunting of moose,caribou,Dall sheep,and small terrestrial animals,as well as trapping. The Athabaskans did not have any formal tribal organization. Tanana Athabaskans were strictly territorial and used hunting and gathering practices in their semi-nomadic way of life and dispersed habitation patterns. Each small band of 20–40 people normally had a central winter camp with several seasonal hunting and fishing camps,and they moved cyclically,depending on the season and availability of resources.
The 1967 Tanana Valley Flood or 1967 Fairbanks Flood was a severe flood that affected east-central Alaska in August of 1967. The city of Fairbanks,nearby Fort Wainwright,and Nenana saw record breaking water levels and widespread damage. Flooding was recorded over a large swath of the state,from Eagle on the east to Ruby on the west. Many major tributaries to the Yukon River saw flooding,including the Salcha,Chatanika,Tolovana,lower Tanana,and Birch Creek rivers. The worst flooding occurred in the White Mountains northeast of Fairbanks,although this area is sparsely populated.
