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.
The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. From its source in British Columbia,Canada,it flows through Canada's territory of Yukon. The lower half of the river continues westward through the U.S. state of Alaska. The river is 3,190 kilometres (1,980 mi) long and empties into the Bering Sea at the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta. The average flow is 6,400–7,000 m3/s (230,000–250,000 cu ft/s). The total drainage area is 833,000 km2 (321,500 sq mi),of which 323,800 km2 (125,000 sq mi) lies in Canada. The total area is more than 25% larger than Texas or Alberta.
Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. 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.
Galena is a city in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. At the 2020 census the population was 472,slightly up from 470 in 2010. Galena was established in 1918,and a military airfield was built adjacent to the city during World War II. The city was incorporated in 1971.
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 the Interior of the U.S. state of 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 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.
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 Nenana Ice Classic is an annual ice pool contest held in Nenana,Alaska. It is an event in which individuals attempt to guess the exact time the Tanana River ice will break up at Nenana. Tickets are on sale from February 1 through April 5 of each year throughout Alaska. The Nenana Ice Classic is a non-profit charitable gaming organization. As such,the proceeds benefit many volunteer and non-profit organizations.
The Tanana Athabaskans,Tanana Athabascans or Tanana Athapaskans are an Alaskan Athabaskan peoples of 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 and have a matrilineal system. Tanana Athabaskans were semi-nomadic and as living 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,and also 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.
