Nome, Alaska
Nome is a city located on the southern
Seward Peninsula coast of
Norton Sound in the
Nome Census Area of the
U.S. state of
Alaska. As of the
2000 census, the city population was 3,505. Briefly at its founding in
1898, it was called
Anvil City. Nome was
incorporated in
1901, and its now within the
Sitnasuak Native Corporation lands. The city of Nome also claims to be home to the world's largest gold pan, although this claim has been disputed by the city of Quesnel, B.C., Canada.
In the winter of
1925, a
diphtheria epidemic among
Eskimos in Nome was halted when, during fierce
blizzard conditions, a
sled team arrived with
serum. The sled driver of the final leg of the relay was
Gunnar Kaasen and the lead
sled dog was
Balto. A statue of Balto by
F.G. Roth stands near the zoo in
Central Park,
New York, as does one in downtown
Anchorage,
Alaska. The annual
Iditarod sled-dog race commemorates this historic event.
Fritz, one of Leonhard Seppala's lead dogs along with Togo, is preserved and on display at the Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum in Nome. Seppala ran an earlier leg of the 1925 serum run to Nome.
Nome is located at (64.503877, -165.399409).
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 55.9
km² (21.6
mi²). 32.5 km² (12.5 mi²) of it is land and 23.5 km² (9.1 mi²) of it (41.99%) is water.
As of the
census of 2000, there were 3,505 people, 1,184 households, and 749 families residing in the city. The
population density was 108.0/km² (279.7/mi²). There were 1,356 housing units at an average density of 41.8/km² (108.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 51.04%
Native American, 37.89%
White, 1.54%
Asian, 0.86%
Black or
African American, 0.06%
Pacific Islander, 0.43% from
other races, and 8.19% from two or more races. 2.05% of the population were
Hispanic or
Latino of any race.
There were 1,184 households out of which 38.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.7% were
married couples living together, 12.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.7% were non-families. 27.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 3.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.79 and the average family size was 3.45.
In the city the population was spread out with 31.9% under the age of 18, 8.0% from 18 to 24, 32.1% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 6.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 115.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 117.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $59,402, and the median income for a family was $68,804. Males had a median income of $50,521 versus $35,804 for females. The
per capita income for the city was $23,402. About 5.4% of families and 6.3% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 4.3% of those under age 18 and 6.9% of those age 65 or over.
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End of Iditarod race monument in Nome |
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Statue in Anchorage of Balto, the lead sled dog during the last part of the Iditarod serum run |
The west coast of Alaska was hunted by
Inupiat from prehistoric times. However, there was no permanent settlement there until
1898, when three
Swedes, Jafet Lindberg, Erik Lindblöm and John Brynteson, discovered
gold on Anvil Creek. News reached the gold fields of the
Klondike that winter. By 1899 Nome had a population of 10,000. It was not until gold was discovered in the beach sands in 1899 that news about the gold reached the lower United States. Thousands of 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 miles), from Cape Rodney to Cape Nome.
During the period from 1900 - 1909 estimates of Nome's population reached as high as 20,000. The highest recorded population in 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 February 1899, a group of men who had property and mining claims on the near present-day Nome agreed to change the name of the new mining camp from Nome to Anvil City, because of the confusion with Cape Nome, a point of land located twelve miles from the city and Nome Creek, four miles from Nome. Cape Nome had received its name from a copying error, when a British mapmaker copied an annotation from a map made by a British officer had made on a voyage up the Bering Strait. The officer had written "? Name" next to the unnamed cape. The mapmaker misread the annotation as "C. Nome", or Cape Nome, and used that name on his map. The United States Post Office in Nome refused to change its name to Anvil City and the residents of Anvil City were afraid that the post office would move to Nome City, a mining camp on the Nome River. They voted and unhappily agreed to change the name of Anvil City back to Nome.
The name "Nome" may be of other origin. It is also possible that a mariner may have recalled the scenery around Nome,
Norway when looking at the headland that came to be called "Cape Nome". The word "nome" has a variety of other usages, as denoting a type of political division in
ancient Egypt. It also was use in the mid-1800's for an Indian
reservation near Marysville,
California (Nome Cult Farm).
Fires in
1905 and
1934 and violent storms in
1900,
1913,
1945 and 1974 destroyed much Nome's gold rush architecture. The pre-fire "Discovery Saloon" is now a private residence and is being slowly restored as a landmark.
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 AFB (now the primary
Nome Airport); rather it is a remnant of an auxiliary landing field a mile or so away: "Satellite Field".
In 1925, Nome was the destination of the famous "
Great Race of Mercy", where dog sleds played a large part in transporting
diphtheria serum through harsh conditions. In 1973, Nome became the ending point of the 1,049+
mi (1,600+
km)
Iditarod dog sled race held in honor of the serum run.
Nome is served by the
Nome City School District.
Nome Elementary School serves grades PK-6, while Nome-Beltz Junior/Senior High School serves grades 7-12.
Anvil City Science Academy, a 5-8 charter magnet, is also part of the school district.
Nome Adventist School, a private school, covers grades 1 through 9.
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City of Nome*
The Nome Nugget, the town's largest-circulation periodical (and Alaska's oldest newspaper)
*
University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections â€" Frank H. Nowell Photographs Photographs documenting scenery, towns, businesses, mining activities, Native Americans, and Eskimos in the vicinity of Nome, Alaska from 1901-1909.
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University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections â€" Wilhelm Hester Photographs 345 photographs ca. 1893-1906 of Puget Sound sailing vessels and ships' crews, the Alaska Gold Rush in Nome and vicinity in 1900, images of logging activities in Washington state, and San Francisco's Chinatown.
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University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections â€" Eric A. Hegg Photographs 736 photographs from 1897-1901 documenting the Klondike and Alaska gold rushes, including depictions of frontier life in Skagway and Nome, Alaska and Dawson, Yukon Territory.
