Anchorage Daily News

CIRCLE

POPULATION: 102 (2007)

LOCATION: On the south bank of the Yukon River at the eastern end of the Steese Highway, 160 miles northeast of Fairbanks.

DESCRIPTION: A predominantly Athabascan community with several non-Native families. Tourists and recreational enthusiasts come through seasonally on the road from Fairbanks. Some people live in Circle only during summer months. Employers include the school (attended by about 20 students), clinic, village corporation, trading post and post office. A few residents hold commercial fishing permits. Almost all are involved in subsistence fishing and hunting. Trapping and the making of handicrafts contribute to family incomes. The 2000 U.S. Census indicated that 19 residents were employed and 42 percent of residents were living below the official U.S. poverty level.

HISTORY: Circle, also known as Circle City, was established in 1893 as a supply point for goods shipped up the Yukon River and then overland to the gold mining camps. Early miners believed the town was located on the Arctic Circle, hence its name. By 1896, before the Klondike gold rush, Circle, population 700, was the largest mining town on the Yukon. It boasted an Alaska Commercial Co. store, eight or 10 dance halls, an opera house, library, school, hospital and Episcopal church. It had its own newspaper, the Yukon Press, and several U.S. government officials. Gold discoveries in the Klondike (1897) and Nome (1899) virtually emptied the town. A few hardy miners stayed in the Birch Creek area, and Circle became a small, stable community that supplied miners in the nearby Mastodon, Mammoth, Deadwood and Circle creeks. Mining continues to this day.

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