Anchorage Daily News

WISEMAN

POPULATION: 18 (2007)

LOCATION: On the middle fork of the Koyukuk River at the junction of Wiseman Creek in the Brooks Range, just north of Coldfoot on the Dalton Highway, 75 miles north of the Arctic Circle and 260 miles northwest of Fairbanks.

DESCRIPTION: A roadside community where services and transportation of materials for the North Slope Borough provide a few jobs. Subsistence hunting, fishing and trapping sustain year-round residents. Self-employment, seasonal visitor service jobs, seasonal highway maintenance jobs, and the National Park Service also provide income. Several residents sell handcrafted items and furs. Of 30 cabins built in the 1920s and still used, more than 20 are occupied only seasonally.

HISTORY: In response to increased mining on the Nolan and Wiseman Creeks in 1911, locals began to abandon Coldfoot, 10 miles to the south. Supplies were brought up the Koyukuk River to Wiseman Creek where a new town developed. It was first called "Wrights," then "Nolan," and finally Wiseman in 1923. The 414-mile North Slope Haul Road was constructed in 1974. Travel for the general public was restricted until December 1994. The road is now known as the Dalton Highway, named for James William Dalton, an arctic engineer.

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