Eagle Gold Camp-Remnant Of The Past

After leaving Chicken, we continue on 94 miles to our real destination of Eagle.

                               Two hundred air miles northeast of Fairbanks-

                                -the road ends at a grass air strip-

                                   -along the Yukon River and Calico Bluff.

 The town of Eagle is a glimpse into the past as well as a window into todays unique northern lifestyle.

The road closes in winter and snow isolates this community for six months of the year.

This 1880 trading post became the commercial, military and judicial center for the upper Yukon.

A close look at this roof reveals a nice caribou head and some well used and still very functional Blazo gas cans.

                       Today it retains much of it's original frontier atmosphere and charm.

The original wellhouse, hand-dug in 1903, still provides water for over 1/2 the towns population of two hundred.

In rural Alaska, getting water for drinking and household use is often a huge problem. In more remote areas, householders sometimes melt snow, or use small creeks. Even on the road system, the cost of drilling a well can be prohibitive-or local water may not be fit for drinking. Many rural Alaskans have large indoor plastic water tanks that can be kept warm. In Eagle, people drive to this wellhouse and fill their jugs, water tanks or barrels. The hose and nozzle are originally from a gas pump.

You really, really don't want to have a fire here. This is the real thing and your cabin most likely would burn to the ground before adequate water could be applied.

 Eagle is one of the best preserved boom towns commemorating the mining era in Alaska.

Most of the buildings are original log cabins, which gives a feeling of the town as it must have appeared during the gold rush era.

 By 1898 it had a population of 1,700 living in more than 500 cabins and tents.

Yes, you can own your very own authentic miners cabin! This one has several rooms and is on two lots. Right in town, it is really an unusually rare find as very few are ever for sale. No, we did not buy it, but if we were younger we would think about it.

With some regrets, we leave Eagle and head toward the Canadian border, as winter is coming and we need to keep going.