Editing Iditarod, Alaska

{{Short description| Ghost town in the State of Alaska, United States}}
{{For|the dog sled race|Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race}}
{{Other uses|Iditarod (disambiguation){{!}}Iditarod}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2014}}
{{Infobox settlement
|name                     = Iditarod
|official_name            = 
|settlement_type          = [[Ghost town]]
|nickname                 = 
|motto                    =

<!-- Images -->
|image_skyline            = Iditarod AK 1911.jpg
|imagesize                = 280px
|image_caption            = Port of Iditarod, around 1911
|image_flag               = 
|image_seal               =

<!-- Maps -->
|pushpin_map              = USA Alaska
|pushpin_label_position   = <!-- the position of the pushpin label: left, right, top, bottom, none -->
|pushpin_map_caption      = Location within the state of Alaska
|pushpin_mapsize          = 
|image_map                = 
|map_caption              = Location within Yukon-Koyukuk census area

<!-- Location -->
|subdivision_type         = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
|subdivision_name         = United States
|subdivision_type1        = [[U.S. state|State]]
|subdivision_name1        = [[Alaska]]
|subdivision_type2        = [[List of census areas in Alaska|Census&nbsp;area]]
|subdivision_name2        = [[Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska|Yukon-Koyukuk]] 
|government_footnotes     = 
|government_type          = 
|leader_title             = [[Alaska Senate|State senator]]
|leader_name              = [[Lyman Hoffman]] ([[Democratic Party (United States)|D]])
|leader_title1            = [[Alaska House of Representatives|State rep.]]
|leader_name1             = [[Bryce Edgmon]] (D)
|established_title        = 
|established_date         =

<!-- Area -->
|unit_pref                = Imperial
|area_footnotes           = 
|area_magnitude           = 
|area_total_km2           = 
|area_land_km2            = 
|area_water_km2           =

<!-- Population -->
|population_as_of         = [[United States Census, 2000|2000]]
|population_footnotes     = 
|population_total         = 0
|population_density_km2   = auto

<!-- General information -->
|timezone                 = [[Alaska Time Zone|Alaska (AKST)]]
|utc_offset               = -9
|timezone_DST             = AKDT
|utc_offset_DST           = -8
|elevation_footnotes      = 
|elevation_ft             = 
|coordinates              = {{coord|62|32|40|N|158|05|43|W|type:city_region:US-AK|display=inline,title}}
|postal_code_type         = [[ZIP code]]s
|postal_code              = 
|area_code                =  
|blank_name               = [[Federal Information Processing Standard|FIPS code]]
|blank_info               = 
|blank1_name              = [[Geographic Names Information System|GNIS]] feature ID
|blank1_info              = 
|website                  = 
|footnotes                = 
}}

'''Iditarod''' is an [[Ghost town|abandoned town]] in the [[Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska|Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area]] in the [[U.S. state]] of [[Alaska]]. 
It is presently located within the boundaries of the [[Flat, Alaska|Flat]] Census Designated Place, which has no residents as of 2000.

==History==

The town of Iditarod was named after the [[Iditarod River]]. ''Iditarod'' comes from the [[Athabascan]] word ''Haidilatna''.<ref>Allan Curtis, "Iditarod's Newspapers: Optimist, Nugget, Pioneer" ''Alaska Journal'' 6 no.2 (Spring 1976) 78-83.</ref>

On Christmas Day 1908, prospectors John Beaton and W.A. "Bill" Dikeman found gold on Otter Creek, a tributary to the Iditarod River.  News of the find spread, and in the summer of 1909 miners arrived in the gold fields and built a small camp that was later known as [[Flat, Alaska|Flat]].  People and supplies traveled to the gold fields by boat from the [[Yukon River]], up the [[Innoko River]], and up the Iditarod River to the current town site, a short walk from Flat.

More gold was discovered, and a massive stampede headed for Flat in 1910.  The steamboat ''Tanana'' arrived June 1, 1910, and the city of Iditarod was founded as a head of navigation for all the surrounding gold fields, including Flat, Discovery, Otter, Dikeman, and Willow Creek.  Iditarod quickly became a bustling boomtown, with hotels, cafés, brothels, three newspapers (only one would last the year), a Miners and Merchants Bank, a mercantile store, electricity, telephones, automobiles, and a light railway to Flat.

By 1930 the gold was gone and most of the miners had moved to Flat, taking many of the buildings with them. Iditarod is now a [[ghost town]].  Only one cabin and a handful of ruins remain, including the concrete bank vault from the Miners and Merchants Bank.

==Demographics==
{{US Census population
|1920=50
|1930=8
|1940=1
|2000=0
|footnote=
|}}
Iditarod first appeared on the [[1920 U.S. Census]] as an incorporated city of just 50 residents, as the boom had already played out. In 1931, it was disincorporated, leaving just a single resident by 1940. It did not report again on the census after that. However, the area was included in the census designated place of Flat beginning in 2000, but with the departure of their remaining residents, the population is now back to zero.

==Geography==
{{Empty section|date=November 2015}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Geography of Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska]]
[[Category:Ghost towns in Alaska]]
[[Category:Unincorporated communities in Alaska]]