Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Alaska Vistas & Chicken!

Folks back in Houston know of my love of all things Alaskan.   We can now add "all things Yukon" too.   


 
But here are a few vistas of Alaska just before I entered the famous town of Chicken, Alaska!





Chicken was founded in the late 1800's during the gold rush.  Gold is still found in the town, population of 17.   A post office was established, and that required that the town have a formal name.  The locals wanted to name their community "Ptarmigan" after the local poultry that survives quite well throughout the Far North.    



But no one could agree on the spelling of the name, so in exasperation they all agreed on the name: Chicken!   A chicken is close enough to a ptarmigan, eh?   The name stuck.   And so has the panning for gold.   It's still found in the area mountain streams, but not many tourists flock to this community.   Very remote.

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