Fort Yukon, AK 99740
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Community Details
Fort Yukon, AK
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Fort Yukon sits on the banks of the Yukon River in Interior Alaska at an elbow in the river that marks its northern apex before bending and twisting southwest toward the Bering Sea.
Fort Yukon, the state’s largest Athabascan village, is home to about 600 people and is located 145 miles northeast of Fairbanks. Access to the village is primarily by air from Fairbanks, although in summer the Yukon River serves as a freeway of sorts for riverboats transporting friends and family between the many villages scattered along its length. The village sits just one mile from the Arctic Circle.
Fort Yukon is one of the older settlements in Alaska, founded as a fur-trading outpost in 1847 by the Hudson Bay Company. To this day, many residents earn their livelihoods through fur trading.