The austere iditarod checkpoint, with just two major shelter structures, and tents or converted out buildings set up for Iditarod. (Photo by Zachariah Hughes/ Alaska Public Media) - Iditarod, Alaska 
AK: Historic Iditarod, an Alaska ghost town
For 46 years, the Iditarod Sled Dog Race has traced a thousand-mile path from Anchorage or Willow up to Nome. But the original route actually started in Seward, and only existed for a few year’s time — the product of gold rushes, boom towns and a creeping interest by the federal government.
This year, along the southern route, the race passed through its namesake: the ghost town of Iditarod, which sits on the shores of the Iditarod River. The word itself is an adaptation of the Deg Hit’an name Haiditirod or Haidilatna, which mean the ‘distant place.’ The checkpoint is the remnant of a large town that was once here, straddling the river.
“It was a major commercial operation with a bank, with their own electric system, with a couple of hotels, the typical brothel and shoes stores,” said Jim Paulus, a race judge at the checkpoint. “It served a lot of people.”
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