May 19 2008
Beautiful Alaska
Friends of ours were telling us about their trip to Alaska. The animal life there is simply amazing. They watched whales flap their tails on the water not from from the ship they were on. I think my heart would have been pounding to see such a sight. I know that when we visited Hawaii, there was a place that I sat and watched the whales. I could have stayed all day but hubby insisted we see more of Hawaii.
Our friends mentioned visiting Chicken, Alaska. I thought that was an odd name for a town and did some research about how the town got its name.
Chicken was settled by gold miners in the late 1800s and in 1902 the local post office was established requiring a community name. Due to the prevalence of ptarmigan in the area that name was suggested as the official name for the new community. However, the spelling could not be agreed on and Chicken was used to avoid embarrassment. A portion of Chicken, with buildings from the early 1900s and the F.E. Company Dredge No. 4 (Pedro Dredge) are listed on the National Register of Historical Places.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 115.4 square miles (298.9 km²), all of it land.
The only transportation to Chicken is a small local airstrip, as well as Alaska Route 5, the Taylor Highway. The highway is closed in winter.
There is a United States Post Office for Chicken.
There is no local telephone exchange service in Chicken.
As of the census[2] of 2000, there were 17 people, 6 households, and 4 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 0.1 people per square mile (0.1/km²). There were 21 housing units at an average density of 0.2/sq mi (0.1/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 100.00% White.
There were 6 households out of which 50.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.7% were married couples living together, 16.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 16.7% were non-families. 16.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.83 and the average family size was 3.00.
In the CDP the population was spread out with 29.4% under the age of 18, 35.3% from 25 to 44, 29.4% from 45 to 64, and 5.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 88.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 50.0 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP was $66,250, and the per capita income for the town was $65,400. None of the population was below the poverty line.
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