Steese Highway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Steese Highway is a highway in the Interior region of the U.S. state of Alaska that extends 162 miles (261 km) from Fairbanks to Circle, a town on the Yukon River about 50 miles (80 km) south of the Arctic Circle. The highway was completed in 1927 and is named for U.S. Army General James G. Steese, a former president of the Alaska Road Commission. It is paved for the first 44 miles (71 km), and gravel for the remainder.
The highway and surrounding region has a long association with gold mining. It was built to service the Circle Mining District, which was very productive in the 1890s, before the discovery of gold in the Klondike. Both historic sites, such as Felix Pedro's 1902 gold discovery which resulted in the founding of Fairbanks, and the preserved gold camp at Chatanika, and active dredging operations line the road.
The Steese Highway is numbered Alaska Route 6 for most of its length, except for the first 11 miles (17 km) from Fairbanks to Fox, which are numbered Alaska Route 2.
[edit] Towns and places along the Steese Highway
- Fairbanks, mile 0 (km 0)
- Fox, mile 11 (km 18)
- Chatanika, mile 28 (km 45)
- Central and Circle Hot Springs, mile 128 (km 205)
- Circle, mile 162 (km 261)
