Circle

Beyond Central, the Steese Hwy continues heading northeast until it ends at the Yukon River at Circle (Mile 162). This community of 94 residents is an interesting little wilderness town that lies on the south bank of the Yukon River and was the northernmost point you could drive to before the Dalton Highway opened. The town is 160 miles northeast of Fairbanks and, despite its name, 50 miles south of the Arctic Circle. Miners who established it in 1896, however, thought they were near the imaginary line and gave Circle its present name.

Much of the original town has been devoured by the Yukon River, but you can get a feeling for the town’s history by walking to Pioneer Cemetery, which has headstones dating back to the 1800s. To find it, head upriver along the gravel road; beyond a barricade is a trail that leads into dense underbrush, and the graves are off to the left. From a public campground and park at the end of the Steese Highway you can take in the mighty Yukon and view the fish wheels scooping up salmon in late summer and the distinctive flat-bottomed river skiffs used to negotiate the river.

After gold was discovered in Birch Creek, Circle became a bustling log-cabin city of 1,200 with two theaters, a music hall, eight dance halls and 28 saloons. It was known as the ‘largest log-cabin city in the world’ until the Klondike gold rush reduced the town significantly and the Steese Highway reduced its importance even more. For the most part, Central has now replaced Circle City as the supply center for area miners.