| Summary: | Store signs include Curley's Discovery Cafe, probably owned by John A. Curley and his wife Myrtle. By 1910, the Curleys were living in Cordova, where they owned a restaurant, and in 1920, they were living in Seattle, where they also owned a restaurant. John A. Curley was born ca. 1878 in Ohio. Myrtle was born ca. 1881 in Missouri. Myrtle died in 1970 in San Francisco. PH Coll 1185.60 The name Iditarod is an Anglicized version of the Ingalik and Holikachuk Indian name for the Iditarod River. It meant "distant place." Once used by ancient native hunters, then by Russian explorers and early 20th century gold seekers, the Iditarod Trail is actually a network of more than 2,300 miles of trails. The trail takes its name from the Athabascan Indian village near the site of a 1908 gold discovery. By 1910 a gold rush town flourished and for a time was the center of the Iditarod Mining District. Trails formerly used for trade and commerce by Ingalik and Tanaina Indians and Russian fur traders were improved by and for the miners. Starting at the ice free port of Seward, prospectors entering the territory trekked through heavily forested lands which are now a part of the Chugach National Forest following news of each new strike. Gold seekers often bought provisions in Seward or the town of Knik as a prelude to sledding, hiking or snowshoeing across the Alaska range en route to the various mining districts. Other adventurers started their travels in Nome after arriving by steamboat. There, many prospectors worked the beaches of Nome panning for gold for a time before moving south. The two end portions of the trail developed toward the center eventually meeting at the Iditarod Mining District. The trail was officially surveyed by the U.S. Army's Alaska Road Commission in 1908 and dubbed the Seward to Nome Mail Trail. It was heavily used until 1924 when the airplane came into common use. In 1925, the dog team and driver recaptured the attention of the Nation in a dramatic episode of courage and stamina. A diphtheria epidemic threatened the town of Nome, which was low on serum to inoculate the community. Plans to send the serum by airplane were thwarted by weather. Instead, a relay of dog teams was dispatched from the town of Nenana to carry the serum down the Tanana and Yukon rivers to the Iditarod Trail. Twenty mushers carried the serum 674 miles in 127 hours. The mushers and dog teams became heroes. In 1940, the population of Iditarod was reported as 1. The Iditarod Trail was forgotten for more than forty years until the 1960s when interest in sled dog racing was renewed. In 1967, the first Iditarod race was staged between Knik and Big Lake on nine miles of the old Iditarod Trail. In 1973, the race was run between Anchorage and Nome. Since then, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race has come to be known internationally as the "Last Great Race". [Source: Iditarod National Historic Trail web site, http://www.anchorage.ak.blm.gov/inht3.html]
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