Nome, Alaska: History
=== Pre-Goldrush ===
Inupiat hunted for game on the west coast of Alaska from prehistoric times. There is recent archeological evidence to suggest that there was an Inupiat settlement at Nome, known in Inupiat as Sitnasuak, before the discovery of gold.
In the summer of 1898, the "Three Lucky Swedes": Norwegian-American Jafet Lindeberg, and two naturalized American citizens of Swedish birth, Erik Lindblom and John Brynteson, discovered gold on Anvil Creek. News of the discovery reached the outside world that winter. By 1899, Nome had a population of 10,000 and the area was organized as the Nome mining district. In 1899, gold was found in the beach sands for dozens of miles along the coast at Nome, which spurred the stampede to new heights. Thousands more people poured into Nome during the spring of 1900 aboard steamships from the ports of Seattle and San Francisco. By 1900, a tent city on the beaches and on the treeless coast reached 48 km (30 mi), from Cape Rodney to Cape Nome. In June 1900, Nome averaged 1,000 newcomers a day.
In 1899, Charles D. Lane founded the Wild Goose Mining & Trading Co. His company constructed the Wild Goose Railroad from Nome to Dexter Discovery. It was extended in 1906–1908 to the village of Shelton, also known as Lanes Landing.
Many late-comers tried to "jump" the original claims by filing mining claims covering the same ground. The federal judge for the area ruled the original claims valid, but some of the claim jumpers agreed to share their invalid claims with influential Washington politicians. Alexander McKenzie took an interest in the gold rush and secured the appointment of Arthur Noyes as the federal district judge for the Nome region for the purpose of taking control of gold placer mines in Nome. McKenzie seized mining claims with an unlawfully procured receivership granted by Judge Noyes. McKenzie's claim-jumping scheme was eventually stopped by the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The practice provided the plot for Rex Beach's best-selling 1906 novel The Spoilers, which was made into a stage play, then five films, including one starring John Wayne: The Spoilers, co-starring Marlene Dietrich. The similarly themed Wayne film North to Alaska also takes place in the environs of Nome, and mentions Nome in its theme song. Wyatt Earp, of Tombstone, Arizona, fame, lived in Nome during gold-rush days. In September 1899, Earp and partner Charles E. Hoxie built the Dexter Saloon, the city's first two-story wooden building and its largest and most luxurious saloon out of more than 60 saloons. …