Town of Chicken

There are two versions for how the town of Chicken got its name.

The first is based on the fact that settlers and miners in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who relied on the abundant Alaska state bird, the ptarmigan, for food. They could not agree on the spelling of “ptarmigan” when the town needed an official name. To avoid embarrassment and confusion, they settled on “Chicken”, which was much easier to spell. The second theory suggests it was named after Chicken Creek, named for the “chicken feed”-sized gold found there.

The town of Chicken basically servers the gold mining and tourist industries. It is a hub where travelers arriving or leaving Alaska through the Top of The World Highway gather.

This is a spot to stretch your legs, get something to eat, refuel and enjoy some of the local attractions. As soon as your park at the Chicken Creek Cafe, a mercantile, and the Chicken Creek Saloon, you will see many overlanding rigs that crossed or will cross the Top of the World Highway.

The overlanding rigs range from large European made rigs to a small Volkswagen Bus. We met a nice Swiss couple (Jonas and Streule) travelling on their DIY rig “Old Skool” built on a 68 Berna 2VM truck chassis.

Another interesting point to visit is the historic Chicken Gold Camp and Outpost where Pedro Dredge No. 4 is located.

The dredge was originally owned by the Fairbanks Exploration Company. It was built in California, and shipped to Pedro Creek north of Fairbanks, Alaska in 1938. It was assembled there, and operated until 1958. The next year it was disassembled, trucked to Chicken, Alaska and reassembled. The dredge commenced operations on lower Chicken Creek in September and worked for approximately five months every year thereafter until October 1967, when it produced its final cleanup. In 1998, the dredge was moved to its current location at the Chicken Gold Camp and in 2006 was added to the National Register of Historic Places and opened to the public.

After visiting Chicken we continue to follow Taylor Highway towards Jack Wade and camped for the night about 1 mile away from where it intersects with the Top of the World Highway.