Chicken (pop. 21 in summer, 6 in winter). This little gold mining town was established around 1898 and there has been mining in this area ever since. In 1902, this area was to be the second Alaska town to be incorporated. The residents decided to call their home Ptarmigan, the only problem was that no one could decide on the correct spelling. They didn't want to be the butt of jokes, so the residents decided to name the town Chicken.
From the road, you can see the tin roofs of the old historic Chicken town-site. A tour of historic Chicken includes the only remaining roadhouse on the Taylor Highway built in 1899; Tisha's schoolhouse; the Chicken Creek Hotel and several other structures dating back to the early 1900s.
