Most remote village on the road system (Fairbanks, Barrow: 2014, homes)

[Haolejohn]

Originally Posted by It is 57 below zero

When I was in HS, at least two of my teachers had friends or family that lived in Alaska (one of them had half her family there). I asked them about it sometimes, and what it's like to live there. That's also another source I used.

There are also people I talk to about this other than on C-D, just saying.

My family and friends have no idea what it's like. Sure I tell them stuff, but like you, they can't wrap their lower 48 minds around the reality of Alaska. Not anchorage so much but rural and bush Alaska.

Research doesn't prepare you for reality of the bush.

[Metlakatla]

Eagle River and Chugiak didn't even exist when Anchorage incorporated as a town. The expansion of the borough came much, much later (as in 1975) -- it certainly didn't occur in the "very old days." I really don't see how you're getting this from what AKStafford posted. Anchorage was a real city in its own right before the city merged with the borough.

Anchorage isn't even really a city...in the very old days, it used to be a jumble of many towns that were consolidated into a municipality, I say this because of people saying that there are several parts of Anchorage.

That's a pretty far stretch from what Stafford actually said.

This is the truth:

The city of Anchorage had a modest beginning as a tent city on the banks of Ship Creek and was originally called Ship Creek Landing. Law enforcement for the Alaska Territory had been in the hands of the United States Marshals. On November 23, 1920, Anchorage was incorporated as a first class city.

http://www.muni.org/Departments/poli...s/History.aspx

Sure, even people who have lived in Alaska all their lives can post a misconception or fallacy, and many things are true of one part of the state aren't the truth in others. That's why fact checking is important if you're to make these types of definitive statements. It sounds like you're just picking up pieces of things that others have said and presenting them as truth, and it seems like you're much more interested in telling us what Alaska is like instead of learning from people who live or have lived there.

You're not being personally attacked -- you're being called out for repeatedly posting misinformation, and I will continue to do so for the sake of those who come to this forum looking for advice from people who have actually lived in Alaska. As I have told you before, I have nothing against you, but I can and will correct the fallacies that you seem hell bent on posting.

ETA -- people were clearly getting tired of your posts before I said anything about them. I'm just telling you why you're having problems on this forum since you keep alluding to how some people are treating you.

[Music_Man]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Eagle River and Chugiak didn't even exist when Anchorage incorporated as a town. The expansion of the borough came much, much later (as in 1975) -- it certainly didn't occur in the "very old days." I really don't see how you're getting this from what AKStafford posted. Anchorage was a real city in its own right before the city merged with the borough.

I still haven't found anyone willing to admit that they voted for the unification of Anchorage and the borough.

[1984]

Originally Posted by mitgreb

if you can drive there it is not remote!!!!!!!

What about Bettles?

[It is 57 below zero]

Originally Posted by 1984

What about Bettles?

Maybe...albeit a google maps check shows it's an 8 hour drive from Fairbanks off of a winter ice road or something like that. (this is not my statement, so I may not be right).

There's nothing that mentions Bettles having a road either.

FYI, I clearly did not know that Alaska had a completely different definition of the term "remote". It always just meant "isolated and secluded from other stuff".

[lv2hoop]

Hyder, AK is quite remote, but on the road system. Eagle, Chicken, Minto, and Northway are four interior Alaska native villages on the road system and they are all remote and isolated in their own right. I would argue that they're all just as isolated as rural hubs like Bethel, Barrow, and Kotzebue. Since those places are hubs, they have access to goods and services that one would often go days or weeks without seeing in a place like Northway.

The remoteness of these and many other Alaskan villages is hard to comprehend if you've never been up here and actually spent time in places like these.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by lv2hoop

Hyder, AK is quite remote, but on the road system. Eagle, Chicken, Minto, and Northway are four interior Alaska native villages on the road system and they are all remote and isolated in their own right. I would argue that they're all just as isolated as rural hubs like Bethel, Barrow, and Kotzebue. Since those places are hubs, they have access to goods and services that one would often go days or weeks without seeing in a place like Northway.

The remoteness of these and many other Alaskan villages is hard to comprehend if you've never been up here and actually spent time in places like these.

The places you mention certainly are out-of-the-way, and you're completely correct about how the remoteness of many places is difficult for those who've never been to Alaska to comprehend. Nonetheless, remote, in Alaska, means off the road system (and that includes the Marine Highway), although I'm sure it's used in casual conversation to describe places like Hyder.

It's kind of funny...I'm in a town right now that's considered remote by -48 standards, but I can drive to Boise in two hours. That seems like nothing to me. My home in Alaska is on an island that has ferry access, and the nearest large town is a jet ride away, but it isn't technically remote by Alaskan standards.

[Frostnip]

I wouldn't describe Chicken as remote, at least not in summer. Anywhere that has a steady stream of lower 48 retirees driving their RVs through isn't all that remote by Alaska standards.

[KaaBoom]

Originally Posted by It is 57 below zero

Are you referring to the area around Bethel (southwestern region), which has towns with unexplained water gaps sitting right in the middle of the streets?



It's entirely possible to be in a remote area and still have a road. Some rural states, like Montana or Wyoming, or South Dakota, have mostly small towns that are hours away from each other. Like a 3+ hour drive from each other.

Sorry, but you can't drive three hours between small towns in any of those states. More like one hour, even in the most remote places. Towns in Montana are a maximum of about 50 miles apart. In Wyoming, maybe 70 miles between some towns. The distance in South Dakota, is much less.

[It is 57 below zero]

Originally Posted by KaaBoom

Sorry, but you can't drive three hours between small towns in any of those states. More like one hour, even in the most remote places. Towns in Montana are a maximum of about 50 miles apart. In Wyoming, maybe 70 miles between some towns. The distance in South Dakota, is much less.

I probably exaggerated that statement...but why Alaska has its own unique definition of the usage "remote" is far beyond me. Probably because it's the norm for several cities there not to have roads that they had to put up a special definition to distinguish between drivable and non-drivable cities?

But there are routinely stretches of interstates and highways with nothing but complete road, for 75+ miles between some highway exits. There are closer towns in different directions, and maybe a shorter drive is possible via a different route, but it can take at least 2 hours if you take the "long" way to get there. Lewistown and Malta (both of which are towns in Montana) are a 130 mile drive from each other.

There's a town in northern Minnesota: International Falls. It's very remote, and at least 175 miles from anything major, except a twin town in Canada or other towns much smaller than it.