Cantwell

History

Prior to the western settlement of Cantwell, the only inhabitants of the area were nomadic Ahtna Athabaskans who subsisted off the land. The Ahtna people know Cantwell as 'Yedatene'na'. Then Cantwell was renamed after Lieutenant J. C. Cantwell, military explorer and commander of the revenue steamer Nunivak on the Yukon River, 1899-1901. The settled town began as a flag stop on the Alaska Railroad. This flagstop supplied the Valdez Creek mining area, which had the name "Denali" for the Valdez Creek community. Many Indians from the village of Tyone came to work at Valdez Creek and later lived out their lives in the Cantwell area. Many Tyones are buried in the old Cantwell graveyard, next to the railroad tracks. Oley Nicklie, a Native Alaskan, sought work with the railroad after fur prices dropped. He and his two brothers then founded part of the settlement. Cantwell is 20 miles away from a giant abandoned igloo shaped hotel, which is not made out of ice. Cantwell served as a partial filming location for the Lure of the Yukon during the 1920s, and for the 2007 movie Into the Wild.

Geography

Cantwell is located in the southern part of Denali Borough at (63.388000, -148.900204). It is situated at the north end of Broad Pass, along Cantwell Creek and the Jack River, tributaries of the north-flowing Nenana River. Alaska Route 3, the George Parks Highway, passes through Cantwell: Anchorage is to the south, and Fairbanks is to the north. According to the United States Census Bureau, the Cantwell CDP has a total area of , of which is land and , or 0.29%, is water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• White-crowned Sparrow

  Zonotrichia leucophrys (J.R.Forster, 1772) · Aves
  1,020
• Blackpoll Warbler

  Setophaga striata (J.R.Forster, 1772) · Aves
  694
• Common Redpoll

  Acanthis flammea (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  580
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  509
• Yellow-rumped Warbler

  Setophaga coronata (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  495
• Wilson's Warbler

  Cardellina pusilla (A.Wilson, 1811) · Aves
  479
• Northern Waterthrush

  Parkesia noveboracensis (J.F.Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  467
• Trumpeter/Tundra Swan

  Cygnus buccinator Richardson, 1831 · Aves
  431

Largest nearby schools

• Cantwell School
  Other · Cantwell · 8 students · 8:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.8 — 2026-09-28
  41 km N of Chase, Alaska
• M 3 — 2026-09-28
  7 km ENE of Denali Park, Alaska
• M 3.9 — 2026-09-28
  65 km SE of Cantwell, Alaska
• M 2.6 — 2026-09-27
  37 km ENE of Chase, Alaska
• M 2.6 — 2026-09-27
  73 km NNE of Petersville, Alaska
• M 2.5 — 2026-09-25
  22 km WSW of Cantwell, Alaska