Platinum

History

Platinum was named in the 1930s due to the platinum ore found in the area. The site was a mining boomtown by 1937 boasting a roadhouse, two trading posts and a population of 50. A post office had been established in 1935. An earlier Inuit village called Arviq had been abandoned. The town was incorporated as a city in 1975. During World War II, the Alaska Territorial Guard served to safeguard it against Japanese attack as it was the only source of the strategic metal platinum in the Western Hemisphere.

Geography

Platinum is located at . It is located on a spit on Goodnews Bay adjacent to the mouth of the Small River and eleven miles southwest of Goodnews and the Kilbuck Mountains. Platinum has a subarctic climate (Dfc) with short, cool and rainy summers and long, cold winters with moderate snowfall peaking during March.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  4
• Cackling Goose

  Branta hutchinsii (Richardson, 1832) · Aves
  4
• Short-billed Gull

  Larus brachyrhynchus Richardson, 1831 · Aves
  3
• Northern Pintail

  Anas acuta Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  3
• Arctic Tern

  Sterna paradisaea Pontoppidan, 1763 · Aves
  3
• Rock Sandpiper

  Calidris ptilocnemis (Coues, 1873) · Aves
  3
• Semipalmated Plover

  Charadrius semipalmatus Bonaparte, 1825 · Aves
  2
• Hen Harrier

  Circus cyaneus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  2

Largest nearby schools

• Arviq School
  Other · Platinum · 6 students · 6:1 ratio