Tok

History

There have been Athabascan settlements in the region of what is now Tok for many centuries. The town at the present location of Tok began in 1942 as an Alaska Road Commission camp used for construction and maintenance of the Alaska Highway. So much money was spent in the camp's construction and maintenance that it earned the nickname "Million Dollar Camp" from those working on the highway. In 1947 the first school opened, and in 1958 a larger school was built to accommodate the many newcomers. In 1995 a new school was opened to provide for the larger community. A U.S. Customs Office was located in Tok between 1947 and 1971, when it was moved to the Canada–US border. Between 1954 and 1979, an 8-inch U.S. Army fuel pipeline operated from the port of Haines to Fairbanks, with a pump station in Tok. In July 1990 Tok faced extinction when a lightning-caused forest fire jumped two rivers and the Alaska Highway, putting both residents and buildings in peril. The town was evacuated and even the efforts of over a thousand firefighters could not stop the fire. At the last minute a "miracle wind" (so labeled by Tok's residents) came up, diverting the fire just short of the first building. The fire continued to burn the remainder of the summer, eventually burning more than . On January 10, 2009, Tok made headlines with an unconfirmed temperature reading of . In one version, the name Tok is derived from the Athabascan word for "peaceful crossing." The U.S. Geological Survey notes that the name "Tok River" was in use for the nearby river around 1901, and the Athabascan name of "Tokai" had been reported for the same river by Lt. Allen in 1887. In another version the name is derived from the English words "Tokyo camp", although the major war benefit was supporting the transfer…

Geography

Tok lies on a large, flat alluvial plain of the Tanana Valley between the Tanana River and the Alaska Range at an important junction of the Alaska Highway (Alaska Route 2) with the Glenn Highway (Alaska Route 1). According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , all of it land. Tok has a dry-winter continental subarctic climate (Köppen Dwc) with generally warm summers and severely cold winters. The weather station is at above sea level.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  71
• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  63
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  62
• Swainson's Thrush

  Catharus ustulatus (Nuttall, 1840) · Aves
  41
• Yellow-rumped Warbler

  Setophaga coronata (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  41
• Boreal Chickadee

  Poecile hudsonicus (J.R.Forster, 1772) · Aves
  35
• Gray Jay

  Perisoreus canadensis (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  34
• White-crowned Sparrow

  Zonotrichia leucophrys (J.R.Forster, 1772) · Aves
  34

Largest nearby schools

• Tok School
  Other · Tok · 185 students · 11.6:1 ratio
• Alaska REACH Academy
  Other · Tok · 33 students

Most recent

• M 3 — 2026-09-24
  13 km ENE of Slana, Alaska
• M 3.1 — 2026-08-28
  13 km N of Mentasta Lake, Alaska
• M 3.1 — 2026-08-06
  28 km SSW of Dry Creek, Alaska
• M 3 — 2026-07-17
  32 km SSW of Dry Creek, Alaska
• M 2.7 — 2026-02-16
  36 km ENE of Paxson, Alaska
• M 2.7 — 2026-01-07
  37 km NW of Mentasta Lake, Alaska