Nenana, 55 road miles southwest of Fairbanks on the Parks Highway, is famous for the yearly 'Nenana Ice Classic', 'Alaska's biggest guessing game', where you pay to guess the date and time when the ice will move downstream, starting the breakup on the Tanana River, and take a chance at winning a lot of money if you guess right. Images of the Ice Classic
Nenana is in the westernmost portion of Tanana Athabascan indian territory. It was first known as Tortella, an interpretation of the indian word 'Toghotthele'. The Athabascan word Nenana means 'a good place to camp between the rivers'. The town boomed in the early 1920s as a construction base with thousands of workers for the Alaska Railroad. It also became the center of the tug-boats and river barges that traverse the Tanana and Yukon Rivers with freight and supplies for bush towns in the interior. The Nenana Port Authority today operates dry cargo loading and unloading facilities, a dock, bulkhead, and warehouse.
My maternal great aunt lived here for a time in the 1930s and, I believe, worked as postmistress as well as taking the bets for the "Nenana Ice Classic". I see the railway runs through the town, can you take the train from Fairbanks and once in Nenana is there somewhere to stay? I would like someday to visit.