The Sunrise City and Hope Story

In the late 1800s, Sunrise City, may have been the largest town in Alaska.

In the photo above is the town of Sunrise, year unknown

To put this story in perspective, the town of Anchorage, Alaska sits on the shores of Cook Inlet.

By car, the town of Hope is approximately 90 miles from Anchorage on the Seward Highway. The town of Hope is around 13 miles from Sunrise, Alaska.

And now, let’s look at the Turnagain Arm Gold Rush.

The name “Turnagain” came about when Captain Cook was sailing in the inlet that would become known as Cook Inlet.

But as he sailed the inlet, he kept having to “turn the ship again”. And so the name, Turnagain.

Turnagain is one of two narrow branches at the north end of Cook Inlet, the other is Knik Arm.

Hope, Alaska in 1906

The towns of Hope and Sunrise sprang up as supply centers for stampeders, during the 1895 Turnagain Arm Gold Rush.

The first claim was staked on Resurrection Creek in 1893 by Charles Miller. And by the Spring of 1896, around 3,000 stampeders arrived by ship on Cook Inlet.

Two settlements sprang up

The one at the mouth of Resurrection Creek was named Hope. It is believed that Hope may have been named after a prospector named Percy Lee Hope.

At one time, the town of Hope had a population of 200, plus the prospectors who were all over nearby creeks looking for gold.

During that time, Hope had two saloons, two general stores, a brewery, pool hall, restaurant, hotel, post office, school, social hall and a sawmill.

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Your friends and family will love discovering this Alaska gold rush story.

And when you share this edition with them, they will be so happy, that they will send you a one-year supply of your favorite cake. Yummy… well, it could happen.

The Klondike Gold Rush

The Summer of 1897 marked the beginning of the Klondike Gold Rush. But a few thousand of those stampeders also went to Cook Inlet.

In the photo above is Sunrise, year unknown.

In 1895, A.J. Mills and George Donaldson became the first prospectors on Sixmile Creek in Cook Inlet.

When the Turnagain gold strike began, the settlement that quickly popped up at the mouth of Sixmile Creek was named Sunrise City. The story behind that name is said to have come from the way the sun appears to rise three times from behind the steep mountains.

Miners had arrived at Sunrise by shallow-draft boats from Turnagain Arm.

In 1898, Sunrise City may have been the largest town in Alaska. Population numbers vary, but during the Gold Rush, anywhere from 800 to 2,000 people were estimated to be in and around the town.

During that time, Sunrise City had three saloons, three general stores, a billiard hall, restaurant, hotel, post office, social hall and a ferry service. Sunrise was also the Judicial Center for Cook Inlet.

The Turnagain Arm Gold Rush

By 1906, the Turnagain Arm Gold Rush had produced more than $1 million dollars in gold. But the boom was over.

When the gold rush began winding down, Sunrise was still an important waypoint for the Iditarod Trail System that linked the town of Seward with mining camps in Knik, Iditarod and Nome.

Supplies were still being ferried from Sunrise, to Knik, across Cook Inlet.

Then Came the Railroad

The railroad contributed to the decline of Sunrise.

By the 1930s, only one resident still lived there.

The 2010 census lists a population of 18 people still living in Sunrise and a population of 192 living in Hope, Alaska.

The Oldest

Hope and Sunrise City were the oldest Gold Rush towns on the Iditarod Trail, the Government mail route at the time.

Today

You can still visit both Hope and Sunrise.

Hope has several buildings, but all that’s left in Sunrise is the cemetery.

BONUS

There is more to the story.

Hope remains a populated town to this day. If you’ve never visited Hope, it’s well worth your time. Especially now that you know at least part of the story.

To learn more, take a look at the Hope, Alaska Guide and enjoy

DOUBLE BONUS

Learn more at the Hope-Sunrise Historical Society and discover

Connect with Mike and Mary

Mary and Mike in the photo above.

Have you ever visited Hope or the Sunrise cemetery?

Do you have a comment?

Or you can reply to this email, or you can Contact Us right here.

Until Next Time

Mike and Mary

Alaska Stories