Information About

Coldfoot

Coldfoot

Quick Facts
Region:
  • Yukon-Koyukuk (CA)
Elevation:
  • 1014 ft (309.07 m)
About

site of a mining camp, at mouth of Slate Creek, on E bank of Middle Fork Koyukuk River, 11 mi. S of Wiseman, Brooks Range

History of Coldfoot

Marshall (1933, p. 39) wrote, "As early as 1899 the town of Slate Creek was started at the mouth of the creek which bears that name. In the summer of 1900 one of the waves of green stampeders got as far up the Koyukuk as this point, then got cold feet, turned around, and departed. This incident was enough to change the first, unromantic appellation of the settlement to Coldfoot." A post office was established here in 1902 and discontinued in 1912 (Ricks, 1965, p. 14). According to Marshall (p. 39) in 1902, Coldfoot, consisted of "one gambling hole, two roadhouses, two stores, seven saloons, and ten prostitutes." Activity subsided when the mining activity moved upstream to Nolan and Wiseman Creeks, and a new town, called Wiseman, was established about 1912.