Nome: A cartographer's mistake

After the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race ends, the town that hosts the finish goes back to being a hard-working Alaska mining town.

Nome is home to more than 3,500 people yearround, although that number more than triples during the second week in March, when the finish of the Iditarod takes place. More than 50 percent of the residents are Alaska Natives, and the town has a strong place in the history of Alaska.

Gold is what put Nome on the map, and it still shapes the town.

The "Three Lucky Swedes," Jafet Lindberg, Erik Lindblom and John Brynteson, first discovered gold in the Nome area in 1898. They found gold in Anvil Creek, and news reached the workers in the Klondike later that winter. By 1899, Anvil City, as the new camp was called, had a population of 10,000 people. Steamships from Seattle and San Francisco made their way to Nome in the spring of 1900, as people with riches in their dreams flocked to the area. Around the turn of the century, Anvil City became the largest city in Alaska, well surpassing Anchorage and Fairbanks. Tents were set up along the coast, stretching 30 miles from Cape Nome to Cape Rodney. Buildings started to pop up around 1900, as soon as ships with supplies arrived.

The town was eventually renamed Nome after a cartographer mixed up "NOME" with "NAME."

While the town didn't keep 10,000 people because the gold dwindled, mining is still a big part of the economy. Gold, other minerals and tourism, as well as transportation, industries are particularly strong in the area.

While Alaskans know Nome as a historical gold town, around the world, it is better known as the finish of the Iditarod.

According to the Nome Convention and Visitors Bureau, between 20,000 and 30,000 visitors come to Nome each year -- many just for the Iditarod.