Nome -- a confused cartographer pins name on coastal Alaska community

Mushers from all over the world hope to get to Nome and cash in on the Iditarod's prize. More than 100 years ago, though, it was gold prospectors who were trying to get to the prize in Nome.

Then, it was gold, and lots of it. 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's name includes a bit of history as well. Originally, prospectors called the town Nome City but changed it to Anvil City to avoid confusion with the Nome River, four miles away from town, and Cape Nome, which is 12 miles away. The U.S. Postal Service insisted on calling the town Nome because Anvil could be confused with Anvik, a town on the Yukon River. Locals called it Anvil City through 1900, but finally changed the name to Nome.

Some towns are named for famous explorers or politicians, but Nome was named after a spelling error. In the 1850s, an officer on a British ship off the coast of Alaska wrote "? Name" next to the point of land he saw, but was unsure of its name. When his notes were transcribed, another cartographer thought the "?" was a C and the "a" in Name was an o, and so it was named Cape Nome.

Most of the town's architecture from the Gold Rush era is gone as a result of violent storms and a fire that ripped through Front Street in downtown Nome. It has been rebuilt several times, and today, Front Street is the town's center and hub of activity.

Today, Nome is home to 3,615 people, 52 percent of which are Alaskan Natives. It is the largest town on the Seward Peninsula, which has a total population of 8,200.

The economic base is still gold and other minerals, although tourism has increased, as has transportation. Nome is the transportation and commerce center for Northwest Alaska.

Around the world, though, Nome is known as the finish of the Iditarod. It is estimated the town's population triples to almost 10,000 people during the third week in March every year -- not coincidentally, that is when the first mushers are expected to arrive on Front Street and pass under the Burled Arch, the finish line of the Iditarod.

According to the Nome Convention and Visitors Bureau, approximately 20,000 to 23,000 visitors come to Nome every year. There is a hospital, a bank and all the amenities one would expect to find in any other town. The only thing missing is a highway out of town -- Nome is off the road system and snowmachines are more popular than cars or trucks for traveling between towns on the Seward Peninsula.