Front Street, Nome, Alaska

Nome is unlike most other small isolated towns in Alaska in that it did not have its beginnings as an Eskimo settlement, although nearly half of the 3,500 inhabitants today are of Native American decent. The town was officially established in 1901, as a gold-rush boomtown, and it still has the look and feel of the old wild west. The fabulous wealth of Nome's nugget-rich hills and beaches of gold drew a population of 20,000 during its heyday. Gold mining and tourism are still major factors in keeping the town alive into the 21st century.