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The Nome Probation Office is comprised of one probation officer and one criminal justice
tech and is responsible for the supervision of felony adult offenders in Nome and the 15
Bering Strait villages, which are: Brevig Mission, Elim, Gambell, Golovin, Koyuk, Little
Diomede, Saint Michael, Savoonga, Shaktoolik, Shishmaref, Stebbins, Teller, Unalakleet,
Wales and White Mountain.
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About the Area
The Bering Straight Region is approximately 25,230 square miles, which is equal to the state
of South Carolina or the Country of Ireland. Nome was built along the Bering Sea on the south
coast of the Seward Peninsula facing Norton Sound. It lies 539 air miles northwest of Anchorage,
a 75-minute flight. It lies 102 miles south of the Arctic Circle, and 161 miles east of Russia.
January temperatures range from -3 to 11; July temperatures are typically 44 to 65. Average
annual precipitation is 18 inches, including 56 inches of snowfall.
Gold discoveries in the Nome area had been reported as far back as 1865 by Western Union
surveyors seeking a route across Alaska and the Bering Sea. But it was a $1500-to-the-pan gold
strike on tiny Anvil Creek in 1898 by three Scandinavians that brought thousands of miners to
the "Eldorado." Almost overnight an isolated stretch of tundra fronting the beach was transformed
into a tent-and-log cabin city of 20,000 prospectors, gamblers, claim jumpers, saloon keepers,
and prostitutes. The gold-bearing creeks had been almost completely staked, when some entrepreneur
discovered the "golden sands of Nome." With nothing more than shovels, buckets, rockers and
wheelbarrows, thousands of idle miners descended upon the beaches. Two months later the golden
sands had yielded one million dollars in gold (at $16 an ounce). A narrow-gauge railroad and
telephone line from Nome to Anvil Creek was built in 1900. By 1902 the more easily reached claims
were exhausted and large mining companies with better equipment took over the mining operations.
Since the first strike on tiny Anvil Creek, Nome's gold fields have yielded $136 million. The
gradual depletion of gold, a major influenza epidemic in 1918, the depression, and finally World
War II, each influenced Nome's population. A disastrous fire in 1934 destroyed most of the City.
Today, Nome's population is approximately 3,615 people.
Nome is the finish line for the 1,100-mile Iditarod Sled Dog Race from Anchorage, held each March,
which brings an additional 1000 people to Nome for that week. Nome is also the mid-point for the
largest snow machine race in the world. The Iron-Dog is a 2,039-mile race from Anchorage to Nome
to Fairbanks, held annually in February.
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