Circle, Alaska

is a census-designated place (CDP) in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, United States.

Circle is 160 mi (260 km) northeast of Fairbanks at the end of the Steese Highway along the Yukon River.

Every February, Circle City hosts a checkpoint for the long-distance Yukon Quest sled dog race.

There is only one general store, Hutchinson Commercial, which also sells alcohol and houses the only fuel pump in town.

In Truman Capote's non-fiction book In Cold Blood, Perry Edward Smith mentions spending time with his father in Circle City.

Circle was established in 1893 when gold was discovered in Birch Creek;[8] it served as an unloading point for supplies shipped up the Yukon River from the Bering Sea.

In 1896, before the Klondike Gold Rush, Circle was the largest mining town on the Yukon River and had a population of 700.

It had a store, a few dance halls, an opera house, a library, a school, a hospital, an American Episcopal church, a newspaper, a mill, and several federal officials: United States commissioner, marshal, customs inspector, tax collector and a postmaster.

Early 20th century view of Circle City, as a sled dog team prepares to leave for Fort Gibbon with the mail .
Panoramic view of Circle's main street, September 1899.
Panoramic view of Circle, Alaska, on August 6, 2008. At far right is the Yukon River .
Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area map