About Denali Borough

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Located between Anchorage and Fairbanks, the Denali Borough is the gateway to Denali National Park. Spanning over 12,000 square miles (8.2 million acres), the borough boasts breathtaking wilderness, rich natural resources, and Denali—the tallest mountain in North America at 20,310 feet.

Home to approximately 1,900 year-round residents, the borough features a diverse economy and includes the communities of Anderson, Healy, McKinley Village, Cantwell, and several smaller settlements.

Incorporated in 1990, Denali Borough is traversed by the George Parks Highway and the Alaska Railroad, ensuring vital connections across the region.

 

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Community Profiles 

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Anderson & Surrounding Communities

The City of Anderson (Second Class City) was established in 1962 and is the most northern community in the Denali Borough, located approximately 6 miles to the west of the Parks Highway at milepost (MP) 283.5. It is the only incorporated community in the Denali Borough. The town was founded by homesteaders in the late 1950s. Arthur Anderson subdivided and sold his property establishing land lots available for civilian employees that worked at Clear Air Force Station. The land that Clear is built on was originally purchased by the Department of the Interior in 1949 for use as a gunnery range for Ladd Field. Construction began on the Clear Missile Early Warning Station facilities in August 1958 and the radar for air defense was operational by late 1961. Now called Clear Space Force Station, it continues to provide military missile warning and defense and is an employer of many Anderson residents. 

 

Anderson is home to Anderson Riverside Park, a serene campground with river access to the Nenana River with campsites, some with electric hookups, and restroom facilities. There is a public use airstrip located between Anderson and Clear. The Clear Sky Sportsman’s Club hosts trap shoots and outdoor activities. Neighboring settlements include Clear Sky, Rex Trail and the Kobe Ag subdivision. 

 

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Healy & Surrounding Communities

Healy, the Denali Borough seat, is centered near MP 248 of the Parks Highway. Healy is home to roughly half of the Borough’s population with around 1,000 residents. During the summer months, the population more than triples with seasonal workers and visitors.

 

The area broadly known as Healy today found its start in mining. In 1914, the US Congress passed two Acts that were dependent on the other and of equal importance for the development of Healy. The Alaska Railway Act authorized the construction of an all-weather government railroad from Seward to Fairbanks, and The Coal Leasing Act opened federal lands for mining. Healy was established as a permanent railroad station by 1919 and mining operations began. In the 1940s, in the area now known as Healy River Valley, a series of mini communities had formed at each mining site. Over time, the mining operations merged or closed until only Usibelli Coal Mine remained. Healy was initially located next to the Alaska Railroad tracks near the Nenana River and over time, relocated along the Parks Highway.

 

Beginning in 1965, it was possible to drive a car from Healy to Fairbanks. However, there was no bridge at Nenana, so drivers could only travel on the ice in the winter or take a ferry in the summer. If you wanted to drive to Anchorage, you had to go through Fairbanks, Delta, and Glennallen. The Anchorage-Fairbanks (now George Parks) Highway was completed in 1971. 

 

Residential areas north of Healy include Bear Creek, June Creek and Rock Creek homesteads and the community of Ferry. Stampede and Lignite Roads each host a small subdivision. To the south of the central Healy area, the Otto Lake, Hilltop, and Ranch Road communities spread from the foothills of the Healy Range to Dry Creek. 

 

The Healy area is full of a variety of recreation opportunities, including boating, paddle sports, hiking, hunting, ATV trails, berry picking, bike riding, dog mushing, snow machining, skiing, horseback, community playground, golf course, and many commercial activities.

 

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McKinley Village, Denali Park & Surrounding Communities

McKinley Village is an unincorporated community near the entrance of Denali National Park centered at MP 230 of the Parks Highway. It consists of residential neighborhoods mixed with seasonal tourism businesses. The McKinley Village area starts approximately seven miles south of the park entrance and is mostly hidden from view when traveling the highway. 

 

The first year-round resident of the area was Bill Nancarrow who homesteaded land at Deneki Lakes in 1954. Other homesteads gradually grew in this area and many of them were eventually subdivided into the neighborhoods that exist today, including the Village View Subdivision. Prior to the Parks Highway, the Denali Highway opened in 1957, linking the Richardson Highway to the Denali Park Road. In the late 1950s, several small businesses opened in this area to support the tourism of the National Park, and this continues to be true today.

 

McKinley Village has a community center and playground that serves as a frequent gathering place for local events and activities. Community members enjoy cross country skiing, dog mushing, snowmachining, hiking, berry picking, skiing, river rafting and other paddle sports, and hunting in the area.

 

To the north of McKinley Village is the main entrance to Denali National Park at MP 237 of the Parks Highway. Denali Park Headquarters, located at MP 3.4 of Denali National Park Road, is the center for many of the National Park Service employees. There are both permanent and seasonal housing neighborhoods in this area. Kantishna, a historic mining area at MP 92 of the Denali National Park Road, is home to seasonal businesses and a handful of private inholdings. Carlo Creek is a small neighborhood in this area with permanent housing and seasonal businesses, located at MP 224 of the Parks Highway.

 

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The Native Village of Cantwell, Cantwell & Surrounding Communities

Cantwell is located in the southern portion of the Denali Borough at MP 210 of the Parks Highway and has roughly 200 residents. The earliest inhabitants of the Cantwell area (Yedatene Na’) were nomadic Indians who trapped, hunted, and fished throughout Interior Alaska and to the east in the Copper River basin. According to Donald Orth in Alaska Place Names, Cantwell was named after the Cantwell River (now known as the Nenana River), which got its name in 1885 when a US army officer, Lieutenant Henry T. Allan, explored parts of Alaska and made a map that named the river after John C. Cantwell, a captain in the US Revenue Cutter Service. 

 

In 1919, Swedish immigrant John E. Carlson built and ran a roadhouse in Cantwell that outfitted the gold miners working at claims along Valdez Creek. When the railroad was constructed through the area, the roadhouse became a flag stop for railroad workers, gold miners and passengers. With the onset of WWII, and the closing of gold mines, most miners moved to Cantwell to find employment with the Alaska Railroad and the Alaska Road Commission. A native Alaskan that moved to the area when the price of furs dropped was Oley Nicklie, followed by his two brothers, who found jobs with the Alaska Railroad and became permanent residents. Both Carlson and Nicklie have descendents in the Cantwell community today.

 

The completion of the Denali Highway (1957) and the George Parks Highway (1971) greatly impacted the development of the area. Cantwell continues to be an important crossroads for Alaska’s transportation network.Its connection to the Denali Highway offers tremendous recreational and subsistence opportunities. In winter, the wide-open tundra covered with deep snow makes this a winter wonderland, where skiers, snowmachiners, ice fisherman and dog mushers enjoy their activities. In warmer summer months, hikers, campers, packrafters, hunters, anglers, berry pickers, photographers, and ATV users adventure there. 

 

A major landholder in this area is the regional native corporation, Ahtna, Inc (more information on Ahtna Inc. is included in the following “Landmanager” section. The Native Village of Cantwell is a federally-recognized Indian Tribe government. Its governing body is the Cantwell Village Council, which is capable of exercising its sovereign authority to create laws and policies that protect the health, safety, and welfare of its tribal members. Residential neighborhoods in and around Cantwell include the original Cantwell Townsite, the Drashner Lake area, Cantwell Heights, and The Jack River Nation.

 

(Community Profiles are copied from the Community & Outdoor Recreation Plan; 2025)