About the Idiatrod Historic Alliance
The Iditarod Historic Trail Alliance, a.k.a. Iditarod National Historic Trail, Inc., is a statewide nonprofit organization chartered to advance the knowledge, appreciation, and enjoyment of the historic Iditarod Trail. Founded in 1999, a number of Board members of the Alliance have been involved in efforts for the Trail for over 30 years. Several served on the Department of Interior’s Iditarod National Historic Trail Advisory Council, which sunsetted in 1998. State and federal land management agencies work with the Alliance on projects to benefit the Trail.

The Alliance, along with its partners, is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Iditarod Trail. 2008 marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of work by the federal government to open the Iditarod Trail. Between 1910 and 1912, over 10,000 gold seekers came to Alaska’s “Inland Empire” and in the following years worked $30 million of gold from the ground.

While the Iditarod Trail is well known nationally and internationally due to contemporary sled dog racing, many Alaskans and most Americans are unaware of the basic history of the Trail. While parts of the Trail go back thousands of years to trade routes used by Alaska Natives, today’s Iditarod Trail began with an Alaska Road Commission scouting expedition in mid-winter 1908. With the overall goal of raising public recognition and understanding, the Alliance is working with a consortium of public agencies and private partners during the Iditarod Historic Trail Centennial, 2008-2012, in a coordinated public education effort.