Trapper Creek, Alaska, lies between mile 107 and 133 of the George Parks Highway, in the Mat-Su Borough.
It lies at the junction of the Parks Highway and Petersville Road. It's 17 miles north of the Parks junction with the Talkeetna Spur and is west of the junction of the Chulitna, Susitna and Talkeetna rivers.
Trapper Creek is separated from Talkeetna by the big Susitna River. It's a 31-mile road trip to Talkeetna, which is four miles away by air.
The population of the Trapper Creek area is about 425.
January temperatures range from minus 30 to 33; July can range from 42 to 83. Rainfall ranges from 16 to 27 inches, with 48 to 150 inches of snowfall.
A tenth of the area's population is Alaska Native or part Native.
Trapper Creek has developed from homesteading through the 1960s, and some recent new subdivisions. Recreation, hunting, snowmobiling and dog mushing are popular activities.
Middle and high school students attend Susitna Valley in Y, at Milepost 98.
During the 2000 U.S. Census, there were 361 total housing units, and 179 were vacant. 162 of these vacant housing units are used only seasonally. 125 residents were employed. The unemployment rate at that time was 8 percent, although 57 percent of all adults were not in the workforce.
The median household income was $27,031, per capita income was $18,247, and 24.68% of residents were living below the poverty level.
Most homes use individual wells and septic tanks. Electricity is available on Petersville Road for six miles west of the Parks Highway. Residents beyond this point use individual generators.
Subsistence and sporting activities are an integral part of the lifestyle. Some residents are retired. Those who are employed work in a variety of industries such as education, transportation and construction.
History
The area is Dena'ina Athabascan Indian territory. Once gold was discovered on Cache Creek in 1906, prospectors traveled up the Susitna River to Susitna Station, and overland past Trapper Creek to Cache Creek.
In 1920, the Alaska Road Commission started construction of a wagon road to Cache Creek from Talkeetna. Federal homesteading began here in 1948.
In 1959, the "Fifty-Niners," a group of settlers from Detroit, Michigan, moved to Talkeetna and then on to Trapper Creek to find homesteads. They lived in trailers and tents before building log cabins. The Parks Highway opened as far as Trapper Creek in 1967, and was completed in 1971.
