Located on the Seward Peninsula which juts out into the Bering Sea, Nome is 539 air miles northwest of Anchorage and 102 miles south of the Arctic Circle. Within a short time there were 20,000 people in the area, and when it was discovered that even the sand on the beach at Nome was gold-bearing, many more came. Extensive development occurred both in Nome and in the surrounding region, bosted by the construction of a railroad in 1900. A fire in 1934 destroyed most of the city, and little remains from the gold rush period in the city. Scattered around the tundra, though, artifacts are common, making Nome popular with visitors with an interest in history as well as nature. And there are almost 300 miles of road to