Located on the left bank of the Niukluk River on the Seward Penisula, 33 miles notrhteast of Solomon. 74 miles northeast of Nome. Council can be accessed by boat, charter plane or auto from Nome. The population is 11 year round and up to 50 during the summer months. The Zip Code for Council is 99790.
Council is 100 feet above sea level. Council has a continental climate with long cold winters and short mild summers. Average annual precipitation is 14 inches, with 46 inches of snowfall. Temperatures range between -9° and 64°F.
Melsing Creek airstrip has a gravel runway that is 1,300 feet in length and is located adjacent to and a little northeast of the village. The airport is unattended and not maintained in winter months. Transportation to the village is sometimes available.
Council was once one of the largest communities in Alaska. The community was founded in 1897 by Daniel B. Libby and his party. Libby had been 1 of 3 members of the Van Bendeleben expedition of 1896 who discovered gold in the area. Council became the site of the recording office and the center of the Council Gold Mining District. By October 1897, it was a city of approximately 50 log houses and 300 people. The gold strikes at Council predate major strikes at Nome, and a single claim on Ophir Creek was said to be the second richest claim in the world, second only to a claim in Klondike. During the summers of 1897-99, council's population was estimated to be as high as 15,000 people and was said to be bigger than Nome. Council City was a genuine boom town with a hotel, wooden board walks, a post office, a 20-bed hospital and numerous bars. At one time 13 dredges worked streams and rivers between Solomon and Council and the town was the southern terminus of a railroad that climbed a 600-foot ridge into Ophir Creek. Many of the boomers left Council in 1900 for the gold beaches of Nome, but a sizable community remained. Council, which still had a population of 686 in 1910, was for many years the second-largest community in western Alaska. The influenza epidemic of 1918, the Great Depression and World War II contributed to its decline. By 1950 only 9 people remained. The post office closed in 1953.
Council is one of the few villages in the region connected to Nome by road, which originated as a trail during the gold rush. The road was constructed in 1906-07 and improvements were scheduled during the summer of 1985. The road terminates across from Council at the river, which can be forded at low water periods. Three roads branch out from Council; to Ophis Creek, to Melsing Creek and the airstrip, and a third goes over a hill northeast to Mystery. Except for the Ophir Road, 4-wheel-drive vehicles are necessary.
Remains of gold mining activity can be found everywhere. The country side is dotted with with old cabins, roads, a railroad, mines and dredges, including one operating dredge at Ophir Creek. The old post office, school, hotel and numerous other buildings in various stages of deterioration still stand among newer buildings in the settlement.
All permanent residents of Council, and many of the seasonal residents, rely in part on local hunting and fishing for food. The Niukluk River provides some of the finest fishing on the Seward Peninsula. Rabbits, ptarmigan, moose, grizzly bears and wolves inhabit the area.
Native residents of Council are members of the Council Native Corp., which controls some of the land around Council. Communications include a telephone in the community building and radios. There is a community electricity system but water is hauled from a central watering point. There is no sewage system. Council is an unincorporated village.
