Candle, Alaska
human settlement in Alaska, United States of America
Candle (Qawiaraq Iñupiaq: Kialukuwik; Malimiut Iñupiaq: Masrutuuq) is an unincorporated community in the Northwest Arctic Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is situated on the west bank of the Kiwalik River at Candle Creek. It was founded around 1901 as a mining camp, named for the adjacent creek. The post office was established in 1902.
History
Candle is the birthplace of prominent Native American actor Ray Mala. Although there was a hospital in Candle, Mala was delivered in an Inupiaq sod house by his grandmother and a niece on a ruthlessly cold morning two days after Christmas in 1906.
In 1908, Candle was the turnaround point for the first major mushing competition, the All Alaska Sweepstakes, which was started by John Skyles Beltz and Allan "Scotty" Alexander Allan, and ran 408 miles (657 km) from Nome to Candle and back.
Demographics
Candle first appeared on the U.S. Census as an unincorporated village in 1910. It continued to report until 1960. Although it has not been completely abandoned, it has not reported a separate population since 1960.
The public source identifies “Candle, Alaska” as human settlement in Alaska, United States of America. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Candle, Alaska and human.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q2936297. VIAF identifies the subject as 134979479. The Library of Congress control number is n88218727. Authority coordinates are 65.913, -161.924. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1901, 1902, 1906 and 1908.
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This entry incorporates text from “Candle, Alaska” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.