Mile 32.7 on Glenn Highway #1/Tok Cut-off; 42 miles northeast of Glennallen.
Chistochina began as an Ahtna Athabaskan fish camp and a stopover place for traders and trappers. The village access road later became part of the Valdez-Eagle Trail, constructed by miners during the gold rush to the Eagle area in 1897. Chistochina Lodge was built as a roadhouse for prospectors. The Trail was used for construction of U.S. Army Signal Corps telegraph lines from Valdez to Eagle between 1901 and 1904.
Gold was mined along the upper Chistochina River and its runoff creeks. The area was settled by homesteaders, although it has remained the most traditional of all Copper River Athabascan villages. Subsistence activities are a crucial component of the lifestyle in the village, which is surrounded by Sinona and Boulder Creeks and the Chistochina and Copper Rivers.
