"Front Street, the main business street in Nome, Alaska, about four thousand air miles to the northwest, is two paces narrower but feels just as wide. Usually, there aren't a lot of cars or pedestrians on Front Street, and the buildings that line it, none of them tall, seem to lean back from it. More dust and sand and rain and snow blow down Front Street than vehicles drive on it."
"The iron in it will turn white cars a dingy yellow over time. During drier periods, small sand ripples form in corners along the streets, like sand on the bottom of a lake. Since the discovery of gold here, in 1898, billions of dollars have been taken out of Nome's beach and from the bottom of the Bering Sea, just offshore."
Nome, Alaska, is a small coastal city of about 3,700 residents near the far western edge of North America, with Front Street serving as its main business street. Front Street is narrow, lightly trafficked, and frequently battered by sand, wind, rain and snow. Nome's sand contains gold and other minerals; gold has driven extensive beach and offshore mining since 1898. Gold dredges operate offshore on calm days, appearing ungainly with beams and pipes. Weather and ocean ice have repeatedly damaged the business district. The Russia–U.S. border runs nearby along the International Date Line, underscoring Nome's geographic proximity to Russia.
Read at The New Yorker
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