Chatanika River Women's Colony
The Chatanika River Women's Colony in Alaska was part of the underdocumented second wave of feminism social phenonema of the 1970s where the rise of intentional and socially hopeful feminist communities was an integral aspect.
The colony was conceived and initiated in the 1970s by a group of women who migrated to the Alaska Interior with the specific intent of creating a cooperative women's community in the wilderness. Upon arrival in Fairbanks, they established the First Avenue Collective, a domestic cooperative. Once settled, they located and homesteaded a parcel of BLM[1] land on the Chatanika River[2], located roughly below Murphy Dome[3].
The loosely affiliated ecofeminist group--each of whom offered different contributions at different times--canoed and backpacked supplies and building materials from Fairbanks into the remote site. Together they built a log cabin by hand without the benefit of power tools, put in gardens and adapted to the reality of survival in the wilderness.
Many women, through the years, have visited "the river" and contributed work, food and camaraderie. The colony brought women from around the world together in the wilderness to contemplate the spirit of the land and to appreciate the abilities of women working in community.