24/7 Trauma and Biohazard Cleanup in Tok, AK

Tok is a census-designated place (CDP) in Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, on a large, flat alluvial plain of the Tanana Valley between the Tanana River and the Alaska Range.

The 2020 census counted 1,243 residents in 526 households, slightly down from 1,258 in 2010.

Tok lies at an important junction of the Alaska Highway (Alaska Route 2) with the Glenn Highway (Alaska Route 1), and the Tok Cut-Off connects it with the Richardson Highway at Glennallen.

The town began in 1942 as an Alaska Road Commission camp for construction and maintenance of the Alaska Highway, earning the nickname "Million Dollar Camp" for the money spent on it.

Tok first appeared on the 1950 census as the unincorporated village of "Tok Junction"; the name was shortened to Tok in 1960 and it became a census-designated place in 1980.

The name is said to come from the Athabascan word for "peaceful crossing," though other versions link it to "Tokyo camp" or to a canine mascot of an Engineer unit.

In July 1990 a lightning-caused forest fire jumped two rivers and the Alaska Highway and nearly destroyed Tok; residents were evacuated and a last-minute wind diverted the fire just short of the first building before it burned more than 100,000 acres.

On January 10, 2009, Tok made headlines with an unconfirmed temperature reading of minus 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

Tok's economy is supported largely by tourism, and its most common occupations are in construction, healthcare and accommodation.

Tok School, a K-12 campus in the Alaska Gateway School District, serves about 200 community students, and a small University of Alaska office offers distance classes.