Nome has no forests so if you need to build a home with local material, you use sod. This home is called a barabara by the Inupiat, the local Natives.
Is it comfortable?
It better be! Nome is ice-locked for eight months a year!
During the Alaska Gold Rush, if you were in Nome on September 15th, you would be there until next June.
Today you can fly from the open waters of the North Pacific in about two hours.
In 1905, that open water was 700 miles from Nome.