The Town of Chicken was once the mining hub for the Fortymile district. In 1886, ten years before the Klondike Gold Rush, gold was discovered on Franklin Creek and the community of Chicken was founded.

As the story goes, the miners wanted to name the town ‘Ptarmigan’ after the bird which is common in the area. Unfortunately, people couldn’t agree on how to spell the unusual name, so they settled with Chicken. The name stuck and so has the community, despite an up-and-down history of mining in the Fortymile district.