History, News and Stories of Alaska, USA

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• 1741 - Outsiders first discovered Alaska in 1741 when Danish explorer Vitus Jonassen Bering sighted it on a voyage from Siberia.
  
  www.ereferencedesk.com/ resources/ state-facts/ alaska.html
  
• 1784 - Russian whalers and fur traders on Kodiak Island established the first settlement in Alaska in 1784.
  
  www.ereferencedesk.com/ resources/ state-facts/ alaska.html
  
• 1834 - Native Aleut population, estimated at between 15,000 and 20,000 before Europeans arrived, dropped to 2247 by 1834
  largely due to the introduction of guns and diseases such as smallpox, measles, and tuberculosis.
  www.ereferencedesk.com/ resources/ state-facts/ alaska.html
  
• 1867 - March 30 – Alaska is purchased for $7.2 million from Alexander II of Russia, about 2 cent/acre ($4.19/km²), by United States Secretary of State William H. Seward. The news media call this "Seward's Folly"
  U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward signs a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska for $7 million. Despite the bargain price of roughly two cents an acre, the Alaskan purchase was ridiculed in Congress and in the press as "Seward's folly," "Seward's icebox," and President Andrew... Read MORE...
  
  
• 1869 - Sitka Times, first Alaskan newspaper, published
  
  www.worldatlas.com/ webimage/ countrys/ namerica/ usstates/ aktimeln.htm
  
• 1872 - Gold discovered near Sitka (Alaska)
  
  www.worldatlas.com/ webimage/ countrys/ namerica/ usstates/ aktimeln.htm
  
• 1888 - More than 60,000 arrived in search for gold (Alaska)
  
  www.worldatlas.com/ webimage/ countrys/ namerica/ usstates/ aktimeln.htm
  
• (1897 - 1900) Klondike gold rush occurred
  
  www.worldatlas.com/ webimage/ countrys/ namerica/ usstates/ aktimeln.htm
  
• 1897 - During the Klondike gold rush in 1897, potatoes were so highly valued for their vitamin C content, that miners traded gold for them.
  
  www.ereferencedesk.com/ resources/ state-facts/ alaska.html
  
• 1899 - May 31 – Launch of the Harriman Alaska Expedition.
  
  wikipedia.org
  May 31, 1899
  
• 1899 - July 30 – The Harriman Alaska Expedition ends successfully.
  
  wikipedia.org
  July 30, 1899
  
• 1903 - Alaska-Canada border was established
  
  www.worldatlas.com/ webimage/ countrys/ namerica/ usstates/ aktimeln.htm
  
• 1912 - Mt. Katmai exploded, created Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes (Alaska)
  
  www.worldatlas.com/ webimage/ countrys/ namerica/ usstates/ aktimeln.htm
  
• 1915 - Record high temperature in Alaska was 100 degrees Fahrenheit at Fort Yukon.
  
  www.ereferencedesk.com/ resources/ state-facts/ alaska.html
  
•   1935 - August 15 – Humorist Will Rogers and aviator Wiley Post are killed when Post's plane crashes shortly after takeoff near Barrow, Alaska.
  
  wikipedia.org
  August 15. 1935
  
• 1942 - October 28 – The Alaska Highway is completed.
  
  wikipedia.org
  October 28, 1942
  
• February 3, 1947 - The temperature at Tanacross, AK, plunged to a record 75 degrees below zero.
  
  WeatherForYou.com
  
• 1959 - Alaska became 49th state
  
  www.worldatlas.com/ webimage/ countrys/ namerica/ usstates/ aktimeln.htm
  
• 1964 - March 1 - Thompson Pass, AK, finished the month with 346.1 inches of snow, a record monthly total for the state of Alaska.
  
  The Weather Channel
  
•   1964 - 21 DEAD, 83 MISSING IN FRIDAY'S EARTHQUAKE. PROPERTY DAMAGE ESTIMATE AT OVER $350-MILLION.
  Anchorage, Alaska (AP) - As Alaskans toiled to dig out from the rubble of Friday's great earthquake, Civil Defense officials listed new casualty... Read MORE...