Alaska Facts and Trivia

Baidarka at sunset by alaskawildland.com.

Outsiders first discovered Alaska in 1741 when Danish explorer Vitus Jonassen Bering sighted it on a voyage from Siberia.
Russian whalers and fur traders on Kodiak Island established the first settlement in Alaska in 1784.
In 1867, United States Secretary of State William H. Seward offered Russia $7,200,000, or two cents per acre, for Alaska. On October 18 of that year, Alaska officially became the property of the United States. Many Americans called the purchase "Seward's Folly."
Joe Juneau's 1880 discovery of gold ushered in the Gold Rush era. The discovery of gold in the Yukon began another rush in 1898. Later gold was also discovered at Nome and Fairbanks.
In 1943 Japan invaded the Aleutian Islands, which started the One Thousand Mile War, the first battle fought on American soil since the Civil War. Consequently, Agattu, Attu, and Kiska are the only parts of North America occupied by Japanese troops during World War II.
Alaska officially became the 49th state on January 3, 1959.
Alaska accounts for 25 percent of the oil produced in the United States.
Alaska is the United State's largest state and is well over twice the size of Texas. Measuring from north to south the state is approximately 1,400 miles long and measuring from east to west it is 2,700 miles wide. The state of Rhode Island could fit into Alaska 425 times.
Prudhoe Bay, on the northern Alaskan coast, is North America's largest oil field.
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline moves up to 88,000 barrels of oil per hour on its 800 mile journey to Valdez.
The fishing and seafood industry is the state's largest private industry employer. Most of America's salmon, crab, halibut, and herring come from Alaska.
The term Alaska Native refers to Alaska's original inhabitants, including the five primary groups: Athabascan; Yup’ik and Cup’ik; Inupiaq and St. Lawrence Island Yupik; Aleut and Aluutiq; and Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian.
An unnamed draftsman created the state seal in 1910. It consists of a rising sun shining on forests, lake, fishing and shipping boats, and agricultural and mining activities.
In 1926, 13-year-old Bennie Benson, a 7 th-grade Aleut student in Seward, Alaska designed the state flag. In doing so, he won the statewide design contest and received a gold watch and $1000.

The state song, “ Alaska’s Flag,” features lyrics by Marie Drake and music by Elinor Dusenbery and was adopted by the Territorial Legislature in 1955. In 2002, a second verse, written by Carole Beery Davis, was added to recognize flag designer Benny Benson and the Alaska Native cultures that have contributed to the state’s greatness.
Alaska has been called America's Last Frontier. The vast majority of the state remains unsettled wilderness.
The Alaska State Legislature is made up of a Senate and a House of Representatives. Twenty senators are elected to four-year terms; forty representatives serve two-year terms.
Alaska 's Constitution was adopted in 1956 and became effective in 1959, making it the 49th state.
Nearly one-third of Alaska lies within the Arctic Circle.
The Alaska Highway was originally built as a military supply road during World War II.
The state boasts the lowest population density in the nation, with 1.1 persons per square mile.
Alaska is a geographical marvel. When a scale map of Alaska is superimposed on a map of the 48 lower states, Alaska extends from coast to coast.
The state's coastline extends over 6,600 miles.
Alaska is a part of the “Ring of Fire,” the string of volcanoes stretching around the Pacific Ocean, which contains 75 percent of the world’s volcanoes. There are at least 127 identified volcanic features in Alaska, and 43 of the United States’ historically active volcanoes are in Alaska—mostly in the Aleutian Islands. In 1986 Mount Augustine erupted near Anchorage, and in 1992, Mount Spurr erupted three times, sending clouds of volcanic ash over Southcentral Alaska.
Alaska 's geographic center is 60 miles northwest of Mount McKinley.
The Tongass National Forest is the largest national forest in the United States. Wood-Tikchik State Park is the largest state park in the United States.
Alaska is home to 17 of the 20 highest peaks in the United States.

At 20,320 feet above sea level, Mt. McKinley, located in Alaska's interior, is the highest point in North America.
Juneau is the only capital city in the United States accessible only by boat or plane. There are no roads into or out of Juneau.
The state's largest city is Anchorage; the second largest is Fairbanks.
The Alaska Range is the largest mountain chain in the state. It extends from the Alaska Peninsula to the Yukon Territory.
In 1915 the record high temperature in Alaska was 100 degrees Fahrenheit at Fort Yukon; the record low temperature was -80 degrees Fahrenheit at Prospect Creek Camp in 1971.