Anchorage, Alaska History
Russian presence in south central Alaska was well-established in the 19th century. In 1867, U. S. Secretary of State William H. Seward brokered a deal to purchase Alaska from a debt-ridden Imperial Russia for $7.2 million (about two cents an acre). The deal was lampooned by fellow politicians and by the public as "Seward's folly", "Seward's icebox" and "Walrussia." By 1888, gold was discovered along Turnagain Arm.In 1912, Alaska became a United States Territory. Anchorage, unlike every other large town in Alaska south of the Brooks Range, was neither a fishing nor mining camp. The area within tens of miles of Anchorage is barren of significant economic metal minerals; …
Read More Anchorage, Alaska Geography
Anchorage is located in South Central Alaska. At 61 degrees North, it lies slightly farther north than Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki and St. Petersburg, but not as far north as Reykjavik or Murmansk. It is northeast of the Alaska Peninsula, Kodiak Island, and Cook Inlet, due north of the Kenai Peninsula, northwest of Prince William Sound and Alaska Panhandle, and nearly due south of Mount McKinley/Denali.The city is on a strip of coastal lowland and extends up the lower alpine slopes of the Chugach Mountains. To the south is Turnagain Arm, a fjord that has some of the world's highest tides. Knik Arm, another tidal inlet, lies to the west and north. The Chugach Mountains …
Read More