Happy Alaska Day! The United States took possession of Alaska on this date in 1867. William H. Seward, President Andrew Johnsons Secretary of State, was looking for a cheap way to expand the United States landholdings. It just so happened that Russia was looking to unload a big chunk of land just across the Bering Strait from its far eastern border. Russia had explored it, sent missionaries to it, and established the Russian-American Company to trade for furs with the indigenous people who lived there. But the trading company wasnt doing well, and the czar decided the state needed to fold the business and divest itself of the real estate. Seward wasnt the first American whose eye was caught by the colony known as Russian America. In 1843, Secretary of State William Mercy and Senator William Gwin had made enquiries, but at that time, Russia wasnt selling. After Russia lost the Crimean War to France and Great Britain in 1859, the czar and his ministers began to reconsider their position. Better to sell the land than to risk having it taken outright by Britain, who had already established the crown colony of British Columbia in western Canada and was in a prime position to seize Russian America. Britain expressed no interest in buying the territory, so Russia approached the United States. The territory covered about 590,000 square miles: twice the size of Texas and nearly one-fifth the size of the entire continental United States. Eager to sell, the Russian government let the land go for a little over $7 million — less than two cents an acre. The deal was closed on March 30, and Congress ratified it two months later, after Seward wined and dined the undecided congressmen, regaling them with tales of the lands reputed beauty. Johnsons many opponents wasted no time in criticizing the deal, calling it Sewards Folly, Sewards Icebox, and Andrew Johnsons Polar Bear Garden. Derogatory nicknames notwithstanding, the government decided on the Aleut word, Alaska, as the territorys name. The hand-off was commemorated by a formal ceremony in Sitka. Russian and American soldiers marched to and fro in front of the governors house, and the Russian flag was replaced by the Stars and Stripes. Although industry was established the following year in the form of the first Alaskan salmon cannery, Congress dragged its feet when it came to establishing a civil government or infrastructure in Alaska. The House of Representatives put the territory under the control of the U.S. Army at first, and then later put it under the Treasury Department. Finally, in 1884, the First Organic Act made it a civil and judicial district, and an organized government — modeled after Oregons — was put into place. The Act tried to protect Native Americans from the encroaching mining, fishing, and timber industries. But in 1897, a ship docked in Seattle, laden with a million dollars worth of gold from the Klondike River. Word spread like wildfire and white settlers poured into the Yukon Territory, all hoping to make their fortunes. White settlements and towns sprang up all over the Yukon. October 18 is still celebrated in the state as Alaska Day. Alaska became the 49th state on January 3, 1959. ~The Writers Almanac, October 18, 2014
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 12:33:24 +0000
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