Greg Jackson, age 10, of Mesa, Ariz., for his question:
HOW MUCH DID WE PAY TO BUY ALASKA?
When Alaska became the largest state in the United States in 1959, it was the first new state in 47 years. And it had been 92 years since U.S. Secretary of State William Seward purchased the Alaskan territory from Russia for $7.2 million in 1867. It figured out to about two cents per acre for the vast region.
Alaska covers so much territory that it is almost a fifth as large as all the rest of the United States put together. It is more than twice the size of Texas. Yet Alaska has fewer people than any other state in the Union.
Almost a third of Alaska is north of the Arctic Circle. The mainland’s most western point is only 51 miles from Russia. Alaska’s Little Diomede Island, in the Bering Strait, is about two and a half miles from Russia’s Big Diomede Island.
On March 30, 1867, Secretary of State Seward signed the Treaty of Cession of Russia America to the United States. Many Americans opposed the purchase. They called Alaska such names as Seward’s Folly and Seward’s Icebox. But Congress approved the purchase and the United States flag was raised at sitka on October 18, 1867.
During the next 17 years, Congress did not provide any money for an Alaskan government. The territory was administered first by the War Department and then by the Treasury Department, and finally by the Navy Department. These agencies had little interest in the local problems of the region.
In 1878, a few American companies built the first salmon canneries in Alaska. Then in 1884, Congress passed the first Organic Act, which established Alaska as a civil and judicial district. The Organic Act gave Alaska a code of laws and a federal court.
Gold was discovered at Nome in 1899 and in the Fairbanks area in 1902. These discoveries attracted more persons to the region and aroused nationwide interest in Alaska.
In 1912, Congress passed the second Organic Act. This law established Alaska as a United States territory and provided for a territorial legislature with limited powers.
In 1920, fewer persons lived in Alaska than had lived there 10 years earlier.
Several Alaskan statehood bills had been introduced in Congress after Alaska became a territory in 1912 but none was approved. Finally, on June 30, 1958, Congress voted to admit Alaska into the Union.
In November of that year, Alaska voters chose a congressional delegation and state officers. Then on January 3, 1959, President Dwight Eisenhower issued a proclamation declaring Alaska the 49th state. Alaska became the first new state since 1912 when Arizona and New Mexico joined the Union.
The name Alaska comes from a word used by the people of the Aleutian Islands. The word meant great land or mainland. It sounded like A la a ska to early Russian settlers.
Today Alaska is often called the Last Frontier because much of the state is not yet fully developed.