Alaska
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Alaska. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a territory of the United States , occupying the northwest corner of North America . The name is Indian, signifying a great land. The central portion is a vast rectangle situated between the North Pacific and the Arctic Oceans, and extending from Bering Sea to the 141st degree of west longitude. A long strip of coast follows the Pacific 500 miles to the southeast, and an arc of islands 1,000 miles long tails off into the southwest, almost to Kamchatka. If, as suggested by Mr. Brooks, of the United States, Geological Survey, a map of Alaska be laid on a diagram of the United States, the southeast extremity of the coast strip will fall near Atlanta, Georgia, and the tip of the Aleutian Islands will fall at San Francisco ; while the main part of the territory fills a quadrangle extending from the Indian Territory to Lake of the Woods, and from Chicago to the eastern border of Colorado. From Sitka to the mouth of the Yukon river is a sea voyage of 2,000 miles. TOPOGRAPHY. The entire area of Alaska is estimated at 600,000 square miles. It is not easy to characterize the surface of so vast a region in a few words. The Arctic coast is a tundra region of swamps and mossy moors. It is terminated at the west by a mountainous region, situated between Pt. Barrow, the most northerly point of the continent, and the wide marshes of the lower Yukon. This tundra region, like that of Asia, is frozen to a great depth. Each summer the surface thaws out to a depth of two or three feet only. South of this Arctic coast plain lies a vast interior prairie and forest region large enough for several states. It is drained chiefly by the Yukon, one of the great rivers of the world, which gathers the waters of northwestern British America and sweeps westward in a flood to Bering Sea. Six hundred miles above its mouth it is a mile in width. It is ice bound during a large part of the year, but during a short summer it is navigated by no less than forty steamboats, trading with the mining camps on its upper waters. Extensive tracts are described as well timbered; others as covered with rich grasses and beautiful flowers. The Aleutian Islands are of little importance. They coast the deep basin of the Pacific for a distance of a thousand miles, dividing it from Bering Sea. Over sixty of these islands are of recent and volcanic origin. Ten of these volcanoes are still active. The islands are inhabited by Aleut Indians who live chiefly by hunting and fishing. They are almost treeless, but are well covered with grass and shrubs. These islands are exceedingly interesting to naturalists. Many of the flowers, birds, and animals are not found elsewhere. Close to the Alaskan mainland, there is a large wooded island called Kadiac, especially noted for the Kadiac fox and bear. The latter is a sort of brown bear, resembling in some respects the grizzly. It is not only the largest and most powerful member of the bear family, but it is also the largest flesh-eating animal known. From Kadiac eastward to Mount St. Elias, the coast grows more and more mountainous. The great angle of the Pacific coast is one of the scenic regions of the world. The North American continent attains its greatest height in this region. There are mountains twice as high as the Alps, and glaciers beside which those of Switzerland are mere driblets. Stretching northward from Cross Sound, a stupendous range follows the sea. Peak after peak seems to rise from the very ocean. Crillon, Fairweather, Vancouver, Cook, and other mighty fellows, there they stand. Old Mt. St. Elias, the landmark of the sailor, looms up 18,024 feet. Mt. Logan in the background carries a snow cloak and cap 19,550 feet high. Even in midsummer, the region of perpetual snow is only 2,000 feet above the sea. Behind the mountains mentioned, a second range, a continuation of the familiar Cascade Mountains of the Pacific coast, trends northwest and terminates in an elevated region called the Alaskan Mountains. Mt. McKinley, the central peak, is 20,460 feet high. It is not only the highest mountain in Alaska, but the highest peak in North America. Far out at sea, these elevated snow fields, surmounted by lofty peaks, look like fleecy clouds on the distant horizon; but viewed more clearly as the ship approaches, they form a scene of awe-inspiring, solitary grandeur. As the tourist realizes the magnitude of the rock masses that underlie this glittering waste of snow, and the irresistible nature of the forces that crumpled and heaved them there, he realizes that his steamer is but a nutshell bobbing on the sea. During geologic ages, the coast line has sunk until the sea now washes the mountain walls. Glaciers have worn gorges and deep inlets like the fiords of Norway. If we except the ice caps of the polar regions, the greatest glaciers in the world are here. Each bay, arm, and inlet receives its stream of ice. Glacier Bay receives the wonderful Muir Glacier. The face of this glacier is a perpendicular wall of ice two hundred feet high and three miles wide; and yet it is a mere rivulet compared with others. At the head of Lynn Canal two hundred miles inland we find Skagway, Dyea, the White Pass, and Chilkoot Pass, famous as marking the beginning of the overland journey to Dawson and the Klondike. South of Lynn Canal the seacoast is clothed with magnificent forests of pine, cedar, fir, and spruce, a continuation of the coast forests of Washington and of British Columbia. HISTORY. Alaskan waters were explored for Russia by Vitus Bering in 1728, and for England by Captain Cook in 1776. The Russians organized fur and trading companies with posts at Kadiac Island and elsewhere. They also established numerous missions among the natives; but the early history of Alaska centers at the interesting old town of Sitka. It is situated on an island near the entrance to Lynn Harbor. In early days, before San Francisco was thought of, the Russian-American Fur Company aimed to build here a commercial and manufacturing city. Iron, coal, and copper were mined. Bricks were burned. Bells were cast. The indolent Spanish of southern California bought their plow shares, hoes, and hatchets from Sitka makers. The first steamships built on the Pacific slid into its waters from the shipyards of Sitka; the first foundries and machine shops on the American shore of the Pacific were here. The first miners, the "forty-niners," that rushed to California to find gold, bought woolen clothing, picks, shovels, lumber, dried fish, and woodenware produced at Sitka. The company aimed to build up a trade between Alaska and China and Japan, but lost money in the long run. Sitka declined. During the Civil War Russia was at some pains and considerable expense to send war vessels to our Atlantic border on a friendly visit at a time when we were heartily glad to shake the Russian bear by the paw. There seemed just a chance that England might take a hand in our local quarrel, and we were glad to have a strong neighbor on our side. At the close of the war Secretary of State Seward, with the consent of Congress, took Alaska off Russia's hands for $7,200,000. This was supposed to be more than a liberal price, indeed to be a squaring of accounts. The American flag was hoisted at Sitka, October 18, 1867. GOLD DISCOVERIES. The discovery of gold in the Yukon Valley in 1896-7, and at Cape Nome two years later, attracted an immense horde of gold seekers. A territorial government was set up in 1900, and Sitka was made the capital. In 1905 the capital was removed to Nome. In 1903 the Alaskan Boundary Commission met in London to establish the boundary line between Alaska and Canada. The district about the head of Lynn Canal, the chief object of contention, was awarded the American claimants. In 1904 Sitka was united with Seattle by an ocean cable. Alaskan gold was found, first of all, in the region about Lynn Canal. Prospectors soon located the precious metal in the valley of the upper Yukon, where the Canadian city of Dawson now stands. A stampede for the gold fields set in. In the summer seasons miners went up the Yukon River with their outfits. In the winter they landed their pack horses, mining tools, and supplies at Skagway, a new town at the head of the Lynn Canal. The only way of reaching the interior lay through mountain passes above the snow line. Both men and beasts of burden endured incredible hardships in effecting a passage and many lives were lost. In 1899 a railway of 112 miles was constructed. To give some idea of the mighty struggle that went on here, it is sufficient to say that the builders of the railway were obliged to remove the frozen bodies of over 2,000 pack horses before they could grade through White Horse Pass. CITIES. The grand tour of Alaska may now be made in comparative comfort. Passengers land from the Pacific steamers at Skagway. They go by rail from Skagway to White Horse. They are then conveyed, in summer by steamer, in winter by four-horse sleighs, to Dawson, a distance of three hundred and thirty miles. Geographically Dawson is a Canadian city; commercially it is a part of Alaska. It is now by no means a rude mining camp. With the wealth derived from gold mining, a well-built city has sprung up. Electric lights, expensive waterworks, churches, theaters, club houses, banks, hotels, a postoffice, public schools, and elegant houses are in keeping with the means and liberality of a city assessed at $11,000,000. Telephones, electric lines, and short railways run to the surrounding mines. When the tourist is ready to continue his journey, he embarks on a well-appointed steamer at a busy wharf for a journey of 1,600 miles down the Yukon to St. Michael's, or to Nome on Bering Sea. The trip is described as an attractive one in summer. The river passes through extensive evergreen and poplar forests and vast tangles of luxuriant grasses. When the steamer swings up to the bank to transfer freight, the passengers go ashore and gather wild flowers, ferns, columbines, iris, yellow pond lilies, and lupines, or snatch a handful of the wild strawberries, raspberries, or huckleberries that grow in profusion. The Yukon is open about five months in the year, from May to October. At other times it is traversed by dog trains carrying only mails and articles of dire necessity. The mail carrier of Fort Yukon receives $2,000 a round trip for his dog train service. The sledge is drawn by a long string of half tamed dogs descended from the grey wolf of Alaska. London's Call of the Wild gives a vivid picture of this life. Nome, on a fine harbor of Bering Sea, two hundred miles across a bay from the mouth of the Yukon, has a population of several thousand and is apparently a permanent commercial center. The description given above of Dawson may be repeated on a larger scale for Nome. Indications of wealth are evident in public buildings, schools, and houses, and well-kept lawns. A network of short railways connects the city with various gold mines. The plans of railway builders contemplate a line via Dawson to connect with the Skagway line and the railway system of northwestern Canada. Railway projectors, not mere dreamers, say that, some day, not so far distant, the Trans-Siberian railway of Russia will be extended to Bering Strait to meet an American line, and that, by means of a steam ferry or a tunnel, through trains may yet run from New York to Paris and St. Petersburg. CLIMATE. Like Siberia, of which it is an eastward continuation, Alaska contains both arctic and north temperate areas. The average temperature of the Arctic coast is below freezing. In the Yukon Valley a winter temperature of 50 degrees below zero may be expected for weeks at a time, and yet tracts farther south are said to have a more moderate winter, seldom ranging below zero. Statements as to the mildness of the climate of the Alaskan coast are difficult to believe, until it is remembered that a 2,000 mile arc from the tip of the Aleutian Isles around the North Pacific, by way of Sitka to the southeasterly termination at Dixon's Inlet, is in the latitude of the British Isles. Sitka is, in fact, on the parallel of Aberdeen, Copenhagen, and Moscow. An east and west line, drawn through the most northerly point of the arc mentioned, just misses the north end of Scotland, and passes through the southern tip of Norway, through the most fertile part of Sweden, and on by way of St. Petersburg. The temperature is modified greatly by the Japan Current, corresponding in the Pacific, though in a feeble way, to the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic, with this difference, that the North Pacific is more effectually shielded from the chilling influences of Arctic currents whether of wind or of water. At Sitka the summers are always cool. The winter temperature seldom drops to zero. It is one of the rainiest places in the world, outside of the tropics. AGRICULTURE. A number of the Aleutian Islands and certain districts of the interior are clothed in summer with luxuriant grasses. There are great possibilities of raising cattle. In some sections, particularly in a shorter valley south of the Yukon, these grasses cure on the stalk into excellent hay, on which cattle may feed all winter. The climate and shelter are such that cattle are able to care for themselves the year around. It is predicted freely that portions of Alaska will become known as famous grazing regions, equal to Texas and Montana. Mowing machines are already in use along the middle Yukon. Reindeer have been introduced into the north by the United States government. It is said that cereals may be raised in favored localities. Hardy vegetables of all sorts do well, and are beginning to be raised for local consumption. Apple trees still yield sour fruit in the old gardens of the Russian missions along the coast. Small fruits of all sorts, strawberries, currants, gooseberries, and old-fashioned flowers grow in profusion. Tourists speak of the pansies with rich colors. MINERALS. Of mineral wealth it is yet too early to speak with authority. Coal of excellent quality is mined in many localities. A low grade of iron ore exists in abundance. Copper, lead, petroleum, and marble are present in as yet unknown amounts. One oil well threw a jet one hundred and fifty feet high when first discovered. Gold in paying quantities is widely distributed. Miners claim that at least $500,000,000 worth of gold is in sight; and yet the country has not been prospected thoroughly. OTHER PRODUCTS. Alaska has long been noted for fine furs. A discussion of the seal is reserved for a special article. The cod and the salmon abound in Alaskan waters. The cod fisheries are undeveloped, but the salmon fisheries are the finest in the world, employing 15,000 people and yielding $10,000,000 worth of canned salmon a year. At the time of his purchase the uninformed were disposed to jeer at Secretary Seward for having made a bad bargain. The United States government has already derived a revenue of two or three millions from Alaska, in excess of the purchase price and the cost of administration. In fish, fur, timber, and gold, we have already realized over $400,000,000, and have the making of one of the richest future states of the Union. In 1909 the permanent white population was estimated at 31,000. See Seal ; Reindeer ; Bear ; Eskimo ; Salmon ; Bering; Klondike 2026 Editor's Note: The territory this describes became the 49th state in 1959. 'Seward's Folly' — bought for $7.2 million, about two cents an acre — repaid the price countless times over, above all after the giant Prudhoe Bay oil strike of 1968 and the trans-Alaska pipeline that followed. (Ed: BR 2026-06-11)
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a Territory in the Western Division of the North American Union, comprising the extreme northwestern part of the American continent; bounded by the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, Bering Sea, British Columbia, and the Northwest Territories of Canada; gross area, as far as determined, 581,107 square miles; purchased from Russia, in 1867, for $7,200,000; given a territorial district government in 1884; administrative districts 4; pop. (1910) 64,356; (1920) 54,718; seat of government, Juneau. Topography. The Territory includes Prince of Wales Island, the Alexander or King George Archipelago, and the Kadiak, Aleutian, Pribiloff, and St. Lawrence Islands. The coast line exceeds that of the entire Atlantic seaboard of the United States, and has several notable indentations, as Prince William's Sound, Cook Inlet, Bristol Bay, and Northern and Kotzebue Sounds. The extreme length of the mainland, from N. to S., is about 1,100 miles; extreme width, 800 miles. Among rivers, the most important are the Yukon, rising in British Columbia, and about 2,000 miles in total length; the Kuskokwim, which empties into Bering Sea; the Colville, Copper, and Sushitna. Here the Rocky Mountains merge into the Alaskan, culminating in Mount Wrangell, 17,500 feet high. Another range, near the coast, reaches its extreme height in Mount Logan, 19,500 feet (according to Harrington), and Mount Fairweather, 15,500 feet. Geology. The Arctic District is treeless with ranges of hills; the Yukon Basin has large areas of forests; the Kuskokwim District resembles the Yukon Basin, but has more mountains; the Aleutian comprises treeless islands; the Kadiak is still but little known; and the Sitka has valuable timber lands. The glacial and volcanic periods still survive; beds of cretaceous and miocene lignites, dikes of plutonic rock, hot and boiling springs, quartz-bearing ledges, and aurif erous gravel beds and sands are abundant. Mineralogy.-Gold was discovered on the Kenai peninsula in 1848, but was not sought further. In 1880, surface gold was found in the S. E., and systematic mining may be said to have begun then. Lignite coal, native copper, cinnabar, considerable success. There are large graphite, iron ore, white marble sulphur, medicinal springs, mica, kaolin, manganese, asphalt, and petroleum are found in various sections, and many of them in accessible locations and paying quantities. At present gold mining is the principal mineral industry, and the largest fields are in the Yukon region, on both sides of the boundary line, and in the Cape Nome district, on Bering Sea, and wholly within the American territory, where gold was first discovered in 1898. The annual production of gold has fallen off greatly in the last decade. It reached in 1909 a maximum of $29,411,- 716, falling to $9,480,952 in 1918. This is caused chiefly by the falling off in the discovery of bonanza mines and the neglect of the systematic development of the lower-grade ores. The production of copper has also shown a gradual decrease. The production in 1917 was 88,793,400 pounds, valued at $24,240,598. This fell off in 1918 to 69,224,951 pounds, valued at $17,098,563. The loss was due chiefly to a shortage of labor, and transportation. The production in 1919 was about 44,- 800,000 pounds of copper valued at $8,500,000. The coal production continues to be small, due chiefly to a lack of development. In 1918 it amounted to 75,616 tons, valued at $411,815. Other mineral products are lead, tin, platinum, and petroleum. The resources of the latter are indicated to be large and await only development and the building of railway lines. Fisheries. Fish are the most valuable of Alaskan products in value. The total investment in fishing industries in 1919 was $73,750,789. There were employed in the industry nearly nearly 35,000 35,000 persons. The total value of fishery products was $69,154,859 in 1918. Over 90 per cent. of the fish taken were salmon. Others were herring, halibut, and whales. The herring industry has greatly increased in recent years through the introduction of the Scotch curing method. Salmon canneries in 1918 shipped about 5,500,- 000 cases of 48 pounds each. The number of seals in the waters about Alaska has greatly increased, owing to the restrictions placed upon sealing by laws passed by Congress. The seal herds in 1919 numbered 524,269 seals. The number of seals taken during that year was 25,381. Under the International Convention, 15 per cent. of all seals taken go to Canada and an equal number to Japan. Agriculture. The United States Department of Agriculture has for many years made persistent and intelligent efforts to develop agriculture in the territory and these results have met with areas of land suitable for the raising of crops, both agricultural and horticultural. The Central Tanana Valley has been extensively occupied by farmers and in the Fairbanks district there are nearly 100 homesteads comprising nearly 25,000 acres. Nearly all varieties of hardy grains can be grown in Alaska and most hardy fruits and vegetables can be grown without difficulty. Education. There were in 1919 65 schools for natives in which were enrolled about 3,600 pupils. There was a Federal appropriation of $215,000 for the support of these schools. Schools are also maintained in the different localities for white pupils. Banking. In 1919, the Territory had one National bank, with $125,000 in capital, $11,250 in outstanding circulation. Much of the banking is done in Seattle, Wash., and San Francisco, Cal., whither the bulk of the output of gold is sent. Commerce. Trade between Alaska and continental United States has greatly increased in recent years. The value of shipments into and from Alaska in 1916 was $97,917,650; in 1917, $121,265,- 947; in 1918, $131,767,788; and in 1919, $117,018,135. The loss in the last year was chiefly due to the falling off of mineral production. Trade suffered from insufficient and irregular transportation. Railroads. There was under construction in 1919 the so-called United States railroad, authorized in 1914 at a cost of $35,000,000. This sum was increased in 1919 to $52,000,000, of which $6,000,000 was appropriated for work during 1919. The purpose of the project is to furnish transportation between a port on the Gulf of Alaska and the rich mines and lands of the Tanana valley and the Central Yukon valley. The system when completed will include 601 miles of track from Seward on the Kenai Peninsula to Fairbanks, the mining center of the Tanana valley. There will also be branch railroads to other important localities. There was at the end of 1919 in preparation a northern section of 143 miles and a southern section of 206 miles. There are only two railroads in the Territory under private control. These run from Cordova to Kennecott and from Skagway to White Horse. Government.- Up to 1912 Alaska was an unorganized Territory and had no local legislative body. It was governed directly by Congress, and the officers were appointed by the President. In the year mentioned Congress passed a Civil Government Act which created a Legislature and Assembly with limited powers. By this act Alaska became an organized Territory with a Legislature consisting of a Senate of 8 members, two from each of the four districts, and a House of Representatives, consisting of 16 members, four from each judicial district. Senators serve four years and representatives two years. The Legislature meets every two years. Its first session was held in March, 1913. The legislative powers are limited, and it can pass no laws which are inconsistent with the laws already passed by Congress. At its first session the Legislature modified the qualifications for voters by extending the franchise to women. The governor has the usual power of veto. The executive officers are a governor, appointed by the President, secretary of the treasury, the secretary of the governor, and a surveyor-general. There are four judicial districts, with centers at Juneau, Nome, Valdez, and Fairbanks. Except in towns of 300 or more, which are allowed to incorporate, there is no local government. Alaska is represented in Congress by one delegate. History.-Alaska was discovered by Bering in 1741, and Russian settlements were made to a considerable distance southward. In 1772 many trading companies were established, and later Captain Cook's accounts of the fur animals there caused many more to be organized. In 1799 the Territory was granted to a Russian company by the Emperor Paul VIII., and in 1867 it passed to the United States by treaty with Russia. For several years there has been a contention between the United States and Great Britain concerning the boundary line between Alaska and the British territory in Canada, which became greatly accented in 1896 in consequence of the remarkable discoveries of gold in the Yukon valley. Both governments have had the disputed region surveyed, separately and by a joint commission, and the delimitation of the boundary was the most important matter referred to the Anglo-American Commission of 1898. In January, 1900, it was believed that a satisfactory settlement had been negotiated by the two governments. On Jan. 24, 1903, a treaty was signed between the United States and Great Britain, by which was created the Alaska Boundary Tribunal, consisting of three from each country to settle questions in dispute. This tribunal met in London in the following September, and on Oct. 20, 1914, the majority voted against the Canadian contentions. The deciding vote was cast by a representative of Great Britain. By this decision Canada was shut off from the seacoast north of 54° 40'. Surveying was at once begun to determine a new boundary, and continued through the years following. In 1910-1911 there was carried on an acute dispute in regard to the coal lands of Alaska, as a result of charges made that large corporations acting under laws passed by Congress were attempting to secure control of valuable coal land. As a result of this agitation, R. L. Ballinger, Secretary of the Treasury, resigned, and his successor, Walter L. Fisher, undertook a thorough investigation of the matter. The syndicates which had attempted to secure possession of the coal lands finally withdrew. At the outbreak of the World War over 3,000 men enrolled for service, a number far beyond the required quota. Ninety-four per cent. of the white population and 1,303 of the natives were enrolled in the Red Cross. Alaska led all other States in its per capita subscription for War Stamps. In 1918 the Government set apart as a National monument the great volcano of Katmai and the surrounding region, comprising over 1,000,000 acres. This volcano erupted violently in 1912 and had smaller eruptions in following years. The National Georgraphical Society in 1919 carried on explorations in the Katmai regions. Since its creation as an organized Territory, Alaska has steadily advanced in population and industries.