20 vintage photos of Alaska from before it became a state
August 9, 20240
Alaska has been inhabited for thousands of years, but became part of the US only 65 years ago.
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Alaska was controversially purchased by the US from Russia in 1867.
Critics called the transaction “Seward’s Folly” after William Seward, the US secretary of state.
Alaska was officially made the 49th state in January 1959.
Russia sold the territory known as Alaska to the US in 1687, but Indigenous people have been living on that land for thousands of years.
One commonly accepted theory was that the first people traveled to North America from Asia via the Bering Land Bridge, although more recent discoveries suggest they made their way by sea.
Russia began colonizing Alaska and other parts of North America in the late 1700s, establishing Russian America and making money off the fur trade. But by the 1860s, the fur trade had declined due to over-hunting.
US critics dubbed the purchase “Seward’s Folly,” named for then-Secretary of State William Seward because they felt the land, which they called an “icebox,” was useless. The transaction was also made against the wishes of some Native Alaskans, who argued it wasn’t Russia’s land to sell, according to the Alaska Native Foundation.
Three decades later, the Klondike Gold Strike brought thousands of migrants to the territory.
Alaska officially became a state 92 years after the transaction, in January 1959, making it the 49th state. Hawaii became the 50th state that same year.
Now, Alaska is a popular tourist destination, with thousands of people traveling there via cruise each year.
These vintage photos show what Alaska looked like before it became part of the United States.
Late 1800s: This is the town of Unalaska, on the island of the same name. It is still the main population center of the Aleutian Islands.
Sitka is the largest city by total area in the US at 2,870 square miles.
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1880: Alaska was populated by many Native tribes for thousands of years. Today, the two biggest tribes are the Yup’ik and the Tlingit.
Sheldon Jackson was a controversial figure and tried to suppress Native languages.
1884: These two Inuit children were part of the exploration of the Kobuk River in northern Alaska.
The Alaskan Salmon River valley in 1887.
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1890: A canoe called Brown Bear carries a funeral party to the docks at Wrangell Island.
This Russian Orthodox Church dates back to when the region was under Russian rule in St. Michael, Alaska.
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1896: The Klondike Gold Rush started in 1896. Thousands of prospectors trekked through the Chilkoot Pass, seen here, leading from Dyea, Alaska, to Bennett Lake, Canada.
Now, Juneau has a population of around 32,000.
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1897: Prospectors continued searching for gold for the rest of the Klondike Gold Rush, which ended in 1899. The Nome Gold Rush then lasted from 1899 to 1909.
It was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.
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Source: National Park Service
1899: Totem poles like this one, seen outside an Alaskan lodge, tell the story of the family or tribe that constructed the pole.
The first log cabin was built in Nome in 1900.
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1900: Reindeer have been inextricably linked with the Arctic and those that live in and around it for thousands of years — but they’re not indigenous to Alaska. They were introduced from Siberia.
Frank Kleinschmidt was also a war photographer.
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1929: A mother carries her child on Nunivak Island. Today, the entire island only has one town, Mekoryuk.
The caption called this game “jump-board.”
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1950: By 1950, the city of Ketchikan had begun calling itself the Salmon Capital of the World.
The Aleutian Islands are a chain of 14 larger islands and 55 smaller ones.
