Contents
Five Alaska Timelines
■
Alaska History Post-Holes .........................................................
■
Chronological History of Alaska: A Timeline of Alaska
Compiled by Hartig Fellow Chris Buchholdt
http://www.commonwealthnorth.org/studygroup/timeline.html
■
FAQALASKA - Frequently Asked Questions About Alaska ........
Chronological History of Alaska
http://sled.alaska.edu/akfaq/akchron.html
■
Moments in Alaska’s History: Bits and Pieces
http://www.everythingalaska.com/eta.history.html
■
Timeline .................................................................................
http://www.alaskool.org/cgi-bin/java/interactive/timelineframe.html
37
■
Alaska-RFE: A Brief History and Timeline ...............................
http://www.dced.state.ak.us/trade/russia/timeline.htm
44
2
.............. 3
16
......................... 25
Other sites to visit to see other timelines:
http://www.statehousegirls.net/ak/timeline
http://www.nativefederation.org/frames/history.html
Five Alaska Timelines • UNIT 5, Five Alaska Timelines
1.
Alaska History Post-Holes
2.
ALASKA STUDIES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
Chronological History of Alaska
A TIMELINE OF ALASKA
Compiled by Hartig Fellow Chris Buchholdt
http://www.commonwealthnorth.org/studygroup/timeline.html
Early History
30,000-27,000 BC 9th land bridge between Alaska and Siberia.
30,000-25,000 BC First settlers to Alaska —Indian prototype migration.
23,000-7,500 BC
Wisconsin Ice Age
15,000- 6000 BC
Second wave of settlers to Alaska —Esk-Aleut Migration.
25,000 B-1700 AD Over 2700 archaeological sites of human habitation in Alaska.
Based on work of modern archaeologists from 1930s to present.
1000-1700 AD
Kachemak Tradition/Pacific Eskimos. First Settlers in Upper
Cook Inlet.
Seventeenth Century
1670- 1780
Dena’ina Athabascan Indians from interior Alaska begin to occupy the Upper Cook Inlet.
Eighteenth Century
1725
Peter the Great sends Vitus Bering to explore the North Pacific.
1728
Aug 10, Vitus Bering sights St. Lawrence Island and one of the Diomede Islands.
1733
Bering’s second expedition, with Georg Wilhelm Steller aboard, the first naturalist to
visit Alaska.
1740
*Estimated Alaska Native population: 57,300 including Aleuts, Alutiiqs, Yupiks,
Inupiats, Athabascan, Tlingit and Haida.
1741
Europeans finally discover Alaska. July 15, Alexei Chirikof, Bering’s assistant, sights
mainland Alaska but does not make landing. July 16, Bering sights Mt. St. Elias on
Alaskan mainland and goes ashore. Dec. 8, Bering dies and is buried on Bering Island.
1742
First scientific report on the North Pacific fur seal.
1743
Concentrated hunting of sea otter by Russia begins. Russian traders establish trading
posts in Western and Southcentral Alaska.
A L A S K A S T U D I E S • UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
3.
1763-64 Aleuts try to repel Russian “invaders” in Unalaska, Umnak, and Unimak. Russia
responds by destroying the villages of Unalaska and Umnak.
1774
Juan Perez ordered by Spain to explore west coast; discovers Prince of Wales Island,
Dixon Sound.
1778
Captain James Cook of England explores Arctic Ocean.
1778-1850
Ivan Pan’kov, Aleut Chief of Tigalda Island, first to write Aleut language and with
Father John Veniaminov (St. Innocent) to translate parts of the Bible into Unangan language.
1784
First white settlement in Alaska on Kodiak Island, established by Grigorii Shelikov.
1784
First school in Alaska established by the Russians at Three Saints Bay-Kodiak Island.
1790
Aleksandr Baranov becomes director of Russian settlement.
1791
George Vancouver leaves England to explore the coast; Alejandro Malaspina explores
the northwest coast for Spain. First monopoly in Alaska — Catherine II grants a
monopoly of furs in Alaska to Grigorii Shelikov.
1793
Baranov founds new ship-building outpost near present-day Seward.
1795
First Russian Orthodox Church is established in Kodiak.
1799
Czar Paul claims Alaska as Russian possession. Baranov named first Russian Governor
of Alaska, establishes Russian post known as Old Sitka; trade charter grants exclusive
trading rights to the Russian America Company.
Nineteenth Century
4.
1802
Tlingit Indians massacre 20 Russian and up to 130 Aleut workers at Old Sitka.
1804
Russians return to Sitka and attack Kiksadi fort on Indian River. Russians lose the battle, however Natives are forced to flee. Baranov re-establishes trading post
1805
The first Russian cargo of furs sent directly to China arrives in Canton.
1818
Russian navy assumes authority in Alaska.
1821
Russian navy bars all foreign ships from Alaskan waters.
1823
Johnson v. M’Intosh: Private parties secured grants from tribes in 1773 and 1775.
United States took later cession and granted lands. Issue: Whether Indian tribes have
the power to give, and private American citizens to receive, a title which “can be sustained in the courts of this country.”
1824
Russians start to explore the Nushagak, Kuskokwim, Yukon, and Koyuk Rivers.
ALASKA STUDIES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
1834
Father Veniaminov moves to Sitka.
1835
United States and England obtain trading privileges in Alaska.
1839
The Dena’ina Population is decimated by smallpox.
1840
Russian Orthodox Diocese formed; Father Veniaminov consecrated Bishop Innokenty;
Permission is given to use Native languages in the liturgy.
1841
Edward de Stoeckl assigned to the secretariat of the Russian legation in the U.S.
1843
First mission school for the Eskimos was established at Nushagak by Russian-Greek
Orthodox Church.
1847
Fort Yukon established.
1848
Yankee whalers begin commercial whaling in Alaskan waters. Cathedral of St. Michael
dedicated in New Archangel (Sitka).
1853
Russian explorer-trappers find oil seeps in Cook Inlet.
1857
Coal mining begins at Coal Harbor on the Kenai Peninsula.
1859
De Stoeckl returns to the U.S. from St. Petersburg with the authority to negotiate the
sale of Alaska.
1860
Second Russian-Orthodox Mission School established at Kwikpak.
1861
Gold discovered on the Stikine River near Telegraph Creek.
1865, 1865-67 Surveyors’ map route for Western Union’s overland telegraph line through
Alaska to Siberia. Last shot of Civil War fired in Alaskan waters.
1867
The “sale” of Alaska by Russia to United States - which rightfully belonged to neither.
Treaty of Purchase, Article III implies a distinction between “uncivilized tribes” and
other “inhabitants of the ceded territory.” The Swedish Evangelical, Moravian,
Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Congregational, and Roman Catholic Churches established
schools throughout Alaska.
1868
Alaska designated as the “Department of Alaska” under Brevet Major General Jeff C.
Davis, U.S. Army.
1869
First appropriation from Congress for education in the Territory. The funds were never
put into use as no agency was found to administer them. The Sitka Times, first newspaper in Alaska, established.
1872
Gold discovered near Sitka and British Columbia.
1876
Gold discovered south of Juneau at Windham Bay.
1877
U.S. troops withdrawn from Alaska.
A L A S K A S T U D I E S • UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
5.
6.
1878
Salmon-canning industry started. Schools opens in Sitka, later to become Sheldon
Jackson Junior College.
1880
Gold discovered near Juneau. *Estimated Alaska Native population: 32,900.
1884
Organic Act – U.S. Congress delegates responsibility of providing education for children of all races in the Territory to the Bureau of Education in the Department of the
Interior. Funds for education in Alaska appropriated to be distributed among the existing mission schools with Dr. Sheldon Jackson appointed as general agent for education
in Alaska the following year. The Act also prohibited the importation, manufacture and
sale of liquor in Alaska, however the Alaska Commercial Company continues to trade
liquor for furs without being prosecuted. United States establishes “District of Alaska”
as a legal unit. Alaska received its first code of laws.
1885
Interior Secretary assigns Bureau of Education responsibility for Alaska schools. Dr.
Sheldon Jackson appointed as general agent for education in Alaska. A territorial Indian
police force is established to promote “cleanliness, sobriety and good order among the
Indians.”
1887
Use of English in Indian Schools. Society of Friends established a school at Kotzebue.
Father William Duncan and Tsimshian followers found Metlakatla on Annette Island.
1888
The Board of Education in Alaska was directed to prescribe a course of study for all
government schools.
1889
Supplemental Report on Indian Education issued.
1890
First missions established in Alaska north of Bering Strait. Large corporate salmon canneries begin to appear. Reindeer herds imported into Alaska.
1891
First oil claims staked in Cook Inlet area. Congress establishes the Metlakatla, Annette
Island Indian Reservation.
1892
The Alaska Forest Service System is created with the establishment of the Afognak
Reserve.
1894
Subsidizing of mission schools discontinued. Federal Bureau of Education took over
most mission schools.
1896
Gold discovered along Klondike River and Bonanza Creek in Yukon Territory.
1897
Klondike gold rush. First shipment of halibut sent south from Juneau.
1898
Richardson Trail blazed from Valdez to Canadian border, The White Pass and Yukon
Railroad begins construction, Congress appropriates money for telegraph from Seattle
to Sitka, Nome gold rush begins.
1899
Local communities authorized to set up school boards.
ALASKA STUDIES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
Twentieth Century
1900
Stampede of gold-seekers to Nome. Railroad from Skagway to Whitehorse completed.
U.S. Congress grants legal authority to communities in Alaska to incorporate, establish
schools, and maintain them through taxation. Three judicial districts are created: Sitka,
Eagle, and St. Michael. The capital is moved to Juneau. White Pass railroad is completed. Washington-cable is established by Congress, later becomes the Alaska
Communication System.
1902
Gold discovered near Fairbanks, Local school board established at Nome, President
Roosevelt establishes the Tongass National Forest. Alaska Central Railway construction
begins in Seward.
1904
Last great Tlingit potlatch held in Sitka. Communication cable laid from Seattle to
Sitka to Valdez, linking Alaska to the “outside.” Judge Wickersham’s decision in U.S.
v. Berrigan indicates “an executive determination that the federal government had an
obligation to protect Native aboriginal possession from non-native encroachment.” In
accordance with Article II of the 1867 Treaty of Purchase, the Athabascan Natives in
this case were entitled “to the equal protection of the law which the United States
affords to similar aboriginal tribes within its borders.”
1905
The Nelson Act provided for establishment of schools outside incorporated towns, and
the governor of the Territory is made the ex-officio superintendent of public instruction.
The Tanana Railroad is built. Telegraph links Fairbanks and Valdez. The Alaska Road
Commission is formed under U.S. Army jurisdiction.
1906
Alaska Native Allotment Act authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to allot homesteads to the Alaska Natives (Aleuts were included in 1956). The governor’s office is
moved from Sitka to Juneau. Alaska is authorized to send a voteless delegate to
Congress.
1907
The Tongass National Forest is created by presidential proclamation. The Richardson
Trail is established between Fairbanks and Valdez.
1908
The first teachers’ conference was held in Juneau. The first cold storage plant is built in
Ketchikan.
1910
The first cabins are built on the flats of Ship Creek – the beginning of Anchorage. *The
estimated Alaska Native population: 25,300 including Aleuts, Alutiiqs, Yupiks, Inupiats,
Athabascan, Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian
1911
The Alaska School Service developed a tentative course of study for the schools of
Alaska. Fur seal fishery controls are established between U.S., Great Britain, Canada,
Russia, and Japan. The Copper River and Northwestern Railroad begins service to
Kennicott Copper Mine.
1912
Alaska becomes a Territory with its own legislature. Mt. Katmai on Alaskan Peninsula
erupts, creating Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. Alaska Native Brotherhood founded,
the first modern Alaska Native organization. Tanana Chiefs raise land rights issues.
A L A S K A S T U D I E S • UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
7.
8.
1913
First Alaska Legislature convenes, passes law giving women the right to vote.
1914
Surveying begins for the Alaska railroad, Anchorage is born as construction camp site.
1915
Cornerstone laid for Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines, later to become
University of Alaska. The Alaska Native Sisterhood holds first convention in Sitka.
Pioneer School established as Anchorage’s first school. The territory of Alaska votes
approval of the “Bone Dry Law.” The territorial Legislature passes a law making it a
misdemeanor to sell or give alcohol to a Native.
1916
The first bill for Alaska statehood introduced in Congress. Alaskans vote in favor of
prohibition by a 2 to 1 margin. Railroad workers form the Alaska Labor Union.
1917
Uniform School Act —U.S. Congress creates a Territorial Board of Education and
establishes the position of Commissioner of Education. The first boarding schools
established by Catholic, Moravian, and Lutheran Churches. Federal boarding school
was established at White Mountain. The Treadwell Mine complex near Juneau caves in.
1918
Congress creates Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines as a land grant college.
1919
Congress prohibits the creation of executive order Indian reserves without legislative
consent. The National Prohibition Amendment passes, forbidding manufacture, importation, transportation or sale of alcoholic beverages anywhere in the United States.
1920
Anchorage organizes city government.
1922
Alaska Agricultural School and School of Mines opens. Native voting rights are established through a court case.
1923
Alaska Railroad from Seward to Fairbanks completed.
1924
Indian Citizenship Act grants citizenship to Native Americans, including Alaska
Natives, without terminating tribal rights and property. William L. Paul, the first Alaska
Native to win a seat in the Alaska Territorial Legislature. Start of air mail delivery to
Alaska.
1925
Alaska Voters’ Literacy Act of 1925.
1926
A more formal and permanent course of study is established for the first eight grades in
Alaska. Boarding school at White Mountain renamed “Industrial School.” A policy and
programming of industrial training for boarding pupils was initiated.
1928
Court case resolves the right of Native children to attend public school
1929
Alaska Native Brotherhood convention at Haines resolves to pursue land claims settlement in Southeast Alaska.
1930
Federal Bureau of Education field administrative headquarters moved from Seattle,
Wash. to Juneau, Alaska. Merrill Field airport is opened in Anchorage.
1931
Control of education among the Natives of Alaska was transferred from the Bureau of
Education to the Bureau of Indian Affairs creating the Alaska Indian Service.
ALASKA STUDIES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
Appropriations are made “under the broad authority of the 1924 Snyder Act,” funding
programs to include everything from health care and education to economic development and welfare payments.
1932
Wrangell Institute Boarding School opened - Alaska Indian Service School. Radio-telephone communications established in Juneau, Ketchikan, and Nome.
1933
National Prohibition is repealed, however the 1915 territorial law forbidding the sale or
gift of liquor to Natives remains in effect.
1934
The Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) enacted by Congress, however does not fully
apply to Alaska. Southeast Alaska Indians granted permission by the U.S. Government
to sue the federal government for the failure to protect aboriginal subsistence rights.
Johnson-O’Malley Act extension — U.S. Congress extends provisions of JohnsonO’Malley Act to Alaska by clarifying its intent.
1935
Territorial Law Chapter 77 – Allows an incorporated city and adjacent settlements to
incorporate into an Independent School District not exceeding 250 square miles. The
Matanuska Valley Project is established. The Jurisdictional Act of June, 1935 allows the
Tlingit and Haida Indians to pursue land claims in U.S. Court of Claims.
1936
Indian Reorganization Act is expanded to include Alaska Native governments. Over 70
modern IRA councils are established by Alaska Natives while 80 tribal councils continue their traditional governance. Nell Scott of Seldovia becomes the first woman elected
to the Territorial Legislature.
1937
The Reindeer Act of 1937 is enacted as a “means of subsistence for the Eskimos and
other Natives of Alaska.”
1939
Providence Hospital opens. Estimated Alaska Native population: 32,500
1940
Fort Richardson is established, construction on Elmendorf Air Force Base begins.
1942
Alaska Military Highway completed. The Whittier Railroad Tunnel is opened. Work
started on 1,523-mile Alaska Military Highway from Dawson Creek, Canada, to
Fairbanks. Three Eskimo Scout Battalions — “Soldiers of the Mist”— formed as a part
of the Alaska Territorial Guard. Japanese bomb Dutch Harbor on Unalaska Island and
invade Kiska and Attu Islands of the Aleutians.
1944
The Alaska-Juneau Gold Mine shuts down.
1945
Alaska passes the Anti-Discrimination Act, the first such legislation passed in the U.S.
and its possessions since post-Civil War. Alaska Indian Service changed to Alaska
Native Service.
1946
Alaska votes to apply for statehood.
1947
Mt. Edgecumbe, a former military installation, is opened as a boarding school for
Alaska Natives, operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Anchorage incorporated into
Alaska’s first Independent School District.
1948
The Venetie and Arctic Village Reservation is formed, the largest in Alaska. Alaskans
vote to abolish fish traps in a 10 to 1 margin.
A L A S K A S T U D I E S • UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
9.
1950
Johnson O’Malley Act provides for the transfer of schools in Alaska to the administrative control of the Territory.
1951
Public Law 815-874, U.S. Congress provides federal funding for Territorial operations
of schools on military bases. The highway between Anchorage and Seward is completed.
1953
White Mountain Boarding School closed. Oil wells drilled near Eureka on Glenn
Highway mark the beginning of Alaska’s modern oil history. The first big Alaskan pulp
mill opens in Ketchikan. The First Alaskan television broadcast by KENI, Anchorage.
Federal laws prohibiting drinking by Indians are abolished. (From the purchase of
Alaska by the U.S. in 1867 until 1953, alcoholic beverages were banned in villages;
Alaska was treated as an Indian reservation).
1955
Education specialists placed in district offices to improve consultant services to teachers. Alaskans elect delegates to the constitutional convention. The convention opens at
University of Alaska.
1956
Territorial voters adopt the Alaska Constitution. Two senators and one representative
are sent to Washington, D.C. under the Tennessee Plan.
1957
First edition of “We Teach in Alaska” issued to provide a manual for BIA teachers in
Alaska’s remote schools.
1958
First area-wide in-service training program for Principal-Teachers emphasizing community relations and development of Native leadership. Statehood measure passes;
President Eisenhower signs statehood bill. The Atomic Energy Commission selected a
site at the mouth of the Ogotoruk Creek near Cape Thompson, approximately 30 miles
southeast of the Inupiat Eskimo village of Point Hope. Shortly thereafter, they developed plans for an experimental harbor excavation to be called Project Chariot. Late in
1962, after extensive scientific studies, the AEC announced that it “would defer further
consideration of the proposed Chariot experiment,” due in part to public criticism.
1959
Alaska Statehood Act includes provision to not take lands of Native peoples. S.E.
Alaska Indians win aboriginal subsistence court case and are awarded $7.5 million Council of Tlingit and Haida formed to receive benefits.
1960
First secondary level program in a BIA day school established with opening of 9th
grade at Unalakleet.
1960-64 Several Alaska Native non-profit regional organizations are established to defend
rights to land and resources against expropriation without due process.
10.
1961
Alaska Natives organize to protest “Project Chariot” — a plan to use nuclear weapons
to blast an artificial harbor into existence in Northwest Alaska.
1962
The Tundra Times established, the first statewide newspaper devoted to representing
the views and issues of Alaska Natives. Supplemental nutrition program changed to
provide complete school lunch. Agreement that education is a State and local responsibility. Legislative reapportionment shifts the political balance of power to urban areas
through Baker v. Carr; 369 U.S. 186.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
1963
Governor’s Committee issues first report entitled “An Overall Education Plan for Rural
Alaska” as a basis for cooperative relationship of BIA and State of Alaska. Borough
Act — Alaska State Legislature creates nine boroughs and all local school districts
within the new boroughs are merged.
1964
Area-wide workshop for primary teachers with emphasis on teaching English to children as a second language. Good Friday earthquake rocks Southcentral Alaska.
Legislative reapportionment continues through Reynolds v. Sims; 377 U.S. 533.
1965
Division of State-Operated Schools — Alaska State Department of Education reorganizes and establishes a new Division that is given responsibility for Rural and On-Base
(military) schools.
1966
William E. Beltz School opens as first State-operated regional boarding high school.
Teacher aides provided in BIA day schools. Special education program introduced at
Hooper Bay. Alaska Federation of Natives formed in Anchorage, Alaska Legislative
reapportionment continues through Wade v. Nolan; 414 P.2d 689.
1967
Area-wide workshop for all education personnel emphasizing the linguistic method in
teaching English as a Second Language. Advisory School Boards established. The
Chena River floods Fairbanks. Interior Secretary Udall imposes a “land freeze” to protect Native use and occupancy of Alaska lands.
1968
Kindergarten program initiated. April 11, Indian Civil Rights Act is passed. Oil is
pumped from a well at Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope. Governor Hickel establishes
the Alaska Land Claims Task Force that recommends a 40 million acre land settlement
for Alaska Natives.
1969
Educational Television available in Barrow Day School. School Boards contract for
instruction in cultural and linguistic heritage. North Slope oil lease sale brings in $900
million. The first live satellite telecast is viewed in Alaska.
1970
Bilingual education inaugurated at primary level. Full high school program at Kotzebue
Community School.
1971
Mt. Edgecumbe — Wrangell Parent School Board established. BIA’s first pre-school
programs for 2- and 3-year-olds. Administration of program funding at Agency level
established. Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) becomes law. Alaska
State-Operated School System — Alaska State Legislature establishes a new system as
an independent agency and transfers operational responsibility form Rural and On-Base
schools from the Department of Education to this new entity.
1972
The Marine Mammal Protection Act becomes law with the important provision that
Alaska Natives would be able to continue traditional use of marine mammals. The
Alaska Constitution is amended to prohibit sexual discrimination. Legislative reapportionment continues through Egan v. Hammond; 502 P.2d 856.
1973
Congress passes the trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act. Salmon fisheries limitedentry program becomes law.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
11.
12.
1974
Indian Financing Act recognizes Alaska Native villages, groups, regional corporations
or village corporations as eligible for their benefits. Indian Self-Determination Act,
adopted by Congress.
1975
Alaska Unorganized Borough School System — Alaska State Legislature abolishes the
Alaska State-Operated School System and establishes the Unorganized Borough School
District. Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act is passed providing
recognition similar to the Indian Financing Act, extends contracting opportunities to
tribal councils and organizations to provide health, education, and welfare services to
Alaska Natives, thereby replacing BIA contracting for such services. Alaska Legislature
appropriates funds to initiate purchase and installation of 100 satellite earth stations for
establishment of statewide communications network.
1976
The so-called “Molly Hootch” (Tobeluk vs. Lind) case is settled with the commitment
by the state to provide local schools for Alaska Native communities as it had in predominately white communities in the state. Rural Education Attendance Areas
(REAAs) are created for rural Alaska - modeled in many respects on the urban school
districts in state with the allowance of local school boards to set many policies in their
schools. The Unorganized Borough School District is abolished. Indian Health Care
Improvement Act provides recognition for funding among Native communities.
Tobeluk Consent Decree — The Alaska State Board of Education adopts regulations
assuring every child a right to attend high school in his or her community if there is an
elementary school there, unless the community ask that there be no school. Voters
approve constitutional amendment establishing the Alaska Permanent Fund, it will
receive “at least 25 percent” of all state oil revenues from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez.
1977
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline is completed from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez.
1978
Indian Child Welfare Act is passed.
1980
The Alaska Legislature increases Permanent Fund share of oil reserves from 25 to 50
percent. State income tax is repealed. The Alaska Dividend Fund is created to distribute
earnings to Alaska residents. The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act
(ANILCA) becomes law creating over 80 million acres of additional parks, preserves
and monuments in Alaska. It also contains language supporting continued traditional
and customary use on designated Federal lands. The Alaska Legislature passes a local
option law that allows villages to prohibit the sale of alcohol; prohibit the sale and
importation of alcohol; limit liquor licenses; or limit sales to community-owned liquor
stores.
1981
Bilingual Conference is held in Anchorage. First Permanent Fund dividends are
distributed.
1982
Time zones shift to include all Alaska, except westernmost Aleutian Islands, in one
zone: Alaska Standard Time. The drinking age is raised from 18 to 21. Alaska State
Boards of Fisheries and Game jointly adopt a regulation adding the rural residency
standard to the state’s definition of “subsistence uses.” Solomon Gulch hydroelectric
project comes on-line in Valdez, the first of four hydroelectric projects later to be
known as the “Four Dam Pool.”
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
1984
Stephen E. Cotton re-caps Molly Hootch Case and Native education programs. Berger
Launches ANCSA Hearings. Alaska Legislature sets up the Power Cost Equalization
(PCE) program, to help fund affordable power to rural Alaska residents. The remaining
three hydroelectric projects making up the Four Dam Pool come on-line: Swan Like in
Ketchikan, Terror Lake in Kodiak, and Tyee Lake serving Petersburg/Wrangell.
1985
State purchases Alaska Railroad from the federal government.
1986
Price of oil drops below $10.00 a barrel. The legislature passes a new bill governing
subsistence hunting and fishing, limiting the definition of “subsistence uses” to residents of “rural areas.”
1987
Alaska starts to feel a recession: many lose their jobs and leave the state, banks foreclose on property and businesses go bankrupt. A new military buildup begins when the
troops of the new Sixth Infantry Division arrive in Fairbanks. Alaska Native Claims
Settlement Act (ANCSA) Amendments, adopted by Congress, provide for the lifting of
stock restrictions and the gifting of stock to children, nieces and nephews of Native
shareholders.
1988
Anchorage’s population drops by 30,000 due to continued economic woes.
1989
The oil tanker Exxon Valdez runs aground on Bligh Reef, Prince William Sound
spilling an estimated 11 million gallons of oil. The Permanent Fund passes the $10 billion mark. The Alaska Supreme Court throws out Alaska’s rural preference subsistence
law.
1990
The Alaska Legislature is unable to resolve the subsistence issue, federal authorities
take control of subsistence issues on federal land. Katie John, Doris Charles and the
Mentasta Village Council sue the United States in federal court, claiming that the federal government had unlawfully excluded navigable waters and subsistence from the protections of ANILCA. The Tongass Reform Act designates more wilderness land in S.E
Alaska. Walter Hickel wins gubernatorial race on the Independence ticket. *The
Estimated Alaska Native population: 95,000. Amendments to ANCSA take affect. The
State of Alaska, the U.S. Justice Department, and Exxon reach a $1 billion settlement
resulting from the Exxon Valdez spill, initially rejected by U.S. District Court — later
accepted when amended to include restorative money. Congress effectively closes the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil development. Bristol Bay fishermen strike over
low salmon prices. Hickel Administration and Legislature are unable to resolve the subsistence issue.
1992
Dan O’Neill, a University of Alaska-Fairbanks researcher, obtained recently declassified documents and letters describing the burial of soil contaminated with radioactive
materials near the junction of Snowbank and Ogotoruk Creeks (near Point Hope).
These materials were produced by Atomic Energy Commission experiments stemming
from the 1958 Project Chariot. Cleanup of the site was completed by the Department of
Energy in 1994, however, the health and monitoring of oceans, land, and marine animals issues have yet to be thoroughly addressed.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
13.
14.
1993
Alaska Legislature provides a one-time grant of $67 million to help fund the Power
Cost Equalization (PCE) program. At current spending rates the fund will be expended
in 1999.
1994
U.S. District Court rules in favor of the Katie John plaintiffs, reducing the federal government’s fishing jurisdiction to those navigable waters “reserved to the United States.”
1997
The Governor’s Subsistence Task Force unsuccessfully proposes amendments to ANILCA which would have weakened key definitions and federal powers.
1998
The Legislature passes a bill requiring all students to pass exit exams to earn high
school diplomas, to become effective in 2002. Overturning a Ninth Court Circuit of
Appeals decision, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that 1.9 million acres of ancestral land
owned by the Venetie Tribe of Neetsaii’ Gwich’in Indians are no longer under the governmental jurisdiction of the tribe. An initiative petition making English Alaska’s official language was certified by Lieutenant Governor Fran Ulmer. The initiative, placed
on the 1998 general election ballot, passed making English the official language in
State government.
1999
The federal government issues final regulations to implement Katie John. The State of
Alaska files a notice of appeal indicating its intent to appeal the reserved-waters judgement to the Ninth Circuit. Governor Knowles also announced his intent to take the
appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court thereafter. British Petroleum announces intent to buy
ARCO, starting a process involving the state of Alaska and the FTC in a discussion
over state revenues and anti-trust. In Kasayulie vs. State of Alaska, the court rules that
Alaska has failed to provide adequate school facilities for Bush students, in violation of
the Alaska Constitution and federal civil law. Alaska Board of Education adopts standards for what students should know in math, reading and writing. The lawsuit,
Alakayak, et al. v. State of Alaska, was brought by the Alaska Civil Liberties Union,
the Native American Rights Fund and the North Slope Borough on behalf of 27 individuals whose constitutional rights would be violated if the English-only initiative were
allowed to take effect on March 4. The Alaska Legislature changes the Power Cost
Equalization (PCE) program formula reducing entitlement.
2000
First state educational standards tests for third-, sixth, eighth-graders and sophomores
conducted. FTC approved BP Amoco’s purchase of the Atlantic Richfield Company
(ARCO). April 26 – Phillips Petroleum buys Arco Alaska, Inc. Federal Subsistence
Board designates the Kenai Peninsula as “rural”, effectively making Kenai Peninsula
residents eligible for subsistence fish and game on federal lands and waters. State of
Alaska sells four state-owned hydroelectric plants (the Four Dam Pool) for $73 million
and adds the sale money to a $100 million appropriation taken from the Constitutional
Budget Reserve. An endowment containing nearly $187 million is created to help fund
the Power Cost Equalization (PCE) program.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
References:
• Alaska Federation of Natives, Inc., Legal Background: the Katie John Case, 1999
• Alaska Federation of Natives, Inc., 2000 Subsistence Chronology, 2000
• Antonsen, J.M. & Hanable, W.S., Alaska’s Heritage, 1985
• Institute of Social and Economic Research, Alaskool.Org Timeline, http://www.alaskool.org/
• Barnhart, Carol, Historical Status of Elementary Schools in Rural Alaskan Communities, 1985
• Hayes, Lydia L., Alaska Timeline with an Emphasis on Cook Inlet Basin, 1997
• Lundberg, M., Circumpolar Chronology, 1951-2000,
http://arcticculture.about.com/culture/arcticculture/library/bl-northdates6.htm 2000
• McDowell Group, Rural Alaska Secondary Education Study, 1993
• Municipality of Anchorage, The Timeline of Anchorage, Alaska,
http://www.ci.anchorage.ak.us/history/time.html 2000
• Thinkquest, Inc., Women in Alaska History, http://library.thinkquest.org/11313/Time-line/
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
15.
FAQALASKA
Frequently Asked Questions About Alaska
Chronological History of Alaska
http://sled.alaska.edu/akfaq/akchron.html
Presented below are historical facts for which there are written records. Until contact with
Europeans, the history of Native Alaskans was preserved through the oral tradition. In the 250
years since Europeans found Alaska, much of that oral history was lost, what was recorded does
not correspond to the Western manner of recording events on a calendar basis.
18th century
16.
1725
Peter the Great sends Vitus Bering to explore the North Pacific.
1728
Vitus Bering sails through the Bering Strait.
1733
Bering’s second expedition, with Georg Wilhelm Steller aboard, the first naturalist to
visit Alaska.
1741
Alexei Chirikof, with Bering expedition, sights land on July 15; the Europeans had
found Alaska.
1742
First scientific report on the North Pacific fur seal.
1743
Concentrated hunting of sea otter by Russia begins.
1774
Juan Perez ordered by Spain to explore west coast; discovers Prince of Wales Island,
Dixon Sound.
1776
Captain James Cook expedition to search for Northwest Passage.
1778
Cook reaches King Island, Norton Sound, Unalaska.
1784
Grigorii Shelikov establishes first white settlement at Three Saints Bay, Kodiak.
1786
Gerassim Pribilof discovers the rookeries on the islands now known as the Pribilofs.
1791
George Vancouver leaves England to explore the coast; Alejandro Malaspina explores
the northwest coast for Spain.
1792
Catherine II grants a monopoly of furs in Alaska to Grigorii Shelikov.
1794
Baranov builds first vessel in northwestern America at Voskresenski on Kenai.
1795
The first Russian Orthodox Church established in Kodiak.
1799
Alexander Baranov establishes Russian post known today as Old Sitka; trade charter
grants exclusive trading rights to the Russian American Company.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
19th Century
1802
Russian fort at Old Sitka destroyed by Tlingits.
1804
Russians return to Sitka and attack Kiksadi fort on Indian River. Russians lose the battle, but Natives are forced to flee. Baranov re-establishes trading post.
1805
Yurii Lisianski sails to Canton with the first Russian cargo of furs to be sent directly to
China.
1821
No foreigners allowed in Russian-American waters, except at regular ports of call.
1824
Russians begin exploration of mainland that leads to discovery of Nushagak,
Kuskokwim, Yukon, and Koyokuk Rivers.
1834
Father Veniaminov moves to Sitka; consecrated Bishop Innokenty in 1840.
1840
Russian Orthodox Diocese formed; Bishop Innokenty Veniaminov given permission to
use Native languages in the liturgy.
1841
Edward de Stoeckl assigned to the secretariat of the Russian legation in the U.S.
1847
Fort Yukon established.
1848
Cathedral of St. Michael dedicated at New Archangel (Sitka).
1853
Russian explorer-trappers find oil seeps in Cook Inlet.
1857
Coal mining begins at Coal Harbor on the Kenai Peninsula.
1859
De Stoeckl returns to U.S. from St. Petersburg with authority to negotiate the sale of
Alaska.
1861
Gold discovered on Stikine River near Telegraph Creek.
1865
Western Union Telegraph Company prepares to put telegraph line across Alaska and
Siberia.
Purchase from Russia
1867
U.S. purchases Alaska from Russia; Pribilof Islands placed under jurisdiction of
Secretary of Treasury. Fur seal population, stabilized under Russian rule, declines
rapidly.
1868
Alaska designated as the Department of Alaska under Brevet Major General Jeff C.
Davis, U.S. Army.
1869
The Sitka Times, first newspaper in Alaska, published.
1872
Gold discovered near Sitka and in British Columbia.
1874
George Halt said to be the first white man to cross the Chilkoot Pass in search for gold.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
17.
1876
Gold discovered south of Juneau at Windham Bay.
1877
U.S. troops withdrawn from Alaska.
1878
School opens at Sitka, to become Sheldon Jackson Junior College. First canneries in
Alaska established at Klawock and Sitka.
1880
Richard Harris and Joseph Juneau, with the aid of local clan leader Kowee, discover
gold on Gastineau; Juneau is founded.
1881
Parris Lode claim staked and by 1885 is the most prominent mine in Alaska: Treadwell
Mine.
1882
First commercial herring fishing begins at Killisnoo; first two central Alaska salmon
canneries built. U.S. Navy bombs, then burns Tlingit village of Angoon.
1884
Congress passes Organic Act. $15,000 appropriated to educate Indian children.
1885
Dr. C. H. Townsend suggests introduction of reindeer into Alaska. Sheldon Jackson
appointed General Agent for Education in Alaska.
1887
Father William Duncan and Tsimshian followers found Metlakatla on Annette Island.
1888
Boundary survey started by Dr. W. H. Dall of the U.S. and Dr. George Dawson of
Canada.
1890
Large corporate salmon canneries begin to appear.
1890
Dr. Sheldon Jackson explores Arctic Coast; brings reindeer husbandry into Alaska.
1891
First oil claims staked in Cook Inlet area.
1892
Afognak Reserve established, beginning the Alaskan Forest Service System.
1894
Gold discovery on Mastodon Creek; founding of Circle City.
1896
Dawson City founded at mouth of Klondike River; gold discovered on Bonanza Creek.
1897-1900 Klondike gold rush.
18.
1897
First shipment of fresh halibut sent south from Juneau.
1898
Skagway is largest city in Alaska; work starts on White Pass and Yukon Railroad;
Congress appropriates money for telegraph from Seattle to Sitka; Nome gold rush
begins.
1899
Local government organized in Nome.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
20th century
1900
Civil Code for Alaska divides state into three judicial districts, with judges at Sitka,
Eagle, and St. Michael; moves capital to Juneau. White Pass railroad completed. U.S.
Congress passes act to establish Washington-Cable (WAMCATS) that later becomes the
Alaska Communications System (ACS).
1902
President Theodore Roosevelt establishes Tongass National Forest; E.T. Barnette and
local miners name their settlement Fairbanks.
1904
Last great Tlingit potlatch held in Sitka. Submarine cables laid from Seattle to Sitka,
and from Sitka to Valdez, linking Alaska to “outside.”
1905
Tanana railroad built; telegraph links Fairbanks and Valdez; Alaska Road Commission
established under Army jurisdiction.
1906
Alaska authorized to send voteless delegate to Congress. Governor’s Office moved
from Sitka to Juneau.
1907
Gold discovered at Ruby; Richardson trail established; Tongass National Forest, largest
U.S. forest, created by presidential proclamation.
1908
First cold storage plant built at Ketchikan.
1911
International agreement between U.S., Great Britain, Canada, Russia, and Japan controls fur seal fisheries; sea otters placed under complete protection; Copper River and
Northwestern Railroad begins service to Kennecott Copper Mine.
1912
Territorial status for Alaska provides for Legislature; Alaska Native Brotherhood organizes in Southeast; Mount Katmai explodes, forming Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.
1913
First Alaska Territorial Legislature convenes. First law passed grants women voting
rights.
1914
Surveying begins for Alaska Railroad; City of Anchorage born as construction campsite.
1915
Alaska Native Sisterhood holds first convention in Sitka.
1916
First bill for Alaska statehood introduced in Congress. Alaskans vote in favor of prohibition by a 2 to 1 margin.
1917
Treadwell Mine complex caves in.
1918
Congress creates Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines as a land grant college.
1920
Anchorage organizes city government.
1922
Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines opens. Native voting rights established through a court case.
1923
President Warren G. Harding comes to Alaska to drive the last spike in Alaska
Railroad.
ALASKA STUDIES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
19.
20.
1924
Congress extends citizenship to all Indians in the United States; Tlingit William Paul,
Sr. is first Native elected to Alaska Legislature. Start of airmail delivery to Alaska.
1928
Court case resolves right of Native children to attend public school.
1929
U.S. Navy begins 5-year survey to map parts of Alaska. Alaska Native Brotherhood
convention at Haines resolves to pursue land claims settlement in Southeast Alaska.
1932
Radio telephone communications established in Juneau, Ketchikan, and Nome.
1935
Matanuska Valley Project established. Nine hundred Alaska-Juneau Gold Mine workers
go on a strike that lasts 40 days and ends in violence. - The Jurisdictional Act of June,
1935 allows the Tlingit and Haida Indians to pursue land claims in U.S. Court of
Claims.
1936
The Indian Reorganization Act of 1935 amended to include Alaska. Nell Scott of
Seldovia becomes the first woman elected to the Territorial Legislature.
1940
Fort Richardson established; construction begins on Elmendorf Air Force Base.
1942
Japan bombs Dutch Harbor; invades Aleutians.
1944
Alaska-Juneau Gold Mine shuts down.
1945
Governor Gruening signs the Anti-Discrimination Act, the first such legislation passed
in the United States and its possessions since post-Civil War.
1946
Boarding school for Native high school students opens at Mt. Edgecumbe.
1947
The Alaska Command established; first unified command of the U.S. staffed by Army,
Air Force, and Navy officers. First Alaska Native land claims suit, filed by Tlingit and
Haida people, introduced in U.S. Court of Claims.
1948
Alaskans vote to abolish fish traps by a 10 to 1 margin.
1953
Oil well drilled near Eureka on Glenn Highway marks the beginning of Alaska’s modern oil history; first plywood operations begin at Juneau; first big Alaskan pulp mill
opens at Ketchikan. First Alaskan television broadcast by KENI, Anchorage.
1955
Alaskans elect delegates to constitutional convention.
1955
Constitutional Convention opens at University of Alaska.
1956
Territorial voters adopt the Alaska Constitution; send two senators and one representative to Washington under the Tennessee Plan.
1958
Statehood measure passes; President Eisenhower signs statehood bill.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
Statehood
1959
Statehood proclaimed; state constitution in effect; Sitka pulp mill opens. U.S. Court of
Claims issues judgement favoring Tlingit and Haida claims to Southeast Alaska lands.
1964
Good Friday earthquake.
1966
Alaska Federation of Natives organized. Interior Secretary Udall imposes a “land
freeze” to protect Native use and occupancy of Alaska lands.
1967
Fairbanks flood.
1968
Oil pumped from a well at Prudhoe Bay on North Slope. Governor Hickel establishes
Alaska Lands Claims Task Force that recommends a 40 million acre land settlement for
Alaska Natives.
1969
North Slope Oil lease sale brings $900 million. First live satellite telecast in Alaska.
1971
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act signed into law.
1972
Alaska Constitution amended to prohibit sexual discrimination.
1973
Congress passes the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act; salmon fisheries limited
entry program becomes law.
1974
Alaska voters approve capital move initiative.
1975
Alaska Legislature appropriates funds to initiate purchase and installation of 100 satellite earth stations for establishment of statewide satellite communications network.
1976
Natural gas pipeline proposals filed. Alaska voters pick Willow as new capital site; voters approve constitutional amendment establishing Alaska Permanent Fund to receive
“at least 25 percent” of all state oil revenues and related income.
1977
Trans-Alaska Pipeline completed from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez.
1980
Alaska Legislature increases Permanent Fund share of oil revenues from 25 to 50 percent; repeals Alaska personal income tax; establishes Alaska Dividend Fund to distribute Permanent Fund earnings to Alaska residents. Congress passes Alaska National
Interests Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA).
1982
Alaska voters repeal law relocating capital to Willow and establish state spending limit;
first Permanent Fund dividends distributed.
1983
Time zone shift: all Alaska, except westernmost Aleutians Islands, move to Alaska
Standard Time, one hour west of Pacific Standard time; crab stocks so low that most
commercial seasons are cancelled; the drinking age is raised from 18 to 21 by the
Legislature.
1985
State purchases Alaska Railroad from the federal government; declining oil prices
cause budget problems.
1986
Price of oil drops below $10 per barrel, causing Alaska oil revenues to plummet; the
legislature passes a new bill governing subsistence hunting and fishing.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
21.
22.
1987
The economic doldrums from oil prices continue to affect the state, causing many to
lose their jobs and leave, banks to foreclose on property, and businesses to go bankrupt;
a new military build-up in Alaska begins when the first troops of the new Sixth Infantry
Division begin to arrive in Fairbanks.
1988
International efforts to rescue two whales caught by ice off Barrow captures worldwide attention; the state’s economic woes continue and Anchorage loses 30,000 in population; the Soviets allow a one-day visit of a group of Alaskans to the Siberian port
city of Provideniya; Anchorage loses its bid to host the 1994 Olympic Games to
Lillehammer, Norway.
1989
The Exxon Valdez, a 987’ oil tanker carrying 53 million gallons of North Slope crude,
grounds on Bligh Reef spilling 11 million gallons into Prince William Sound; the
Permanent Fund passes the $10 billion mark; the Alaska Supreme Court throws out
Alaska’s rural preference law.
1990
The Alaska Legislature meets in special session and struggles unsuccessfully to resolve
the subsistence issue; federal authorities take over subsistence management on federal
lands; oil prices temporarily double after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait; Walter Hickel
makes a political comeback with lt. governor candidate Jack Coghill on Alaskan
Independence Party ticket and winning gubernatorial race; Congress sets aside more
Southeast Alaska as wilderness by passing the Tongass Reform Act.
1991
The State of Alaska, the U.S. Justice Department and Exxon reach a $1 billion settlement resulting from the Exxon Valdez oil spill which is rejected by the U.S. District
Court. An amended settlement earmarking more money for restoration work in Prince
William Sound wins judicial approval. Congress effectively closes the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge to oil development; Bristol Bay fisherman strike over low salmon
prices; Hickel administration and the Legislature unable to resolve the subsistence
issue.
1992
Final repercussions of Alaska’s recession are felt as oil industry retrenches with major
job losses; the Anchorage Times, once Alaska’s largest newspaper folds; reapportionment challenges delay primaries by two weeks; Spurr Volcano erupts three times, one
blast dumping ash on Anchorage; Juneau’s Hillary Lindh wins Olympic Silver Medal in
downhill skiing.
1993
Alaska Legislature passes largest capital works appropriation in ten years; a court-mandated new reapportionment scheme re-draws boundaries of some election districts;
Greens Creek Mine near Juneau closes due to low silver, zinc, and lead prices; Sitka
Pulp Mill announces indefinite suspension of mill operations, affecting 400 workers;
Alaskan Independence Party Chairman Joe Vogler mysteriously disappears.
1994
Federal trial results in $5 billion verdict in the Exxon Valdez case. Alaska’s Tommy
Moe brings home Olympic gold in downhill ski competitions. Joe Vogler’s body is discovered buried off Chena Hot Springs Road near Fairbanks. Voters defeat the latest
proposal to move the Alaska capital away from Juneau. The mental health lands case is
decided after years in court; the suit initiated by Vern Weiss of Nenana and several
other plaintoffs revolved around the 1977 legislature’s dissolution of a trust established
in territorial days.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
1995
Canadian fishermen attack an Alaska ferry with paint and ball bearings projected from
sling shots in frustration over inconclusive U.S.-Canada Pacific Salmon Treaty talks,
which hinder Southeast Alaska’s troll king salmon fishery. MarkAir faces bankruptcy
while ticket holders are stranded and employees all over the state are laid off. The $267
million Healy Clean Coal Project is launched with a substantial backing by the U.S.
Department of Energy. Villagers from Alatna return to a newly rebuilt village after
being one of several Koyukuk River communities washed out by fall floods in 1994.
1996
A federal judge rules against the State of Alaska in a case brought by Governor Hickel
and continued by Governor Knowles over the state’s interpretation of how the Alaska
Statehood Act affects the federal government’s management of federal lands in the
state. U.S. Congress lifts the ban on exportation of Alaska crude oil. One of the most
devastating fires in state history destroys homes and property in the Southcentral area
near Big Lake.
1997
High winds and seas caused a Japanese refrigerator ship to go aground near Unalaska,
spilling approximately 39,000 gallons of fuel. The Fairbanks Municipal Utilities
System was sold to three private companies, ending 50 years of public utility ownership. MAPCO, owner of Alaska’s largest oil refinery, was bought by Williams Co. Inc.
Canadian fishermen in Prince Rupert blockaded an Alaskan ferry for three days in
protest of Alaskan salmon-fishing practices; ferry service to Prince Rupert was disrupted for 19 weeks. The issue of the safety of the 20 year-old Trans-Alaska pipeline was
in the news, but both Alyeska and the Joint Pipeline Office maintained that the pipeline
is well-monitored and safe.
1998
Statewide, 6,700 jobs were added and the unemployment rate set a record low at 5.8%.
The moose was adopted as Alaska’s official state land mammal. In May, an estimated
4,000 people marched in Anchorage to show solidarity and to bring attention to Native
Rights issues. The new Seward SeaLife Center is the western hemisphere’s first coldwater marine research facility, and includes two floors of public displays. The Supreme
Court of the United States in its case No.96-1577 ruled that the approximately 1.8 million acres owned by the Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government is not “Indian
country. . .
1999
Two legendary dogmushers died this year - Joe Redington, Sr., founder of the Iditarod
Trail Sled Dog Race, and Edgar Nollner, Sr., the last surviving musher of the 1925
diptheria serum run to Nome. The state’s top two oil producers, BP and ARCO,
announced their intent to merge. The University of Alaska Museum in Fairbanks
received $1,000,000 from the Bill Gates Foundation to help with their expansion project. In Anchorage, the Alaska Native Heritage Center, a 26 acre cultural park, opened
its doors; it is expected that the Center will attract 130,000 visitors a year. In
September, a proposal to spend Alaska Permanent Fund earnings on state government
was soundly rejected by voters, 83% to 17%. The state’s largest financial institution,
the National Bank of Alaska, announced it has agreed to a buyout by Wells, Fargo &
Co. Derailment of two Alaska Railroad trains in the Susitna River Valley in November
and December resulted in jet fuel spills totalling approximately 100,000 gallons.
Cleanup was hampered by extreme weather and the remote terrain.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
23.
2000
Along with the rest of the world, Alaskans welcomed the year 2000 with fanfare and
firecrackers. Tragedy struck on January 31 when an Alaska Airlines jet crashed near
Los Angeles, killing 88 people including Morris Thompson, Interior Alaska Native
leader and former BIA director. Snowslides stranded dozens of people in Girdwood for
nearly a week; avalanche conditions in the area were among the worst in decades. In
April, after more than a year of anti-trust investigations by the FTC, the agreement was
signed for BP to take over ARCO, with the exception of ARCO Alaska which was purchased by Phillips Petroleum. After more than 40 years the bodies of 133 people, mostly Native Alaskans, were returned to their villages for burial. Patients at the Mt.
Edgecumbe TB hospital when they died, they had been buried in a nearby WWII
bunker. Elmer Rasmuson, Anchorage banker and Alaskan philanthropist, died in
December. And once again Alaska offered unique challenges to the intrepid federal census takers. Census 2000 results show a state population of 626,932, an increase of 14%
from 1990, and Alaska moves to 47th in the state population rankings.
Source for 1725-1993:
Alaska Blue Book 1993-94, 11th ed., Juneau, Department of Education, Division of State
Libraries, Archives & Museums. [amended]
Source for 1994:
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, 12/26/94.
Sources for 1995:
Anchorage Daily News, 12/31/95; Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Heartland, 12/31/95.
Source for 1996:
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, 6/5/96.
Sources for 1997:
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Heartland Section, 12/28/97; Alaska Almanac, 22nd ed.
1998.
Sources for 1998:
Alaska Almanac, 22nd-23rd ed. 1998-1999; Alaska Economic Trends, April 1999.
Sources for 1999:
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Heartland, 1/2/ 2000; Anchorage Daily News, 1/1/2000;
Alaska Almanac, 24th ed., 2000.
Sources for 2000:
Alaska Almanac, 24th ed., 2000; Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, 12/30/00, p. C1; Census
figure from State of Alaska website
24.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
Moments in Alaska’s History:
Bits and Pieces
http://www.everythingalaska.com/eta.history.html
16th century
1578
Cossack Chieftain Yermak Timofief was on an expedition in central Russia when he
heard word of rich sable and valuable furs in the east. The journeys across the steppes
marked the beginning of Russia’s conquest eastward.
17th century
1639
Cossack horsemen came over the eastern mountain range in Siberia, and continued to
the shore of the Okhotsk Sea. Once there, they built the first Russian village, facing
east, across the Pacific.
18th century
1711
Russian traders learn of a “Great Land” to the east.
1725
Peter the Great of Russia commissioned a Danish sea captain, Vitus Bering, to explore
the Northwest coast of Alaska. This feat is credited with the “official” discovery by
Russia and the first reliable information on the land. Bering established Russia’s claim
to Northwestern North America.
1728
Vitus Bering sails through the Bering Strait.
1733
Bering’s second expedition, with Georg Wilhelm Steller aboard, the first naturalist to
visit Alaska.
1741
Alexei Chirikof, with Bering expedition, sights land on July 15; the Europeans had
found Alaska.
1742
First scientific report on the North Pacific fur seal.
1743
Concentrated hunting of sea otter by Russia begins.
1774
Juan Perez ordered by Spain to explore west coast; discovers Prince of Wales Island,
Dixon Sound.
1776
Captain James Cook expedition to search for Northwest Passage.
1778
While searching for the elusive Northwest Passage, British Explorer Captain James
Cook explored the waterway that downtown Anchorage now borders, Cook Inlet.
1778
Cook reaches King Island, Norton Sound, Unalaska.
1784
Grigorii Shelikov establishes first white settlement at Three Saints Bay, Kodiak.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
25.
1786
Gerassim Pribilof discovers the rookeries on the islands now known as the Pribilofs.
1791
George Vancouver leaves England to explore the coast; Alejandro Malaspina explores
the northwest coast for Spain.
1794
Baranov builds first vessel in northwestern America at Voskresenski on Kenai.
1795
The first Russian Orthodox Church established in Kodiak.
1799
Alexander Baranov establishes Russian post known today as Old Sitka; trade charter
grants exclusive trading rights to the Russian American Company.
19th Century
26.
1802
Russian fort at Old Sitka destroyed by Tlingits.
1804
Russians return to Sitka and attack Kiksadi fort on Indian River. Russians lose the battle, but Natives are forced to flee. Baranov re-establishes trading post.
1805
Yurii Lisianski sails to Canton with the first Russian cargo of furs to be sent directly to
China.
1821
No foreigners allowed in Russian-American waters, except at regular ports of call.
1824
Russians begin exploration of mainland that leads to discovery of Nushagak,
Kuskokwim, Yukon, and Koyokuk Rivers.
1834
Father Veniaminov moves to Sitka; consecrated Bishop Innokenty in 1840.
1835
Russian mission is established near Knik, across the inlet from present-day Anchorage.
1840
Russian Orthodox Diocese formed; Bishop Innokenty Veniaminov given permission to
use Native languages in the liturgy.
1841
Edward de Stoeckl assigned to the secretariat of the Russian legation in the U.S.
1847
Fort Yukon established.
1848
Cathedral of St. Michael dedicated at New Archangel (Sitka).
1853
Russian explorer-trappers find oil seeps in Cook Inlet.
1857
Coal mining begins at Coal Harbor on the Kenai Peninsula.
1859
De Stoeckl returns to U.S. from St. Petersburg with authority to negotiate the sale of
Alaska. Alaska became a state in 1959. See the progression from territory to state.
1861
Gold discovered on Stikine River near Telegraph Creek.
1865
Western Union Telegraph Company prepares to put telegraph line across Alaska and
Siberia.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
Purchase from Russia
1867
Financial struggles force Russia to sell Russian-America to the United States.
Negotiated by U.S. Secretary of State William Seward, the treaty buys what is now
Alaska for $7.2 million, or about 2 cents an acre. Alaska’s value was not appreciated by
the American masses at the time, calling it “Seward’s folly.” ; Pribilof Islands placed
under jurisdiction of Secretary of Treasury. Fur seal population, stabilized under
Russian rule, declines rapidly.
1868
Alaska designated as the Department of Alaska under Brevet Major General Jeff C.
Davis, U.S. Army.
1869
The Sitka Times, first newspaper in Alaska, published.
1872
Gold discovered near Sitka and in British Columbia.
1874
George Halt said to be the first white man to cross the Chilkoot Pass in search for gold.
1876
Gold discovered south of Juneau at Windham Bay.
1877
U.S. troops withdrawn from Alaska.
1878
School opens at Sitka, to become Sheldon Jackson Junior College. First canneries in
Alaska established at Klawock and Sitka.
1880
Richard Harris and Joseph Juneau, with the aid of local clan leader Kowee, discover
gold on Gastineau; Juneau is founded.
1881
Parris Lode claim staked and by 1885 is the most prominent mine in Alaska: Treadwell
Mine.
1882
First commercial herring fishing begins at Killisnoo; first two central Alaska salmon
canneries built. U.S. Navy bombs, then burns Tlingit village of Angoon.
1884
Congress passes Organic Act. $15,000 appropriated to educate Indian children.
1885
Dr. C. H. Townsend suggest introduction of reindeer into Alaska. Sheldon Jackson
appointed General Agent for Education in Alaska.
1887
Father William Duncan and Tsimshian followers found Metlakatla on Annette Island.
1888
Boundary survey started by Dr. W. H. Dall of the U.S. and Dr. George Dawson of
Canada.
Cries of “Gold!” echo through the region when prospectors hit paydirt at Crow Creek
near Girdwood, just 40 miles/64 km south of what today is downtown Anchorage.
More than 60,000 Americans traveled north to make their fortune. This is the first of
many “boom and bust” eras for Anchorage and Alaska.
1890
Large corporate salmon canneries begin to appear.
1890
Dr. Sheldon Jackson explores Arctic Coast; brings reindeer husbandry into Alaska.
1891
First oil claims staked in Cook Inlet area.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
27.
1892
Afognak Reserve established, beginning the Alaskan Forest Service System.
1894
Gold discovery on Mastodon Creek; founding of Circle City.
1896
Dawson City founded at mouth of Klondike River; gold discovered on Bonanza Creek.
1897-1900 Klondike gold rush.
1897
First shipment of fresh halibut sent south from Juneau.
1898
Skagway is largest city in Alaska; work starts on White Pass and Yukon Railroad;
Congress appropriates money for telegraph from Seattle to Sitka; Nome gold rush
begins.
1899
Local government organized in Nome.
20th century
1900
Anchorage experienced rapid growth in the 1900s. In 1912, Alaska becomes a US
Territory. The census lists Alaska’s population at 29,500 Eskimos, Indians and Aleuts;
4,300 “Caucasian Alaskans” and 26,000 Cheechakos (newcomers).
Civil Code for Alaska divides state into three judicial districts, with judges at Sitka,
Eagle, and St. Michael; moves capital to Juneau. White Pass railroad completed. U.S.
Congress passes act to establish Washington-Cable (WAMCATS) that later becomes the
Alaska Communications System (ACS).
28.
1902
President Theodore Roosevelt establishes Tongass National Forest; E.T. Barnette and
local miners name their settlement Fairbanks.
1904
Last great Tlingit potlatch held in Sitka. Submarine cables laid from Seattle to Sitka,
and from Sitka to Valdez, linking Alaska to “outside.”
1905
Tanana railroad built; telegraph links Fairbanks and Valdez; Alaska Road Commission
established under Army jurisdiction.
1906
Alaska authorized to send voteless delegate to Congress. Governor’s Office moved
from Sitka to Juneau.
1907
Gold discovered at Ruby; Richardson trail established; Tongass National Forest, largest
U.S. forest, created by presidential proclamation.
1908
First cold storage plant built at Ketchikan.
1911
International agreement between U.S., Great Britain, Canada, Russia, and Japan controls fur seal fisheries; sea otters placed under complete protection; Copper River and
Northwestern Railroad begins service to Kennecott Copper Mine.
1912
Territorial status for Alaska provides for Legislature; Alaska Native Brotherhood organizes in Southeast; Mount Katmai explodes, forming Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.
1913
First Alaska Territorial Legislature convenes. First law passed grants women voting rights.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
1914
Congress authorizes the construction of the Alaska Railroad, clearing the way for the
only railroad in history which would be owned and operated by the U.S. government.
Surveying begins for Alaska Railroad; City of Anchorage born as construction campsite.
1915
President Woodrow Wilson selects the railroad’s route that will run between the Port of
Seward through the coal fields of the Interior to the gold claims near Fairbanks. What
is now Anchorage is picked as its headquarters. Thousands of job seekers and adventurers pour into the area, living in a tent city on the banks of Ship Creek.
Alaska Native Sisterhood holds first convention in Sitka.
The “Great Anchorage Lot Sale,” a land auction that will shape the future of the city, is
held. A month later, the town formalizes its name when voters go to the polls. Voters
pick Alaska City but the federal government decides to retain the existing title:
Anchorage.
1916
First bill for Alaska statehood introduced in Congress. Alaskans vote in favor of prohibition by a 2 to 1 margin.
1917
Treadwell Mine complex caves in.
1918
The first train from Seward steams into Anchorage, marking the completion of the
southern half of the railroad line.
1920
After lengthy negotiations, Anchorage citizens vote to incorporate. Six days later,
Leopold David is elected first mayor of the city.
1922
Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines opens. Native voting rights established through a court case.
1923
President Warren G. Harding drives in the golden spike at Nenana, signaling the completion of the Alaska Railroad.
1924
Congress extends citizenship to all Indians in the United States; Tlingit William Paul,
Sr. is first Native elected to Alaska Legislature. Start of airmail delivery to Alaska.
1928
Court case resolves right of Native children to attend public school.
1929
U.S. Navy begins 5-year survey to map parts of Alaska. Alaska Native Brotherhood
convention at Haines resolves to pursue land claims settlement in Southeast Alaska.
1932
Radio telephone communications established in Juneau, Ketchikan, and Nome.
1935
Matanuska Valley Project established. Nine hundred Alaska-Juneau Gold Mine workers
go on a strike that lasts 40 days and ends in violence. - The Jurisdictional Act of June,
1935 allows the Tlingit and Haida Indians to pursue land claims in U.S. Court of
Claims.
1936
The Indian Reorganization Act of 1935 amended to include Alaska. Nell Scott of
Seldovia becomes the first woman elected to the Territorial Legislature.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
29.
1940
Anchorage is still a small, sleepy town but its strategic position attracts military interest. The first soldiers arrive to build an army base and air field, which become Fort
Richardson and Elmendorf Air Force Base, bringing rapid growth to Anchorage.
1942
Japanese invade Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. As part of the defense of the West Coast, the
Alaska Highway is built in the amazingly short time of eight months and 12 days, linking Anchorage with the rest of the nation. Anchorage enters the war years with a population of 7,724 and emerges with 43,314 residents.
1943
January, 1943 - US convoy of 70 ships moved to Aleutian theater.
January 12, 1943 - Army forces occupy Amchitka, Aleutian Islands.
January 30, 1943 - Naval Station, Akutan Harbor, Fox Island, Alaska, is established.
February 18, 1943 - Two cruisers and four destroyers bombard Japanese installations at
Holtz Bay, and Chichagof Harbor, Attu, Aleutian Islands.
February 24, 1943 - Naval Air Facility, Amchitka, Alaska, is established.
March 1, 1943 - Naval Auxiliary Air Facility, Annette Island, Alaska, is established.
March 26, 1943 - Battle of the Komandorski Islands.
March 27, 1943 - Japanese convoy to reinforce Aleutian encountered with the enemy
fleet and turned back.
April 26, 1943 - Task group of 3 cruiser and 6 destroyers bombards Japanese installations at Attu, Aleutian Islands.
May 10, 1943 - U.S. troops invade Attu in the Aleutian Islands.
May 15, 1943 - Naval Air Station, Adak, Aleutian Islands, is established.
May 31, 1943 - Japanese end their occupation of the Aleutian Islands as the U.S. completes the capture of Attu.
June 8, 1943 - Naval Air Facility, Attu, Aleutian Islands, is established.
June 29, 1943 - Naval Auxiliary Air Facility, Shemya, Alaska, is established.
July 14, 1943 - Destroyers bombard Kiska, Aleutian Islands. Naval Operating Base,
Adak, Aleutian Islands, is established.
July 22, 1943 - Naval task force consisting of 2 battleships, 5 cruisers, and 9 destroyers
bombard Kiska area, Aleutian Islands.
July 28, 1943 - Japanese evacuate Kiska undetected by Allies.
August 1, 1943 - Army aircraft initiate daily bombings of Kiska, Aleutian Islands.
August 2, 1943 - Naval task groups consisting of 2 battleships, 5 cruisers, and 9
destroyers bombard Kiska, Aleutian Islands. Kiska is bombarded 10 times between this
date and 15 August.
August 15, 1943 - Naval task force under Commander North Pacific Force lands
United States Army and Canadian troops at Kiska, Aleutian Islands. Kiska is found to
have been evacuated by the Japanese.
30.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
1943
August 22, 1943 - Allied forces declare Kiska is deserted by Japanese forces.
December 21, 1943 - Naval aircraft from Attu, Aleutian Islands, bomb ParamushiroShimushu area, Kurile Islands.
1944
Alaska-Juneau Gold Mine shuts down. Oil and gas exploration begins.
1945
Governor Gruening signs the Anti-Discrimination Act, the first such legislation passed
in the United States and its possessions since post-Civil War.
1946
Boarding school for Native high school students opens at Mt. Edgecumbe.
1947
The Alaska Command established; first unified command of the U.S. staffed by Army,
Air Force, and Navy officers. First Alaska Native land claims suit, filed by Tlingit and
Haida people, introduced in U.S. Court of Claims.
1948
Alaskans vote to abolish fish traps by a 10 to 1 margin.
1953
Oil well drilled near Eureka on Glenn Highway marks the beginning of Alaska’s modern oil history; first plywood operations begin at Juneau; first big Alaskan pulp mill
opens at Ketchikan. First Alaskan television broadcast by KENI, Anchorage.
1955
Alaskans elect delegates to constitutional convention.
1955
Constitutional Convention opens at University of Alaska.
1956
Territorial voters adopt the Alaska Constitution; send two senators and one representative to Washington under the Tennessee Plan.
1958
Statehood measure passes; President Eisenhower signs statehood bill.
Statehood
1959
Statehood proclaimed; state constitution in effect; Sitka pulp mill opens. U.S. Court of
Claims issues judgement favoring Tlingit and Haida claims to Southeast Alaska lands.
1964
Good Friday earthquake.
1966
Alaska Federation of Natives organized. Interior Secretary Udall imposes a “land
freeze” to protect Native use and occupancy of Alaska lands.
1967
Fairbanks flood.
1968
Oil pumped from a well at Prudhoe Bay on North Slope. Governor Hickel establishes
Alaska Lands Claims Task Force that recommends a 40 million acre land settlement for
Alaska Natives.
1969
North Slope Oil lease sale brings $900 million. First live satellite telecast in Alaska.
1971
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 USC 1601-1624) — Public Law 92-203,
approved and transfers ownership of 44 million acres of land to newly established
Native corporations.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
31.
1971
Mt. Edgecumbe — Wrangell Parent School Board established.
BIA’s first pre-school programs for two to three year-olds.
Administration of program funding at agency level established.
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) becomes law.
Alaska State-Operated School System: Alaska State Legislature establishes the Alaska
State Operated School System as a new system as an independent agency and transfers
operational responsibility form Rural and On-Base schools from the Department of
Education to this new entity.
1972
Alaska Constitution amended to prohibit sexual discrimination.
1973
Congress passes the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act; salmon fisheries limited
entry program becomes law.
1974
Alaska voters approve capital move initiative.
1975
Alaska Legislature appropriates funds to initiate purchase and installation of 100 satellite earth stations for establishment of statewide satellite communications network.
1976
Natural gas pipeline proposals filed. Alaska voters pick Willow as new capital site; voters approve constitutional amendment establishing Alaska Permanent Fund to receive
“at least 25 percent” of all state oil revenues and related income.
1977
February 28: The Permanent Fund receives its first deposit of dedicated oil revenues:
$734,000.
Construction on the pipeline is completed, and the first oil arrives through the pipeline
in Valdez.
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline: A barrel of crude oil takes 5.04 days to flow from Prudhoe
Bay to Valdez through the trans-Alaska pipeline at 6.62 mph. If the pipeline were full,
it would hold 9 million barrels. One barrel equals 42 gallons.
1980
Alaska Legislature increases Permanent Fund share of oil revenues from 25 to 50 percent; repeals Alaska personal income tax; establishes Alaska Dividend Fund to distribute Permanent Fund earnings to Alaska residents.
Congress passes Alaska National Interests Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA).
1982
Time zones shift to include all Alaska, except westernmost Aleutian Islands, in one
zone: Alaska Standard Time.
The drinking age is raised from 18 to 21.
Alaska State Boards of Fisheries and Game jointly adopt a regulation adding the rural
residency standard to the state’s definition of “subsistence uses.” Solomon Gulch
hydroelectric project comes on-line in Valdez, the first of four hydroelectric projects
later to be known as the “Four Dam Pool.”
32.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
1982
State revenues peak at $4,108,400,000 after OPEC fixes oil price at $34/barrel.
Alaska legislature enacts inflation-proofing to protect purchasing power of Permanent
Fund principal. First Permanent Fund Dividend check is distributed: $1,000.
Alaska voters repeal law relocating capital to Willow and establish state spending limit.
1983
Crab stocks so low that most commercial seasons are cancelled.
1985
State purchases Alaska Railroad from the federal government; declining oil prices
cause budget problems.
1986
Price of oil drops below $10 per barrel, causing Alaska oil revenues to plummet; the
legislature passes a new bill governing subsistence hunting and fishing.
1987
The economic doldrums from oil prices continue to affect the state, causing many to
lose their jobs and leave, banks to foreclose on property, and businesses to go bankrupt;
a new military build-up in Alaska begins when the first troops of the new Sixth Infantry
Division begin to arrive in Fairbanks.
1988
International efforts to rescue two whales caught by ice off Barrow captures worldwide attention; the state’s economic woes continue and Anchorage loses 30,000 in population; the Soviets allow a one-day visit of a group of Alaskans to the Siberian port
city of Provideniya; Anchorage loses its bid to host the 1994 Olympic Games to
Lillehammer, Norway.
1989
The Exxon Valdez, a 987’ oil tanker carrying 53 million gallons of North Slope crude,
grounds on Bligh Reef spilling 11 million gallons into Prince William Sound; the
Permanent Fund passes the $10 billion mark; the Alaska Supreme Court throws out
Alaska’s rural preference law.
1990
Alaska population reaches 550,000 according to the US Census Bureau.
Over 800,000 visitors come to Alaska, some for business, most for pleasure.
Mining ranks as Alaska’s fastest growing industry.
Permanent Fund makes its first investments in stocks and bonds outside the United
States.
The Alaska legislature is unable to resolve the subsistence issue, federal authorities take
control of subsistence issues on federal land.
The Tongass Reform Act designates more wilderness land in S.E Alaska.
Walter Hickel wins gubernatorial race on the Independence ticket.
The estimated Alaska Native population: 95,000.
Amendments to ANCSA take effect.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
33.
1990
The State of Alaska, the U.S. Justice Department, and Exxon reach a $1 billion settlement resulting from the Exxon Valdez spill, initially rejected by U.S. District Court —
later accepted when amended to include restorative money.
Congress effectively closed the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil development.
Bristol Bay fishermen strike over low salmon prices.
1991
January 1 - 8 billionth barrel of oil arrives in Valdez.
Permanent Fund Dividends are paid to all Alaska residents for the 10th consecutive
year.
The State of Alaska, the U.S. Justice Department, and Exxon reach a $1 billion settlement resulting from the Exxon Valdez oil spill which is rejected by the U.S. District
Court.
An amended settlement earmarking more money for restoration work in Prince William
Sound wins judicial approval.
Congress effectively closes the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil development.
Bristol Bay fishermen strike over low salmon prices.
Hickel administration and the legislature unable to resolve the subsistence issue.
1992
Final repercussions of Alaska’s recession are felt as oil industry retrenches with major
job losses; the Anchorage Times, once Alaska’s largest newspaper folds; reapportionment challenges delay primaries by two weeks; Spurr Volcano erupts three times, one
blast dumping ash on Anchorage; Juneau’s Hillary Lindh wins Olympic Silver Medal in
downhill skiing.
1993
Alaska Legislature passes largest capital works appropriation in ten years; a court-mandated new reapportionment scheme re-draws boundaries of some election districts;
Greens Creek Mine near Juneau closes due to low silver, zinc, and lead prices; Sitka
Pulp Mill announces indefinite suspension of mill operations, affecting 400 workers;
Alaskan Independence Party Chairman Joe Vogler mysteriously disappears.
1994
Federal trial results in $5 billion verdict in the Exxon Valdez case.
Alaska’s Tommy Moe brings home Olympic gold in downhill ski competitions.
Voters defeat the latest proposal to move the Alaska capital away from Juneau.
U.S. District Court rules in favor of the Katie John plaintiffs, reducing the federal government’s fishing jurisdiction to those navigable waters “reserved to the United States.”
1995
Canadian fishermen attack an Alaska ferry with paint and ball bearings projected from
sling shots in frustration over inconclusive U.S.-Canada Pacific Salmon Treaty talks,
which hinder Southeast Alaska’s troll king salmon fishery.
MarkAir faces bankruptcy while ticket holders are stranded and employees all over the
state are laid off.
The $267 million Healy Clean Coal Project is launched with a substantial backing by
the U.S. Department of Energy.
34.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
1995
Villagers from Alatna return to a newly rebuilt village after being one of several
Koyukuk River communities washed out by fall floods in 1994.
1996
A federal judge rules against the State of Alaska in a case brought by Governor Hickel
and continued by Governor Knowles over the state’s interpretation of how the Alaska
Statehood Act affects the federal government’s management of federal lands in the
state. U.S. Congress lifts the ban on exportation of Alaska crude oil. One of the most
devastating fires in state history destroys homes and property in the Southcentral area
near Big Lake.
1997
High winds and seas caused a Japanese refrigerator ship to go aground near Unalaska,
spilling approximately 39,000 gallons of fuel. The Fairbanks Municipal Utilities
System was sold to three private companies, ending 50 years of public utility ownership. MAPCO, owner of Alaska’s largest oil refinery, was bought by Williams Co. Inc.
Canadian fishermen in Prince Rupert blockaded an Alaskan ferry for three days in
protest of Alaskan salmon-fishing practices; ferry service to Prince Rupert was disrupted for 19 weeks. The issue of the safety of the 20 year-old Trans-Alaska pipeline was
in the news, but both Alyeska and the Joint Pipeline Office maintained that the pipeline
is well-monitored and safe.
1998
The legislature passes a bill requiring all students to pass exit exams to earn high
school diplomas, to become effective in 2002.
Overturning a Ninth Court Circuit of appeals decision, the U.S. Supreme Court rules
that 1.9 million acres of ancestral land owned by the Venetie Tribe of Neetsaii’
Gwich’in Indians are no longer under the governmental jurisdiction of the tribe.
Lieutenant Governor Fran Ulmer certified an initiative petition making English
Alaska’s official language. The initiative, placed on the 1998 general election ballot,
passed making English the official language in state government
1999
British Petroleum announces intent to buy ARCO, starting a process involving the state
of Alaska and the FTC in a discussion over state revenues and anti-trust.
In Kasayulie vs. State of Alaska, the court rules that Alaska has failed to provide adequate school facilities for Bush students, in violation of the Alaska Constitution and
federal civil law.
Alaska Board of Education adopts standards for what students should know in math,
reading and writing.
The lawsuit, Alakayak, et al. v. State of Alaska, was brought by the Alaska Civil
Liberties Union, the Native American Rights Fund, and the North Slope Borough on
behalf of 27 individuals whose constitutional rights would be violated if the Englishonly initiative were allowed to take effect on March 4.
The Alaska Legislature changes the Power Cost Equalization (PCE) program formula
reducing entitlement.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
35.
2000
First state educational standards tests for third-, sixth, eighth-graders and sophomores
conducted. FTC approved BP Amoco’s purchase of the Atlantic Richfield Company
(ARCO).
April 26: Phillips Petroleum buys Arco Alaska, Inc.
Federal Subsistence Board designates the Kenai Peninsula as “rural,” effectively making Kenai Peninsula residents eligible for subsistence fish & game on federal lands and
waters.
State of Alaska sells four state-owned hydroelectric plants (the Four Dam Pool) for $73
million and adds the sale money to a $100 million appropriation taken from the
Constitutional Budget reserve.
An endowment containing nearly $187 million is created to help fund the Power Cost
Equalization (PCE) program.
Source for 1725-1993:
FAQALASKA Project, Fairbanks North Star Borough Public Library for the Alaska State
Library.
Source for 1725-1993:
Alaska Blue Book 1993-94, 11th ed., Juneau, Department of Education, Division of State
Libraries, Archives & Museums. [amended]
Source for 1994:
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, 12/26/94.
Sources for 1995:
Anchorage Daily News, 12/31/95; Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Heartland Section,
12/31/95.
Source for 1996:
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, 6/5/96.
Sources for 1997:
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Heartland Section, 12/28/97; Alaska Almanac, 22nd ed.
1998.
Sources for 1998:
Alaska Almanac, 22nd-23rd ed. 1998-1999; Alaska Economic Trends, April 1999.
Sources for 1999:
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Heartland Section, 1/2/ 2000; Anchorage Daily News,
1/1/2000; Alaska Almanac, 24th ed., 2000.
Sources for 2000:
Alaska Almanac, 24th ed., 2000; Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, 12/30/00, p. C1; Census
figure from State of Alaska website.
36.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
Timeline
http://www.alaskool.org/cgi-bin/java/interactive/timelineframe.html
pre-contact Inupiat Society: Myth and Reality.
1728
Aug 10, Vitus Bering sights St. Lawrence Island and one of the Diomede Islands.
1741
Vitus Bering discovers Europeans don’t know about Alaska... July 15, Alexei Chirikof,
Bering’s assistant, sights mainland Alaska but does not make landing. July 16, Bering
sights Mt. St. Elias on Alaskan mainland and goes ashore. Dec. 8, Bering dies and is
buried on Bering Island.
1778
Captain James Cook of England explores Arctic Ocean.
1784
First white settlement in Alaska on Kodiak Island.
1784
First School in Alaska established by the Russians at Three Saints Bay-Kodiak Island.
1790
Aleksandr Baranov becomes director of Russian settlement.
1799
Czar Paul claims Alaska as Russian possession. Baranov named first Russian governor
of Alaska.
1802
Baranov moves his headquarters to Sitka.
1818
Russian navy assumes authority in Alaska.
1821
Russian navy bars all foreign ships from Alaskan waters.
1835
United States and England obtain trading privileges in Alaska.
1843
First mission school for the Eskimos was established at Nushagak by Russian-Greek
Orthodox Church.
1848
Yankee whalers begin commercial whaling in Alaskan waters.
1860
Second Mission School at Kwikpak.
1865
Last shot of Civil War fired in Alaskan waters.
1865
1865-67. Surveyors’ map route for overland telegraph line through Alaska to Siberia.
1867
The Swedish Evangelical, Moravian, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Congregational, and
Roman Catholic Churches established schools throughout Alaska.
1867
The sale of Alaska by Russia to United States - which rightfully belonged to neither.
October 18 is now celebrated as “Alaska Day.”
1869
First appropriation from Congress for education in the Territory. The funds were never
put into use as no agency was found to administer them.
ALASKA STUDIES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
37.
38.
1872
Mining act of 1872, land claims rights.
1878
Salmon-canning industry started.
1880
Gold discovered near Juneau.
1882
The little Tlingit Indian village of Angoon on Kootznahoo Inlet, Admiralty Island has
several claims to fame. In 1882 a shaman of this group was accidentally killed in the
explosion of a whaling gun. According to Indian usage, a white hostage was taken and
indemnity of 200 blankets demanded. Having been apprized of the situation, Capt.
Merriman of the Revenue Cutter Corwin steamed in from Sitka, shelled the town and
demanded and received a counter-indemnity of 400 blankets. (AFTC)
1884
United States establishes “District of Alaska” as a legal unit. Alaska received its first
code of laws.
1884
Funds for education in Alaska appropriated to be distributed among the existing mission schools with Dr. Sheldon Jackson appointed as general agent for education in
Alaska the following year.
1885
Dr. Sheldon Jackson appointed as general agent for education in Alaska.
1887
Society of Friends established a school at Kotzebue.
1887
Use of English in Indian Schools.
1888
The Board of Education in Alaska was directed to prescribe a course of study for all
government schools.
1889
Supplemental Report on Indian Education
1890
First missions established in Alaska north of Bering Strait.
1891
Reindeer herds imported into Alaska.
1894
Subsidizing of mission schools discontinued. Federal Bureau of Education took over
most mission schools.
1896
Gold discovered along Klondike River and Bonanza Creek in Yukon Territory.
1897
Klondike gold rush.
1898
Richardson Trail blazed from Valdez to Canadian border.
1899
Local communities authorized to set up school boards.
1900
Stampede of gold-seekers to Nome. Railroad from Skagway to White Horse completed.
1902
Gold discovered near Fairbanks.
1902
Local school board established at Nome.
1905
The Nelson Act provided for establishment of schools for white children outside of the
incorporated towns.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
1906
An Act Authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to allot homesteads to the natives of
Alaska.
1906
An Act for the Preservation of American Antiquities was passed by the U. S. Congress
on June 8, 1906. (34 STAT.L.225) It provides penalties for the removal, defacement,
etc. of antiquities on ground controlled by the Federal Government such as the National
Parks, Monuments and Forests of Alaska. Fines of $500 and/or 6 months imprisonment
are provided. (AFTC)
1908
The first teachers’ conference was held in Juneau.
1909
Small seated Buddha-like figurines called billikens carved of walrus tusk ivory by
Eskimos are not actually Eskimo in origin as most people have been led to believe. The
figurine was made originally of plaster-of-paris and was patented by one Florence Pritz
of Kansas City in 1909. It sat on a throne, around the base of which was the wording,
“Billiken, the God of Things as They Ought to be.” The item was immediately popular
and sold well at the A.Y.P. Exposition in Seattle in 1909. Then it disappeared from the
stateside scene. But someone had brought one to Nome where the King Island and
Wales Eskimos were put to carving replicas in ivory, however, without the throne or
lettering. They caught on immediately as a northern souvenir and have been made ever
since. But the Pullen Museum in Skagway had an original and they may still have it in
their present Seattle location.
1911
The Alaska School Service developed a tentative course of study for the schools of
Alaska.
1912
Alaska Native Brotherhood founded the first modern Alaska Native organization.
1912
Alaska becomes a Territory with its own legislature. Mt. Katmai on Alaskan Penninsula
erupts, creating Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.
1913
Alaska legislature gives women the right to vote.
1914
Ben Benson, who as a boy 13 years old designed Alaska’s flag, was born of an Aleut
mother at Chignik in 1914. Upon the death of his mother in 1918, the orphaned boy
and his younger brother were sent to the Jesse Lee Home at Unalaska which later
moved to Seward.
1915
Congress appropriated funds that allowed the Bureau of Education to build a 25-bed
hospital for Alaska Natives at Juneau
1915
July 4, cornerstone laid for Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines, later to
become University of Alaska.
1917
1917-1919 The first boarding schools established by Catholic, Moravian, and Lutheran
Churches. Federal boarding school was established at White Mountain.
1923
Alaska Railroad from Seward to Fairbanks completed.
1924
Indian Citizenship Act grants citizenship to Native Americans, including Alaska
Natives, without terminating tribal rights and property.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
39.
40.
1924
Law passed to protect Alaska’s fish resources.
1925
Alaska Voters’ Literacy Act of 1925.
1925
Serum Run to Nome, beginning of Iditarod race.
1925
The possibility of an epidemic of diphtheria confronted Nome in January 1925 when
Dr. Curtis Welch discovered seven cases of diphtheria in the area and no diphtheria
antitoxin in town. He immediately issued and published instructions in the Nome
Nugget of January 24, 1925. The Nome Nugget of January 31, 1925 reported 22 cases
and 5 deaths. 300,000 units of antitoxin were being relayed from Nenana to Nome by
dogteam. On February 2, 1925 Gunnar Kaasen arrived with the antitoxin and his leader,
Balto, became famous. The dog mushers who composed the relay were Johnny Folger,
Nickoli, Dave Corning, Sam Joseph, Harry Pitka, Jackscrew, Victor Annauma, Mires
Connigan, Henry Ivanoff, Leonard Seppala, Charles Olson and Gunnar Kaasen. Ed
Rohn was expected to make the final dash but Kaasen went through without awakening
him. The distance from Nome to Nenana by dogtrail is 658 miles. The quarantine
which was established on January 21 was lifted on February 21.
1926
A more formal and permanent course of study for the first eight grades in Alaska.
1926
In October, 1926 the American Legion, Department of Alaska, announced a contest in
school grades 7-12 to design a flag for Alaska. Benny Benson’s design was winner in a
field of 142 and in May, 1927 the Territorial Legislature made it official. Benny
received $1,000 which he spent on his education and an inscribed watch which later he
gave to the State Museum.
1926
Boarding school at White Mountain renamed “Industrial School.” A policy and programming of industrial training for boarding pupils was initiated.
1930
Federal Bureau of Education field administrative headquarters moved from Seattle,
Wash. to Juneau, Alaska.
1931
Control of education among the Natives of Alaska was transferred to the Office of
Indian Affairs. Became known as the Alaska Indian Service.
1932
Wrangell Institute Boarding School opened - Alaska Indian Service School.
1936
Indian Reorganization Act is expanded to include Alaska Native governments.
1936
Fourteen persons were killed in a slide that roared down the slopes of Mt. Roberts near
the Juneau Cold Storage on Sunday, November 22, 1936 at 7:30 p.m. Up until the slide
occurred, the month of November had seen 20.31 inches of rain. Between 10 p.m.
Saturday and 10 p.m. Sunday, the day of the slide, 3.89 inches had fallen. (AFTC)
1938
Chief Anatlahash was a Taku Tlingit Chief of the Raven phratry who moved to Douglas
Island when mining commenced there in the 1880s and died there on October 8, 1918.
A monument to his memory, a yellow cedar shaft in a concrete base, was erected on the
Douglas Highway near the Douglas city limits by the C.C.C. on June 1, 1938. Jimmy
Fox, whose Indian name is Anatlahash, is his legal heir. (AFTC)
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
1942
Mar. 12, Work started on 1,523-mile Alaska Military Highway from Dawson Creek,
Canada, to Fairbanks.
1942
Japanese bomb Dutch Harbor and invade Kiska and Attu Islands of the Aleutians.
1942
June 3, Japanese bomb Dutch Harbor on Unalaska Island.
1942
Dec. 1, Alaska Military Highway completed.
1945
Alaska passes a law ending legal segregation in Alaska.
1945
Alaska Indian Service changed to Alaska Native Service.
1946
Alaska votes to apply for statehood.
1947
Mt. Edgecumbe, a former military installation, is opened as a boarding school for
Alaska Natives, operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
1948
Covenant restrictions for property in a subdivision of Anchorage.
1948
The Venetie and Arctic Village Reservation is formed, the largest in Alaska.
1950
Johnson O’Malley Act provides for the transfer of schools in Alaska to the administrative control of the Territory.
1953
White Mountain Boarding School closed.
1953
1953 Warranty Deed for Anchorage property.
1955
Education specialists placed in district offices to improve consultant services to teachers.
1956
The constitution of the State of Alaska was agreed upon by the Delegates of the People
of Alaska in Convention at the University of Alaska, College, Alaska, on February 5,
1956. It was approved by the voters in April, 1956.
1957
First edition of “We Teach in Alaska” issued to provide a manual for BIA teachers in
Alaska’s remote schools.
1958
First area-wide in-service training program for Principal-Teachers emphasizing community relations and development of Native leadership.
1959
Alaska Statehood Act includes provision to not take lands of Native peoples.
1960
First secondary level program in a BIA day school established with opening of 9th
grade at Unalakleet.
1960
The 1960 Census of Alaska showed a total population of the largest state with the least
people as 226,167. This was slightly above the wartime high of 225,986 in 1943 which
included armed forces then stationed throughout the Territory. The 1950 census gave
128,643 as the civilian population compared to 193,475 in 1960. The 1960 census
breaks down as follows: Total Population: 226,167 Civilian Population: 193,475
Caucasian: 141,854 Eskimo-Aleut: 28,637 Indian: 14,444 Negro: 6,771 Japanese: 818
Filipino: 814 Chinese: 137 (AFTC)
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
41.
42.
1961
Alaska Natives organize to protest “Project Chariot” - a plan to use nuclear weapons to
blast an artificial harbor into existence in Northwest Alaska.
1962
The Tundra Times established, the first state wide newspaper devoted to representing
the views and issues of Alaska Natives.
1962
Supplemental nutrition program changed to provide complete school lunch. Agreement
that education is a State and local responsibility.
1963
Governor’s Committee issues first report entitled “An Overall Education Plan for Rural
Alaska” as a basis for cooperative relationship of BIA and State of Alaska.
1964
Area-wide workshop for primary teachers with emphasis on teaching English to children as a second language.
1966
Alaska Federation of Natives formed in Anchorage, Alaska.
1966
William E. Beltz School opens as first State-operated regional boarding high school.
Teacher aides provided in BIA day schools. Special education program introduced at
Hooper Bay.
1967
Area-wide workshop for all education personnel emphasizing the linguistic method in
teaching English as a Second Language.
1967
Advisory School Boards established.
1968
Kindergarten program initiated.
1969
Educational Television available in Barrow Day School. School Boards contract for
instruction in cultural and linguistic heritage.
1970
Bilingual education inaugurated at primary level. Full high school program at Kotzebue
Community School.
1971
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act becomes law.
1971
Mt. Edgecumbe - Wrangell Parent School Board established. Bureau’s first pre-school
programs for 2- and 3-year-olds. Administration of program funding at agency level
established.
1972
The Marine Mammal Protection Act becomes law with the important provision that
Alaska Natives would be able to continue traditional use of marine mammals.
1976
The so-called “Molly Hootch” (Tobeluk vs. Lind) case is settled with the commitment
by the state to provide local schools for Alaska Native communities as it had in predominately white communities in the state.
1976
Rural Education Attendance Areas are created for rural Alaska - modeled in many
respects on the urban school districts in state with the allowance of local school boards
to set many policies in their schools.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
1977
Inupiaq Education discussion continues.
1980
The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act becomes law creating over 80
million acres of additional parks, preserves and monuments in Alaska. It also contains
language supporting continued traditional and customary use on designated Federal
lands.
1981
Bilingual Conference in Anchorage.
1984
Stephen E. Cotton re-caps Molly Hootch Case and Native education programs.
1984
Berger Launches ANCSA Hearings.
1991
Amendments to ANCSA take effect.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
43.
Alaska-RFE:
A Brief History and Timeline
http://www.dced.state.ak.us/trade/russia/timeline.htm
Beringia
40,000-10,000 years ago. Pleistocene glacial era brought continental glacial build-up
that caused sea levels to drop dramatically in the shallow sea between Asia and North
America, leaving a broad 1,000-mile wide swath of steppe connecting the continental
land masses, providing a land route for the first peoples and land mammals to cross
from Asia to America
26,000 years ago. Animal and human migrations traveled across the Bering land bridge
from Asia to America. At its peak, the land bridge is believed to have covered a broad
area from north of today’s arctic coastline to south of the Alaska Peninsula and the
eastern end of the Aleutian Island archipelago.
14,000 years ago. Ice age gradually came to an end with warming temperatures, rising
sea levels, shrinking land bridge
10,000 years ago. Native peoples had settled in the coastal areas of Russia and Alaska by
at least 10,000 years ago, with peoples migrating farther inland and settling in many
areas, moving inland, eastward and to the south. Fossils from species now extinct have
been found dating back to this era.
17th Century
1648
Russian explorer Semyon Dezhnev rounds the Chukotka Peninsula, discovering that a
narrow waterway separates the Eurasia continent from the American continent. Word of
Dezhnev’s discovery does not make it back to Moscow, and so it only becomes widely
known after Bering’s later voyage. A point in Chukotka is named Cape Dezhnev.
18th Century
44.
1725
Czar Peter the Great sends explorer Vitus Bering to explore beyond the far eastern
reaches of Russia and to claim new territory for the Russian Empire.
1728
Bering sails east from Kamchatka through the strait, which now bears his name, concluding that the continents are separated by water. Bering comes across islands and
names them, but he does not reach the Alaska coast or mainland on this voyage. Bering
encounters Native peoples.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
1741
Bering, with fellow explorer Aleksei Chirikov, reaches landfall in Alaska, going ashore
on Kayak Island near Prince William Sound. Bering’s expedition returns to Russia with
sea otter pelts. Bering is shipwrecked and dies on what is now known as Bering Island,
one of the Komandorsky Islands off the Kamchatka Peninsula.
1743
Russian explorers and traders return and begin mass hunting of sea otters for pelts, the
beginning of a Russian fur trading industry based in Alaska that became the mainstay
of the Alaska colonial economy for much of the rest of the century.
1759
Russian explorer and commander Stephan Glotov lands on Unimak Island and hears
the Aleut natives refer to the land as Alyaska or Alyeska, which became the basis for
the name Alaska.
1761
Russian explorers land on the mainland on the Alaska Peninsula.
1762
Glotov lands at Unalaska in the Aleutian Island chain, and in 1763 on Kodiak Island.
1764
Fighting between Russians and Aleuts.
1772
Russian settlement established at Unalaska. Russians produce map of Alaska.
1778
During his exploration of the southern Alaska coast, British explorer Capt. James Cook
reports finding a Russian settlement at Unalaska. Spanish explorers reaching Alaska
later also find Russian settlements.
1781
Russian fur trading company established by Siberian merchant and shipbuilder Grigori
Shelikov.
1784
Russian settlement established on Kodiak Island. More fighting between Russians and
Aleuts.
1786
Gerasim Pribilof discovers fur seal rookeries on Bering Sea islands now named for
him. Aleuts brought to the islands to hunt fur seals for the Russian trade.
1791
Shelikov hires Alexander Baranov to manage his Alaska trading operations.
1795
Russian Orthodox Church established on Kodiak Island.
1799
Russian Czar Paul I signs decree chartering the Russian-American Company as a
monopoly to handle Russia’s trade in its American colony and to administer Russian
activities in Alaska. Alexander Baranov establishes Russian fort and administrative
headquarters in Sitka, which became capital of the Alaska colony. Baranov serves until
1818, the longest serving Russian-American Company manager.
19th Century
1799-1820
Baranov develops Russian-American Company posts, expands trade and exploration. Russians explore the coast north to the Chukchi Sea and south to California.
1802-1805
Fighting between Russians and Tlingit Indians in Sitka and elsewhere in southeast Alaska.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
45.
1808
Russian administrative center moves from Kodiak to New Archangel (Sitka), which
serves as the capital of Russia’s American colony. Russian Orthodox Church built in
Sitka.
1821
Russian-America Company asserts exclusive control in Alaska trade and waters.
1824
Russians begin exploring mainland Alaska, over the next 20 years reaching as far north
as the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers. Russia establishes southern boundary with the
United States and one year later the eastern boundary of Alaska with England, which
controlled British Columbia.
1840
Russian Orthodox Diocese established for Alaska. Russian liturgy given in Alaska
Native languages. Russians begin establishing missionary schools and churches
throughout the Alaska territory on a continuous basis. Native peoples adopt Russian
Orthodoxy. Skirmishes continue.
1841
Russian Attaché Edward de Stoeckel assigned to Russian delegation to the United
States.
1853
Russian explorers and trappers find oil seeps in Cook Inlet.
1859
De Stoeckel gets authority to start negotiating the sale of Alaska to the United States.
1867
U.S. buys Alaska from Russia.
1867
U.S. Secretary of State William Seward negotiates the purchase of Alaska for $7.2 million, 2 cents/acre. Treaty signed March 30. Transfer occurs at the Russian Alaska capital, New Archangel / Sitka on Oct. 18.
1868-1918 Russian Orthodox Church continues expanding in Alaska until the Russian
Revolution cuts off all support from the church in Russia.
20th Century
1906
The Alaska capital established by Russia in Sitka is moved to Juneau.
1912
Alaska officially becomes U.S. Territory.
1917-1918 Russian Revolution. Czar overthrown. Soviets take power. New regime cuts off
support for Russian Orthodox churches and schools in Alaska. Bering Strait trade
declines.
1942-1945 Alaska-Siberia “Lend Lease” program. The United States delivers thousands of
warplanes to the Soviet Union via Alaska and Siberia and on to European Russia to
join the Allied war effort on the eastern front in World War II.
1948-1988
Cold War. U.S.-Soviet maritime border, known as the Ice Curtain in Alaska, closes
between Alaska and Russia after World War II, effectively halting Native festivals,
trade and travel for 40 years.
46.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
1953
Alaska Eskimos from Little Diomede Island in the Bering Strait travel to Chukotka for
a traditional walrus festival and are detained by Soviet authorities. Last such border
crossing until the thaw of the 1980s.
1959
Alaska becomes state.
1986
Alaska Performing Artists for Peace visit Soviet Union and start the process of melting
the Ice Curtain. Alaskans Dixie Belcher of Juneau, Jim Stimpfle of Nome, and many
others across Alaska work to open the border.
1987
Endurance swimmer Lynne Cox, in August, swims across the Bering Strait from Little
Diomede Island, Alaska, to Big Diomede Island, Russia, about 2.5 miles in a feat just
as remarkable for its athletic and physical accomplishment as for its political breakthrough.
1988
Alaska Airlines “Friendship Flight” on June 13 marks the first formal official opening
of the border in four decades. Alaska Gov. Steve Cowper heads Alaska delegation on a
flight from Nome across the Bering Strait to Provideniya on the Chukotka Peninsula
for a one-day reunion and celebration. Alaska state, federal and local government officials, journalists, Alaska Natives and activists seeking to melt the Ice Curtain took part.
Alaska Siberian Yupik Eskimos were reunited with Chukotka Siberian Yupik Eskimo
relatives and old friends who had been separated for four decades.
1988
Gray whales trapped in the arctic ice off Barrow in October prompt international rescue
effort, culminating in Soviet icebreaker cutting through the ice to help free the whales.
1988
Alaska Gov. Steve Cowper leads first trade and friendship mission to Soviet Far East in
October.
1989-1991 Relations between Alaska and Soviet Far East intensify with regular and frequent
activities in a concerted meltdown of the Ice Curtain border during Soviet President
Gorbachev’s perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (opening). Gorbachev spokesman
Gennady Gerasimov visited Alaska during this period and helped open the border and
foster Alaska-Russian Far East exchanges and activities.
1989
American-Soviet “Bering Bridge” ski expedition across the Bering Strait.
1989
University of Alaska Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies exchange program with
Siberian and Far Eastern doctors and scientists.
1989
Bering Air receives permission to fly charters between Nome and Provideniya.
1989
Alascom establishes communications link between Alaska and Provideniya.
1989
Gov. Cowper holds International Date signing ceremony at Little Diomede Island in the
Bering Strait with Chukotka and Magadan officials in the spring. In the fall, he leads a
delegation to the Russian Far East in a trip that included a stop on Russia’s Big
Diomede Island border post in the Bering Strait.
1989
Fairbanks North Star Borough - Yakutsk exchange.
1990
Alaska State Chamber of Commerce trade mission to Russian Far East.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
47.
1990
Juneau - Vladivostok sister city agreement.
1990
Gov. Cowper sponsors Northern Regions Conference, which leads to creation of
Northern Forum in 1991 by Gov. Hickel.
1990
U.S.-Soviet Beringia Park agreement and scientific study.
1990
Museum exhibit: Russian America, The Forgotten Frontier.
1991
Regular air service between Anchorage and the Russian Far East is initiated. Aeroflot
begins service between the West Coast and the Russian Far East via Anchorage and on
a polar route to Moscow. Alaska Airlines begins service to Khabarovsk and Magadan.
Federal Aviation Administration Alaska Region develops contacts with Soviet counterparts and conducts exchanges and training.
1991
Numerous Alaska events marking the 250th anniversary of Commander Vitus Bering
leading Russian explorers onto Alaska land in 1741.
1991
December 25, Soviet Union abolished, President Gorbachev resigns.
Post – Soviet Period
48.
1992
Alaska-RFE trade, travel and tourism increases.
1993
Russian Ambassador to the United States Vladimir Lukin visits Alaska along with
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Aleksei
1993
Alaska Miners Association leads delegation to Magadan mining region.
1993
University of Alaska starts American Russian Center programs in Anchorage and in the
Russian Far East.
1994
Alaska trade missions to Russia, including Sakhalin, Khabarovsk, Yakutsk and
Moscow.
1995
Alaska Airlines expands service to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
1995
Devastating Sakhalin earthquake kills thousands, destroys town, homes in ruins. Gov.
Knowles leads urgent mission to Sakhalin to deliver emergency relief supplies.
1995
Sakhalin Gov. Farkhutdinov visits Alaska.
1996
Alaska Sakhalin Working Group formed.
1996
Alaska-RFE trade peaks at post-Soviet high of $108.3 million in Alaska exports.
1996
Anchorage hosts Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission, U.S. West Coast-RFE Ad Hoc
Working Group meeting.
1997
Gov. Knowles leads large trade delegation to Sakhalin. Alaska contracts with American
Business Center on Sakhalin for state trade representation. Alaska-RFE flights expand
to Sakhalin. USAID awards grant to State of Alaska to provide technical assistance to
Sakhalin.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
1998
Alaska-RFE flights at peak: Alaska, Reeve, Aeroflot and Mavial fly total of six
roundtrip weekly flights to five RFE cities. Alaska Airlines ends RFE service in
October; Reeve and Aeroflot increase service.
1998
Year of VIP visits, speeches, delegations, meetings:
Lt. Gov. Fran Ulmer outlines Alaska-RFE connections and cooperation to Vice
President Gore and Prime Minister Chernomyrdin at Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission
meeting in San Jose, California.
U.S. Ambassador to Russia James Collins visits Alaska.
Sakhalin Gov. Farkhutdinov leads trade mission to Alaska, visits Prudhoe Bay, meets
Alaska government and industry leaders, signs cooperation agreements with Gov.
Knowles.
Russian Consul General Andrei Veklenko visits Alaska.
Government, Duma and business delegations visit Alaska from the Russian Far East
and Siberia and from Central Asia republics of Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.
Alaskans pay return visits to Russian Far East.
1998
Sakhalin Alaska College technical training school graduates first class of skilled workers, who are employed as part of the team producing Sakhalin’s first offshore oil.
1998
Alaska humanitarian aid mission to flood-ravaged Sakha Republic (Yakutia).
1999
Two-day Russian Roundtable and Symposium: Doing Business in the Russian Far East,
at annual Pacific Rim Construction Oil and Mining Expo, Anchorage.
1998-2000 Alaska grassroots efforts provide humanitarian aid to Chukotka, Kamchatka,
Magadan and other RFE regions. Gov. Knowles convinces USDA to include RFE in
the U.S.-Russian food program and to buy thousands of tons of Alaska salmon to give
away to needy RFE families.
1999
Lt. Gov. Fran Ulmer speaks at U.S. reception for Russian Prime Minister Sergei
Stepashin in Seattle.
1999
Alaska represented at Sakhalin “First Oil” celebration in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in July.
1999
International Conferences, Washington, D.C. and Moscow, “Sakhalin Infrastructure in
the 21st Century,” showcase Alaska-Sakhalin-USAID technical assistance projects.
Keynote speaker: Lt. Gov. Fran Ulmer.
1999
Alaska-Russian trade hits post-Soviet low point as result of ruble/economic crisis.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines
49.
2000 – New Millenium
2000
Roman Abramovich leads delegations to Alaska in May and September. The Russian
businessman, Kremlin insider, and Duma representative from Chukotka runs for governor and wins, promising new era in Alaska-Chukotka relations.
Sakhalin delegations visit Alaska for Oil and Ice Symposium, financial infrastructure
development and business meetings.
U.S. Secretary of State Strobe Talbott makes weeklong trip to Alaska, focusing on
Alaska-RFE relations.
Alaska organizes RFE humanitarian aid workshop, conducted by State Dept. for Alaska
aid groups.
December, Reeve Aleutian Airways suspends busy, successful Alaska-RFE air service,
citing domestic financial problems that force it out of business.
2001
Alaska delegation attends January inauguration of Roman Abramovich as Chukotka
governor. Three chartered Bering Air flights to Anadyr bring delegation led by
Commissioner of Community and Economic Development Deborah Sedwick.
Rebuilding Alaska-RFE aviation links becomes major task in wake of Reeve bankruptcy and RFE service cutbacks. Mavial expands Anchorage-Magadan route to include
Kamchatka. Bering Air increases flights to Anadyr, Chukotka. Other airlines explore
RFE options.
RFE Business Symposium: Development Opportunities in Sakhalin and Magadan, held
as part of annual Pacific Rim Construction Oil and Mining Expo in Anchorage.
Chukotka sends students, teachers to Anchorage for educational program.
Sakhalin Gov. Farkhutdinov makes third official visit to Alaska, meets with Gov.
Knowles, address oil industry business representatives.
Alaska-Chukotka Summit 2001 attracts 200 people to Nome meetings, including 25person Chukotka delegation, to discuss new cooperation. Lt. Gov. Ulmer gives keynote
address. Alaska Friends of Chukotka Director Nancy Mendenhall receives annual First
Lady’s Volunteer award for humanitarian aid efforts to help Chukotka.
2002
50.
May-Anchorage hosts 7th annual meeting of West Coast – Russian Far East Ad Hoc
Working Group.
ALASK A STUDI ES
•
UNIT 4, Five Alaska Timelines