• The state government now makes annual cash payments to all
Permanent Fund Dividends Per Person, 1982-2008
residents. The state legislature can’t spend the principal of the
(Not Adjusted for Inflation)
Permanent Fund, but it can spend the earnings—money from
$1963.86
$1850.28
$2,069b
the fund’s investments. Since the 1980s, the state has used part
$990.30
a
$952.63
of the fund earnings for a program that’s unique among the $1,000
$404
states: annual cash payments to all Alaska residents. Those payments (Permanent Fund “dividends”) fluctuate a lot, depending
83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 2008
on how much the fund earns in a given period. Someone who 1982
a1982 dividend was a special legislative appropriation from the General Fund, not PF earnings. bDoes not include special
had received the dividend every year from 1982 to 2008 would 2008 energy assistance payment of $1,200.
Source: Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation
have collected $29,600—or about $38,000 in today’s dollars.
• Alaska Native corporations that didn’t exist in 1959 now make up 1 in
Alaska Native Regional Corporations
6 of the state’s largest 100 private employers. The 1971 Alaska Native
Arctic Slope
Claims Settlement Act awarded Alaska Native peoples land and money,
but also established for-profit regional and village corporations to manNANA
age those assets. Over the years a number of non-profit Alaska Native
Bering Straits
Doyon
corporations have also been formed, to administer federal and state
health and social service programs. Those for-profit and non-profit corCook Ahtna
porations employ thousands of Alaskans.
Calista
Inlet
Chugach
• A bigger population and economy and improvements in technology
Alaska
Bristol Bay
Sealaska
have reduced (but not eliminated) the conditions that increase the costs
of doing business and make development difficult in Alaska. Those conKoniag
Aleut
ditions include Alaska’s huge size, its distance from markets and suppliers, and its harsh climate.
• Costs of living are still very high and jobs are scarce in the state’s remote
communities. Alaska’s jobs and people are concentrated in a handful
Location:
AK
1,500 miles by air
of urban areas. But about 10% of Alaskans live in hundreds of small
from Anchorage to
remote communities scattered around the state, far from roads and
Seattle; 2,000 miles
Canada
accessible only by water or air. The costs of living and doing business
by road from Alaska
in those places can be double or triple the costs in larger Alaska places.
border to Lower 48
Lower 48
border
Where Do Alaskans Live?
Rural communities in Southeast and Southcentral Alaska
Remote rural communities
in Western, Northern, and
Interior Alaska
12%
9%
79%
Urban areas (Anchorage,
Fairbanks, Mat-Su,
Kenai Peninsula, Juneau)
Source: Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Research and Analysis
If superimposed on Lower 48, Alaska would cover 20% of land
and stretch from coast to coast.
Road system covers only
a small area of the state.
Hundreds of communities are
accessible only by water or air.
What Might Be Ahead?
• Alaska faces big challenges in the coming years—but fortunately, it
now has many assets it didn’t have 50 years ago. Oil production, which
supports so much of the state’s government and economy, is half of
what it once was and is still dropping. There is still a lot of oil in Alaska,
but it will be harder to get, and much of it isn’t on state-owned land—
so the state’s revenue share will be smaller. Also, the federal government, another mainstay of Alaska’s economy, is dealing with serious
budget problems that could affect its activities in Alaska.
To help deal with those problems, Alaska today has a bigger and more
diverse economy, more people, and improved infrastructure. And because Alaskans decided more than 30 years ago to save some of the
state’s oil revenues, the state government also has the Permanent Fund,
which is capable of earning tens of billions of dollars over time.
About ISER: ISER is part of the University of Alaska Anchorage. It
was established in 1961, soon after Alaska became a state, and it is
the oldest public policy research institute in Alaska. To learn more
about ISER and its nearly 50 years of research, go to:
www.iser.uaa.alaska.edu
Editor: Linda Leask • Graphics: Clemencia Merrill
Alaska’s People and Economy, 1867-2009
Prepared by ISER Faculty and Staff
UA Research Summary No.15 • September 2009
Institute of Social and Economic Research • University of Alaska Anchorage
2008
1960
679,700 Alaskans
226,000
, Alaskans
• Military and civilian activities of the federal government remain critical to the
economy. The federal government was a big part of Alaska’s economy before
oil development—and today it still supports a third of all jobs for Alaskans.
• Alaska now has five times more
jobs—and those jobs are much Alaska Wage and Salary Jobs317,000
more likely to be in stores, hotels,
and other places that sell things
to both residents and tourists.
Fifty years ago, Alaskans had to 57,000
order many items by mail and fly 1961 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 2000 2007
Outside to get some services.
Source: Alaska Department of Labor, Research and Analysis
• Alaska’s health-care industry
has grown enormously. In 1961 only about 1 in 100 Alaska jobs were in health
care. Today it’s nearly 1 in 10.
Alaska’s People
• Alaska’s population has tripled since
72%
1960. But with 680,000 residents, White
77%
Alaska
18%
Alaska still has only about as many
Native
19%
people as Memphis, Tennessee.
2007
Asian/ 6%
1960
Alaska 1959-2009: What’s Changed?
• Many more Alaskans are now Asian, Pac. Isl. 1%
• Oil now pays the bills. At first, the new state government had
Pacific Islander, or Black.
Black 4%
3%
a small income, mostly from a personal income tax and various
• The federal government is still the Source: Alaska Department of Labor, Research and Analysis
smaller taxes. Then, in 1968, oil companies discovered a huge oil
biggest land owner, but its share is
field, on lands the state owned on the North Slope. Income from
down from 99% to 60%. Most federal land in Alaska today is in parks, wildlife
oil production made the state wealthy and has paid almost all its
refuges, and other conservation units.
general expenses for 40 years.
• Alaska’s state government now owns 28% of the
Alaskans now pay no state income
State General Revenues, In Billions of 2007 Dollars
$7
land. The 1958 Alaska Statehood Act granted the
or sales taxes.
Petroleum
new state 105 million acres.
Revenues
• Alaska has built a very big sav• Alaska Native
ings account. In 1976 Alaskans $4
Land Before Statehood
corporations own
voted to put part of the state’s oil
Non-Federal
Other
0.5%
about 12% of the
revenues into a special account
Revenues
$1
the legislature couldn’t spend.
land (44 million
With that decision, Alaskans
acres), under terms
80
89
2008
69
92
74
77
95 98 01 04
83 86
1959
Federal
used temporary oil revenues to Sources: Scott Goldsmith, ISER data base; Alaska Department of Administration, Division of Finance of the 1971 Alaska
99.5%
create a permanent asset. The
Native
Claims
SetWhat Generates Jobs for Alaskans?
Land Today
Permanent Fund had a balance of about $30.5
tlement Act (ANCSA). That’s
Individual Private/
billion in May 2009.
most of the privately owned Municipal/
Federal
Petroleum 31% 35% Federal
University/
59%
land in Alaska.
• The petroleum sector now directly and indirectly
government
1%
sector
supports a third of all jobs for Alaskans. And
34%
• Individuals, local governan upcoming ISER analysis will show that the
ments, and the University of
Other resources
State 28%
petroleum sector—which was very small in
(Tourism, seafood, mining, timber,
Alaska together own around
Alaska Native
air cargo, income of retirees, personal assets)
1959—has been responsible for most of Alaska’s
Corporations 12%
1% of Alaska lands.
Source: Scott Goldsmith, ISER
economic growth in the past several decades.
(Continued on page 4)
Utterly worthless. That’s how a congressman from Missouri
described Alaska in 1867, when the U.S. bought it from Russia. A
lot of Americans agreed. For almost 100 years, hardly anyone—
except some Alaskans—wanted Alaska to become a state.
But Alaska did finally become a state, in 1959. Today, after
142 years as a U.S. possession and 50 years as a state, Alaska has
produced resources worth (in today’s dollars) around $670 billion.
The U.S. paid $7.2 million for Alaska, equal to about $106 million
now. For perspective, that’s roughly what the state government
collected in royalties from oil produced on state-owned land in just
the month of March 2009.
To help mark 50 years of statehood, this publication first takes
a broad look at what’s changed in Alaska since 1959. That’s on
this page and the back page. We’ve also put together a timeline
of political and economic events in Alaska from 1867 to the present. That’s on the inside pages. There’s an interactive version of the
timeline—with photos, figures, and more—on ISER’s Web site:
www.iser.uaa.alaska.edu.
An interactive version of this timeline is on ISER’s Web site. It shows in colorful detail how the people, the economy, and the government (territorial and then state) have changed over time. While navigating the timeline you’ll find
historic photos, figures, maps, and text explaining major events, as well links to ISER publications and Web sites. Go to:
www.iser.uaa.alaska.edu
1950s
Alaska Population Growth and Major Political and Economic Events, 1867 - 2009
1980s
1989 - Oil spill in Prince William Sound, largest ever on U.S. shores; world’s largest zinc mine, Red Dog, starts production
1986 - Alaska recession begins, following crash in oil prices
1986 - Federal homesteading program in Alaska ends
1985 - Commercial fur sealing on Pribilof Islands ends
1982 - State pays first Permanent Fund dividends
1980 • High oil prices, big state oil revenues start economic boom
• State abolishes personal income tax
• Congress passes Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), adding 104 million acres to national
conservation units and giving subsistence users priority on federal lands, with subsistence users defined as
rural residents. But the state constitution prohibits allocating fish and game on the basis of residence, setting
up an ongoing dispute between the federal and state governments over who qualifies as a subsistence user.
Gold line shows population change
1959 - On January 3, President Eisenhower signs statehood act.
At 375 million acres, Alaska becomes the largest state. It
immediately does what Alaskans have wanted for half a
century: bans fish traps.
1958 - Congress passes Alaska Statehood Act,
1916
1912-1913
awards new state rights to select 105 million acres
Alaska delegate
Congress approves territorial government for Alaska.
1957 - Oil discovered in Cook Inlet
1924
1960s
to Congress
First legislature meets; grants women right to vote
1867
• Congress passes Indian
1969 - State collects $900 million from oil lease
1955 -56 - Delegates to constitutional convention
introduces first
Citizenship
Act,
recognizing
sales on state-owned land on North Slope
write
proposed
state
constitution
and
Alaska
U.S. buys Alaska from Russia
statehood bill
Alaska Natives and other Native
1968 - U.S. government pays Tlingit and Haida
voters ratify it. Supporters argue that as a
for $7.2 million, or about $106 million
Americans as U.S. citizens
people $7.5 million in compensation for
state, Alaska could ban fish traps and
in today’s dollars. One U.S. senator
•
Congress
passes White Act to
1915
land claims filed in the 1930s
control salmon fisheries.
describes Alaska as “the most worthless
protect
salmon
from
overfishing
Territorial
legislature
1968
Discovery
of Prudhoe Bay oil field, largest
1953
Major
timber
harvesting
and
territorial acquisition with which any
enacts law allowing Alaska
in North America, on state-owned land
processing start in Southeast Alaska
government was ever afflicted.”
Natives to become citizens, but only
1945
1967 - Major flood in Fairbanks
Resources produced in that “worthless
on
the
condition
that
they
“adopted
Territorial legislature passes Alaska Civil Rights Act, prohibiting
1965 - U.S. government begins underground
acquisition” since then have been
the
habits
of
a
civilized
life.”
discrimination
by
race;
recognizes
Elizabeth
Peratrovich
for
her
testing of atomic bomb on Amchitka Island
worth in the range of $670 billion—more
leadership in fighting discrimination against Alaska Natives
in the Aleutians; testing ends in 1971
than 6,000 times what the U.S. paid.
1911
1964 - Largest earthquake in U.S. history
1942
U.S. and other nations sign treaty to stop high-seas fishing
hits Southcentral Alaska
• Alaska Highway linking Alaska and contiguous U.S. is built
for fur seals, which was destroying Pribilof seal population
• Japanese troops bomb Dutch Harbor, invade Aleutians, occupy Attu and Kiska,
1970s
and take Aleut residents of Attu to Japan as prisoners. U.S. moves other Aleuts
1977 - Oil begins flowing through trans-Alaska
to camps in southeast Alaska for remainder of war.
pipeline, but end of construction brings
1900-1906
•
U.S. troops defeat Japanese on Aleutians in 1943, in only land battles fought
economic slowdown
Congress enacts civil code for Alaska;
1870
in North America in World War II
1976 - Alaska voters establish Permanent Fund
opens homesteading program to Alaskans; approves
Pribilof Islands declared first
to save part of oil revenues; U.S. extends
non-voting Alaska delegate to Congress;
national wildlife refuge, to be
fishery jurisdiction to 200 miles offshore
1930s
moves capital to Juneau
managed for commercial fur seal
1974 -Start of construction of 800-mile trans-Alaska
• Revival of gold mining
19151923
1897- 1906
harvests. Acquiring Pribilof fur seal
oil pipeline, at that time the largest private
• Tlingit and Haida people file first
Alaska Railroad
Klondike and Nome
colonies was a central reason U.S.
project in U.S. history. Construction creates
Alaska Native land claims in U.S. Court of Claims
built.
Construction
gold rushes temporarily
bought Alaska.
economic
boom.
•
Hundreds
of
families
arrive
in
the
Matanuska
Valley
to
headquarters site
make first Skagway and
1884
1973 - Alaska begins limiting entry to salmon
establish a farming colony, as part of U.S. government’s
becomes
city
of
then Nome largest cities
Congress makes Alaska a civil and
fisheries, in attempt to stop decline in salmon runs
New Deal program to create jobs during the Great Depression
Anchorage
in Alaska
judicial district. Sitka designated capital
1971 - Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA)
awards Alaska Natives $1 billion and 44 million acres
1918
Influenza epidemic reportedly kills
a third of Alaska Native people and in
some villages virtually the entirely population
1867
30,000
Estimated population
at time of purchase
1880
33,400
1880 - 1920
1890
32,000
1900
64,000
1910
64,000
Rapid growth in commercial salmon industry. Alaska becomes world’s largest
salmon producer, and salmon remain most valuable resource through the 1960s.
But the industry is dominated by Seattle canneries and fish traps are in widespread use.
Until statehood, Alaskans regularly asked the federal government to ban fish traps,
arguing they depleted salmon runs and cost fishermen jobs.
1920
55,000
1911-1938
1930
59,000
Major copper production
from Kennecott mine
1940
72,000
1950
129,000
1940 - 1960
1960
226,000
Population at statehood
Military build-up:
World War II/Korean War/Cold War
1970
301,000
1980
402,000
2009
Alaska celebrates
50 years of statehood.
2000-2008
2008 • Oil prices climb to historic
highs, then drop sharply;
future price uncertain
• State government agrees to
provide up to $500 million to
advance gas pipeline project
1990s
2006 - Alaska elects first woman
• Increased federal
governor, Sarah Palin
spending boosts Alaska
2005 - Higher natural gas prices
economy
spark renewed interest in
• Oil prices remain low
potential gas pipeline from
throughout most of decade
North Slope
• Salmon prices decline
throughout 1990s
• Federal government begins
major management changes in
offshore fisheries, including
limiting access and assigning
shares of catch
1990
550,000
2000
627,000
2009
691,000*
Projected
population after
50 years of statehood
*Mid-range projection,
Alaska Department of Labor, Research and Analysis
Sources: ISER publications, 1960-2009, and ISER MAP database; www.Alaskool.org (online materials about Alaska Native history, education, languages, and cultures); Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Research and Analysis section; Ernest Gruening, The State of Alaska, Random House; Alaska Digital Archives; Alaska State Library Historical Collections; University of Alaska Anchorage, Archives and Manuscripts Department;
Anchorage Museum of History and Art at the Rasmuson Center; University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska and Polar Regions Collection; Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council; Alaska Science Forum, Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks; Skagway, Alaska (www.skagway.com); National Park Service (www.nps.gov); Amiq Institute (www.amiq.org); Wikipedia; The Great Pandemic of 1918 (www.pandemicflu.gov);
Aleut Regional Corporation; Explore North (explorenorth.com); Daily Alaska Empire, (Juneau, Alaska), November 30, 1945; The Northern Light, University of Alaska Anchorage, February 27, 2007; U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center and Historical Statistics for Mineral and Material Commodities in the United States; Alaska Journal of Commerce, December 14, 2008; Dorothy Jones, A Century of Servitude, University Press
of America; Gunnar Knapp, Cathy Roheim, and James Anderson, The Great Salmon Run, TRAFFIC North America; Alaska Blue Book, 1989-90 and 1991-92, Alaska Department of Education; Eisenhower Library and Museum; International Monetary Fund, Primary Commodity Index; Association of ANCSA Regional Corporation Presidents/CEOs; Alaska Department of Revenue, Tax Division; Alaska Department of Fish and Game; Alaska Permanent Fund
Corporation; Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Survey; National Marine Fisheries Service; The Threat of Pandemic Influenza (Workshop Summary), Institute of Medicine, National Academies Press; “Resurrecting 1918 Flu Virus Took Many Turns,” Washington Post, October 10, 2005.
• The state government now makes annual cash payments to all
Permanent Fund Dividends Per Person, 1982-2008
residents. The state legislature can’t spend the principal of the
(Not Adjusted for Inflation)
Permanent Fund, but it can spend the earnings—money from
$1963.86
$1850.28
$2,069b
the fund’s investments. Since the 1980s, the state has used part
$990.30
a
$952.63
of the fund earnings for a program that’s unique among the $1,000
$404
states: annual cash payments to all Alaska residents. Those payments (Permanent Fund “dividends”) fluctuate a lot, depending
83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 2008
on how much the fund earns in a given period. Someone who 1982
a1982 dividend was a special legislative appropriation from the General Fund, not PF earnings. bDoes not include special
had received the dividend every year from 1982 to 2008 would 2008 energy assistance payment of $1,200.
Source: Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation
have collected $29,600—or about $38,000 in today’s dollars.
• Alaska Native corporations that didn’t exist in 1959 now make up 1 in
Alaska Native Regional Corporations
6 of the state’s largest 100 private employers. The 1971 Alaska Native
Arctic Slope
Claims Settlement Act awarded Alaska Native peoples land and money,
but also established for-profit regional and village corporations to manNANA
age those assets. Over the years a number of non-profit Alaska Native
Bering Straits
Doyon
corporations have also been formed, to administer federal and state
health and social service programs. Those for-profit and non-profit corCook Ahtna
porations employ thousands of Alaskans.
Calista
Inlet
Chugach
• A bigger population and economy and improvements in technology
Alaska
Bristol Bay
Sealaska
have reduced (but not eliminated) the conditions that increase the costs
of doing business and make development difficult in Alaska. Those conKoniag
Aleut
ditions include Alaska’s huge size, its distance from markets and suppliers, and its harsh climate.
• Costs of living are still very high and jobs are scarce in the state’s remote
communities. Alaska’s jobs and people are concentrated in a handful
Location:
AK
1,500 miles by air
of urban areas. But about 10% of Alaskans live in hundreds of small
from Anchorage to
remote communities scattered around the state, far from roads and
Seattle; 2,000 miles
Canada
accessible only by water or air. The costs of living and doing business
by road from Alaska
in those places can be double or triple the costs in larger Alaska places.
border to Lower 48
Lower 48
border
Where Do Alaskans Live?
Rural communities in Southeast and Southcentral Alaska
Remote rural communities
in Western, Northern, and
Interior Alaska
12%
9%
79%
Urban areas (Anchorage,
Fairbanks, Mat-Su,
Kenai Peninsula, Juneau)
Source: Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Research and Analysis
If superimposed on Lower 48, Alaska would cover 20% of land
and stretch from coast to coast.
Road system covers only
a small area of the state.
Hundreds of communities are
accessible only by water or air.
What Might Be Ahead?
• Alaska faces big challenges in the coming years—but fortunately, it
now has many assets it didn’t have 50 years ago. Oil production, which
supports so much of the state’s government and economy, is half of
what it once was and is still dropping. There is still a lot of oil in Alaska,
but it will be harder to get, and much of it isn’t on state-owned land—
so the state’s revenue share will be smaller. Also, the federal government, another mainstay of Alaska’s economy, is dealing with serious
budget problems that could affect its activities in Alaska.
To help deal with those problems, Alaska today has a bigger and more
diverse economy, more people, and improved infrastructure. And because Alaskans decided more than 30 years ago to save some of the
state’s oil revenues, the state government also has the Permanent Fund,
which is capable of earning tens of billions of dollars over time.
About ISER: ISER is part of the University of Alaska Anchorage. It
was established in 1961, soon after Alaska became a state, and it is
the oldest public policy research institute in Alaska. To learn more
about ISER and its nearly 50 years of research, go to:
www.iser.uaa.alaska.edu
Editor: Linda Leask • Graphics: Clemencia Merrill
Alaska’s People and Economy, 1867-2009
Prepared by ISER Faculty and Staff
UA Research Summary No.15 • September 2009
Institute of Social and Economic Research • University of Alaska Anchorage
2008
1960
679,700 Alaskans
226,000
, Alaskans
• Military and civilian activities of the federal government remain critical to the
economy. The federal government was a big part of Alaska’s economy before
oil development—and today it still supports a third of all jobs for Alaskans.
• Alaska now has five times more
jobs—and those jobs are much Alaska Wage and Salary Jobs317,000
more likely to be in stores, hotels,
and other places that sell things
to both residents and tourists.
Fifty years ago, Alaskans had to 57,000
order many items by mail and fly 1961 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 2000 2007
Outside to get some services.
Source: Alaska Department of Labor, Research and Analysis
• Alaska’s health-care industry
has grown enormously. In 1961 only about 1 in 100 Alaska jobs were in health
care. Today it’s nearly 1 in 10.
Alaska’s People
• Alaska’s population has tripled since
72%
1960. But with 680,000 residents, White
77%
Alaska
18%
Alaska still has only about as many
Native
19%
people as Memphis, Tennessee.
2007
Asian/ 6%
1960
Alaska 1959-2009: What’s Changed?
• Many more Alaskans are now Asian, Pac. Isl. 1%
• Oil now pays the bills. At first, the new state government had
Pacific Islander, or Black.
Black 4%
3%
a small income, mostly from a personal income tax and various
• The federal government is still the Source: Alaska Department of Labor, Research and Analysis
smaller taxes. Then, in 1968, oil companies discovered a huge oil
biggest land owner, but its share is
field, on lands the state owned on the North Slope. Income from
down from 99% to 60%. Most federal land in Alaska today is in parks, wildlife
oil production made the state wealthy and has paid almost all its
refuges, and other conservation units.
general expenses for 40 years.
• Alaska’s state government now owns 28% of the
Alaskans now pay no state income
State General Revenues, In Billions of 2007 Dollars
$7
land. The 1958 Alaska Statehood Act granted the
or sales taxes.
Petroleum
new state 105 million acres.
Revenues
• Alaska has built a very big sav• Alaska Native
ings account. In 1976 Alaskans $4
Land Before Statehood
corporations own
voted to put part of the state’s oil
Non-Federal
Other
0.5%
about 12% of the
revenues into a special account
Revenues
$1
the legislature couldn’t spend.
land (44 million
With that decision, Alaskans
acres), under terms
80
89
2008
69
92
74
77
95 98 01 04
83 86
1959
Federal
used temporary oil revenues to Sources: Scott Goldsmith, ISER data base; Alaska Department of Administration, Division of Finance of the 1971 Alaska
99.5%
create a permanent asset. The
Native
Claims
SetWhat Generates Jobs for Alaskans?
Land Today
Permanent Fund had a balance of about $30.5
tlement Act (ANCSA). That’s
Individual Private/
billion in May 2009.
most of the privately owned Municipal/
Federal
Petroleum 31% 35% Federal
University/
59%
land in Alaska.
• The petroleum sector now directly and indirectly
government
1%
sector
supports a third of all jobs for Alaskans. And
34%
• Individuals, local governan upcoming ISER analysis will show that the
ments, and the University of
Other resources
State 28%
petroleum sector—which was very small in
(Tourism, seafood, mining, timber,
Alaska together own around
Alaska Native
air cargo, income of retirees, personal assets)
1959—has been responsible for most of Alaska’s
Corporations 12%
1% of Alaska lands.
Source: Scott Goldsmith, ISER
economic growth in the past several decades.
(Continued on page 4)
Utterly worthless. That’s how a congressman from Missouri
described Alaska in 1867, when the U.S. bought it from Russia. A
lot of Americans agreed. For almost 100 years, hardly anyone—
except some Alaskans—wanted Alaska to become a state.
But Alaska did finally become a state, in 1959. Today, after
142 years as a U.S. possession and 50 years as a state, Alaska has
produced resources worth (in today’s dollars) around $670 billion.
The U.S. paid $7.2 million for Alaska, equal to about $106 million
now. For perspective, that’s roughly what the state government
collected in royalties from oil produced on state-owned land in just
the month of March 2009.
To help mark 50 years of statehood, this publication first takes
a broad look at what’s changed in Alaska since 1959. That’s on
this page and the back page. We’ve also put together a timeline
of political and economic events in Alaska from 1867 to the present. That’s on the inside pages. There’s an interactive version of the
timeline—with photos, figures, and more—on ISER’s Web site:
www.iser.uaa.alaska.edu.)