Growth and Development
Along Alaska's Coast:
1745 to 1900
Alaska, with its official nickname "Last Frontier,"
is indeed our wildest state. The climate is extreme, the topography largely
inhospitable to agriculture, and much of the interior accessible only
to the most intrepid hikers and bush pilots. Still, Alaska is far from
being an untouched wilderness today, and, in fact, was not pristine even
a century ago. When the Harriman Expedition arrived in 1899, it found
much evidence of industry, commerce, and resource development. The following
time line tracks this development from the early days of the fur trade
up to the arrival of the George W. Elder in 1899.
1745
Russian fur traders advanced eastward along the Aleutian
Archipelago in search of market fur. Click
here to read more about sea otters in Alaska.
1785
British Captain James Hanna secured a cargo of five
hundred sea otter pelts from Aleut hunters, and sparked
British interest in the Alaskan fur trade.
1799
The Russian American Company was chartered to oversee
the fur trade, and to serve as the governing body for the
Alaskan region.
1810
A single prime adult female sea otter pelt sold for as
much as one thousand rubles, an amount that equaled the
total annual salary of three Russian fur traders.
1814
Three hundred Aleut men, women and children from
Unalaska were sent to the Pribilof Islands in the Bering
Sea. The Aleuts established permanent sealing communities in
the Pribilofs.
1824
Russia and the United States signed a treaty allowing
for open trade along the Alaskan Coast.
1828
Norway rats, carried on Russian ships, infested islands
on the Aleutian chain. Click
here to read about the dangers of "rat spill.
1838
A packet boat arrived in New York harbor carrying one
hundred and five bags of gold, the fortune of British
mineralogist James Smithson. Smithson had never set a foot
on North American soil, but his gift of gold to the United
States established the Smithsonian Institution, and resulted
in ethnographic collection efforts and a market for Native
objects and art. Click
here to learn more about the collection and return of Alaska
Native artifacts.
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Totem at Cape
Fox Village, Alaska, photographed by Edward
Curtis.
Click
image for a larger view
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1840
The effect of long-term Russian settlement at Sitka was
seen in the booming Kolosh bazaar, where Tlingits potatoes,
venison and halibut were exchanged for Russian flour, rice,
molasses, tobacco and vodka.
1848
The American whaler, Superior, sailed through the
Bering Strait and, realizing an excellent catch along
Alaska's Arctic coast, spawned the Arctic whaling
industry.
1850
As the fur trade dwindled, the Russian American Company
expanded into other areas of commerce, including whaling,
coal, and ice for refrigeration. Ice proved to be the only
profitable product.
1861
Gold was discovered at Telegraph Creek at the Stikine
River.
1865
The Russian American Telegraph Expedition surveyed
Alaska with the hope of laying trans-Alaskan, trans-Siberian
telegraph wire to connect North America and Europe.
1867
The United States purchased Alaska from the Russian
government for $7.2 million. The U.S. Army became the
governing authority for the territory. Click
here to read U.S. and British newspaper responses to the
sale.
1872
The first salmon cannery was established at Old
Sitka.
1877
The U.S. Treasury Department became the governing body
for Alaska.
1879
The U.S. Navy succeeded the Treasury Department.
1880
A major gold strike at Juneau brought a flurry of
speculators and investors to the area. The Juneau - Douglas
Mines became the largest employer in Alaska.
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Juneau,
Alaska, 1899.
Click
image for a larger view
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1884
The Organic Act, passed by the United States Congress,
established a rudimentary form of civil government in
Alaska, and theoretically protected Alaska Native lands from
exploitation by outsiders. In fact, the law provided little
protection from fishing, timber and mining interests, and
Tlingit chiefs in the Southeast reported those commercial
fisheries were "taking away fish by shiploads," thereby
threatening their livelihoods. Click
here to read about Alaska Native subsistence practices
today.
1886
Lt. Frederick Schwatka attempted to ascend Mt. St. Elias
during an expedition sponsored and publicized by The New
York Times. Expeditions like this one served to keep Alaska
in the public's eye.
1890
The first oil claims were staked in Cook Inlet, and
Sheldon Jackson introduced reindeer into Alaska in an
attempt to develop a herding economy. Large corporate salmon
canneries appeared about this time.
The U.S. Census Bureau announced
that, in 1890, ten commercial establishments in Alaska
reported a total of eighty-six employees, a combined payroll
of $22,773, and capital and equipment worth $105,727. By way
of contrast, Texas had more than 5268 establishments listed
with the Census Bureau, with 39,475 employees, wages of
$18,586,338, and capital holdings of forty eight-million
dollars.
1896
The U.S. Geological Survey conducted a mineral survey of
the Yukon.
1897
The Yukon gold rush began, and the population of Alaska
began to swell.
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A party of
gold miners near Skagway on the White Pass Trail,
1897.
Click
image for a larger view
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1898
A major gold strike in Nome triggered another influx of
prospectors.
1899
The Harriman Alaska Expedition surveyed coastal
Alaska.
1900
The Spencer Expedition mapped the copper district of
Alaska, and the first exploratory oil well was drilled in
Cook Inlet. Twenty thousand gold prospectors arrived at Nome
Beach. Alaska's capital was moved from Sitka to Juneau. The
White Pass and Yukon Railroads were completed.
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