Fun Facts About Alaska
We thought it would be fun to take a break from “business” for a bit and just share some fun facts about the great state of Alaska. Here at Alaska Air Forwarding, we have come to know Alaska as a second home and over the years have learned many interesting and unique facts about the state that we’d like to share.
A BIT OF HISTORY
Alaska was purchased from the Russian Empire on March 30th, 1867 for 7.2 million dollars, which averages out to be about two cents per acre. The state became a territory in May of 1912 and became the 49th state on January 3, 1959. Since it is the most northern and western state, it has been nicknamed “The last Frontier.” The state’s capital is Juneau, which spans over 3,000 square miles and has the largest area of any North American city.
FACTS ABOUT ALASKA’S SIZE
- Alaska is 591,000 square miles in size
- The geographical area is two times the size of Texas
- There are 29 volcanos in Alaska
- There are 33,000 miles of coastline in the state of Alaska
- 1,400 miles from North to South
- 2,700 miles from East to West
- Alaska is home to over half the world’s glaciers
- Alaska sits 55 miles east of Russia
- Alaska is the only state in the US to have coastlines on three different seas: Arctic Ocean, Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Alaska is the most popular state for flying in the United States and that one out of every 58 Alaskans is a registered pilot. Out of those, one out of 59 own an airplane.
- Tex Pickard, a 24-year-old gambler who frequented saloons in Circle City, Alaska in 1895, would go on to build Madison Square Garden in New York City.
- Alaskan Inuit are known as Eskimos which means “eater of raw fish.”
- George Cormack and his two brothers-in-law found gold in Alaska’s Klondike Valley which sparked America’s last great gold rush.
- In the winter of 1925-26, a relay team of 20 dog mushers rushed Diphtheria serum 674 miles along the Iditarod Trail from Nena to Nome, Alaska in a record 127.5 hours. This is known as “The Great Race of Mercy.”
- For a 10-day period in 1867, Wyatt Earp served as sheriff of Wrangell, Alaska as he and his wife were passing through on their way to Klondike.
- In 1913, Alaskan women were granted the right to vote, which was six years before the 19th Amendment granting this right to all women in the US.
MORE INTERESTING FACTS
- The Northern Lights, also known as the Aurora Borealis, can be seen an average 243 days a year in Fairbanks.
- It is legal to shoot bears in Alaska, but it is illegal to wake a sleeping bear to take a picture.
- It is illegal to whisper in someone’s ear while they are moose hunting in Alaska.
- Most of the United States’ crab, salmon, halibut and herring come from the state of Alaska.
- Alaska is the only state that does not impose a sales tax or an individual income tax. Some cities in Alaska do have a sales tax.
- There are more than 3,000 rivers and 3 million lakes in Alaska.
- Alaska’s largest lake is called Lake Iliama and is the size of the state of Connecticut.
- Alaska’s state bird is the Willow Ptarmigan.
- The only battle of World War II that was fought on American soil, happened in 1943, when the Japanese invaded the Aleutian Islands.
Believe it or not, this is just a small sample of the numerous interesting facts about America’s 49th state. If you’ve never visited Alaska, put it on your bucket list to do so. You’ll learn even more fun and fascinating facts about America’s Last Frontier.
https://www.graylinealaska.com/blog/49-things-you-didnt-know-about-alaska/
