Alaska Chronology

Presented below is a chronology of historical events derived from written records. Native Alaskan history prior to the arrival of Russians and Europeans was passed on almost exclusively through oral narratives and stories. These oral histories converge with archeology to suggest that Natives have lived and moved through Alaska for at least 10,000 years. The list of events below, however, primarily reflects the history of western settlers who entered Alaska less than 300 years ago. For more information about Alaska Natives, their history, and oral traditions, visit our Alaska Native page and try the links at the bottom. The following information was taken from The Blue Book, 1993-1994 the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Alaska Almanac, Alaska Economic Trends, 1999, and the Anchorage Daily News.

Russian treaty for the sale of Alaska.

English version of the treaty for the sale of Alaska

1725	Tzar Peter the Great sends Vitus Bering to explore the North Pacific.
1728	Vitus Bering sails through Bering Strait.
1733	Bering embarks on his second expedition, with George Wilhelm Steller aboard, the first naturalist to visit Alaska.
1741	Alexei Chirikof, with Bering's expedition, sights land on July 15 in Southeast Alaska. 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 is ordered by Spain to explore the west coast and discovers Prince of Wales Island, Dixon Sound.
1776	Captain James Cook leads an expedition to search for Northwest Passage.
1778	Cook reaches King Island, Norton Sound, Unalaska.
1784	Grigorii Shelikhov establishes the first permanent non-Native 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 Alaska's coast; Alejandro Malaspina explores the Pacific Northwest coast for Spain.
1792	Catherine II grants a limited monopoly of furs in Alaska to Grigorii Shelikov.
1794	Baranov builds the first vessel in northwestern America at Voskres-senski on Kenai.
1795	The first Russian Orthodox Church is established at Kodiak.
1799	Alexander Baranov establishes the Russian post known today as Old Sitka; Tzar Paul I grants exclusive trading rights to the Russian American Company
1802	Tlingits drive Russians from Old Sitka; few Russians survive.
1804	Russians return to Sitka and attack Tlingit Kiksadi fort on Indian River. Russians lose the battle, but Natives are forced to flee. Baranov reestablishes the Russian settlement at the modern site of Sitka.
1805	Yurii Lisianski sails to Canton with the first Russian cargo of furs to be sent directly to China.
1821	No foreigners are allowed in Russian-American waters except at regular ports of call.
1824	Russians begin exploration of mainland Alaska that leads to discovery of the Nushagak, Kuskokwim, Yukon, and Koyukuk Rivers.
1834	Father Veniaminov moves to Sitka and is consecrated Bishop Innokenty in 1840.
1840	Russian Orthodox diocese formed. Bishop Innokenty Venianminov given permission to use Native languages in the liturgy.
1841	Edward de Stoeckl assigned to the secretariat of the Russian legation in U.S.
1847	Fort Yukon established by the Hudson's Bay Trading Company.
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 the Stikine River near Telegraph Creek.
1865	Western Union Telegraph Company prepares to put telegraph line across Alaska and Siberia.
1867	U.S. purchases Alaska from Russia; Pribilof Islands placed under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Treasury. Fur seal population which was stable 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, Alaska's first newspaper is published.
1872	Gold is discovered near Sitka and in British Columbia (Cassiar).
1874	George Halt, said to be the first white man to cross the Chilkoot Pass, searches for gold.
1876	Gold discovered south of Juneau at Windham Bay.
1877	U.S. troops withdrawn from Alaska.
1878	The future Sheldon Jackson Junior College opens in Sitka. First canneries in Alaska are established at Klawock and Sitka.
1880	Richard Harris and Joseph Juneau, with the aid of local Tlingit leader Kowee, discover gold on Gastineau Channel; Juneau is founded.
1881	Parris Lode claim staked which by 1995 is part of the most prominent mine in Alaska; the Treadwell Mine.
1882	The first commercial herring fishery begins at Killisnoo; near Angoon and the first two canneries are built in Central Alaska. The U.S. Navy bombs and burns the Tlingit village of Angoon.
1884	Congress passes the Organic Act, allowing the first local government, and $15,000 is appropriated to educate Indian children.
1885	Dr. C.H. Townsend suggests the introduction of reindeer into Alaska. Sheldon Jackson appointed General Agent for Education in Alaska.
1887	Father William Duncan and his Tsimshian followers found Metlakatla on Annette Island.
1888	Boundary survey start by Dr. W.H. Dall of the U.S. and Dr. George Dawson of Canada.
1890	Large corporate salmon canneries begin to appear. Dr. Sheldon Jackson explores Arctic Coast and begins reindeer husbandry into Alaska.
1891	First oil claims staked in the Cook Inlet area.
1892	Afognak Reserve established, beginning the Alaska Forest Service System.
1894	Gold discovery on Mastadon Creek, founding Circle City.
1896	Dawson City founded at the mouth of the 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 the 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.
1900	Civil Code for Alaska divides the future state into three judicial districts, with judges at Sitka, Eagle, and St. Michael; capital moves to Juneau. White Pass railroad completed; U.S. Congress passes the act to establish the Washington-Alaska Military Cable (WAMCATS) that later becomes the Alaska Communications Systems (ACS.)
1902	President Theodore Roosevelt establishes the Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve.
1904	Large Tlingit potlatch held in Sitka; underwater cables laid from Seattle to Sitka, and from Sitka to Valdez, linking Alaska to the "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; The Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve becomes the Tongass National Forest, the largest U.S. forest by presidential proclamation.
1908	The first cold storage plant is built at Ketchikan.
1911	International agreement between U.S., Great Britain, Canada, Russia, and Japan controls fur, seal, and fisheries; sea otters placed under complete protection; Copper River and Northwestern Railroad bigns service to Kennicott Copper Mine.
1912	Territorial status won for Alaska, providing for Legislature; Alaska Native Brotherhood organizes in Southeast; Mount Katmai explodes forming the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.
1913	First Alaska Territorial Legislature convenes.
1914	Surveying begins for Alaska Railroad, and the City of Anchorage is born as a 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 E. Harding comes to Alaska to drive the last spike in the Alaska Railroad.
1924	Congress extends citizenship to all Indians in the United States, Tlingit William Paul, Sr. is the first Native elected to Alaska Legislature. Start of airmail delivery to Alaska.
1928	Court case resolves the 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" is 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 and invades the Aleutians.
1944	Alaska-Juneau Gold Mine shuts down, ending hard rock mining around downtown Juneau.
1945	Governor Gruening signs the Anti-discrimination Act, the first such legislation passed in the United States and its possessions.
1946	A b oarding school for Native high school students opens at Mt. Edgecumbe.
1947	The Alaska Command is established, the first united command of the U.S. staffed jointly by Army, Air Force, and Navy officers. First Alaska Native land claims suit, filed by Tlingit and Haida people, introduced in U.S. Court 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 in Juneau; first big Alaskan pulp mill opens at Ketchikan. First Alaska television broadcast in KENI, Anchorage.
1955	Alaskans elect delegates to constitutional convention.
1955	Constitutional Convention opens at the University of Alaska.
1956	Territorial voters adopt the Alaska constitution; two senators and one representative are sent to Washington under the Tennessee Plan to push for statehood.
1958	Statehood measure passes; President Eisenhower signs statehood bill.
1959	WE'RE IN! Statehood proclaimed; state constitution in effect; Sitka pulp mill opens; U.S. Court of Claims issues judgment favoring Tlingit and Haida claims to Southeast Alaska lands.
1964	Good Friday Earthquake destroys $311 million of property in over a dozen towns around Prince Wiliam Sound. With a magnitude of 9.2, this is the largest recorded earthquake in the United States.
1966	Alaska Federation of Natives organized. Interior Secretary Stewart Udall imposes a "land freeze" to protect Native use and occupancy of Alaska lands.
1967	The Fairbanks Flood causes millions of dollars of damage and forces thousands out of their homes.
1968	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	North Slope Oil lease sale brings $900 million for the state; first live satellite telecast takes place in Alaska.
1971	Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act signed into law, giving Natives rights to about a 10th of Alaska's land and nearly $1 billion dollars and creating Native village and regional corporations.
1972	The 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 capitol move initiative.
1975	Alaska Legislature appropriates fund 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 capitol site; voters approve constitutional amendment establishing Alaska Permanent Fund to receive "at least 25 percent" of all state oil royalties 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 capitol to Willow and establish state spending limit; the first Permanent Fund dividends are distributed.
1983	Alaska time zone changed, except for the westernmost Aleutian Islands, all of Alaska is consolidated under Alaska Standard Time, one hour west of Pacific Standard time; crab stocks are 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.
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 arriving in Fairbanks.
1988	International efforts to rescue two whales caught by ice off Barrow captures world-wide 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 Winter Games to Lillenhammer, Norway.
1989	The Exxon Valdez, a 987-foot oil tanker carrying 53 million gallons of North Slope crude, grounds on Bligh Reef spilling 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound; the Permanent Fund passes the $10 billion mark; Alaska Supreme Court throws out Alaska's rural preference subsistence 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 by joining lieutenant governor candidate Jack Coghill on the Alaska Independence Party ticket and winning the gubernatorial race; Congress sets aside more Southeast Alaska forest 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 Price William Sound wins judicial approval. Congress effectively closes the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil development; Bristol Bay fishermen strike over low salmon prices; the Hickel administration and the Legislature are unable to resolve the subsistence issue.
1992	Alaska's recession is felt as the 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; 50th anniversary of the Alaska Highway.
1993	Alaska Legislature passes largest capital works appropriation in ten years; a court mandated new reapportionment scheme redraws boundaries of some election districts; Greens Creek Mine near Juneau closes due to low silver, zinc, lead prices; Sitka Pulp Mill announces indefinate suspension of mill operations, affecting 400 workers; Alaska Independence Party Chairman, Joe Vogler, mysteriously disappears.
1994	A federal trial results in a $5 billion dollar verdict in the Exxon Valdez case; Alaska's Tommy Moe brings home the Olympic gold medal in downhill skiing; Joe Vogler's murdered body is discovered buried off Chena Hot Springs Road near Fairbanks, (Vogler was a libertarian advocate for Alaska's cessation from the union); voters defeat the latest proposal to move the Alaska capital away from Juneau; the mental health lands case is decided after years of controversy in the Alaska Supreme Court, determining how the state could use the 1 million acres originally dedicated to funding Alaska's mental health programs.
1995	Canadian fisherman take out their frustrations over the inconclusive U.S.-Canada Pacific Salmon Treaty talks on an Alaskan ferry; Mark Air, a brief rival to Alaska Airlines, 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 following fall floods that washed out several Koyukuk communities.
1996	The State of Alaska loses a case regarding the Alaska Statehood Act and the federal government's management of federal lands in Alaska; U.S. Congress lifts the ban on exportation of Alaska crude oil.
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, is bought by Williams Co. Inc.; Canadian fishermen in Prince Rupert blockade an Alaskan ferry for three days in protest of Alaskan salmon-fishing practices and ferry service to Prince Rupert is disrupted for 19 weeks.
1998	The unemployment rate is at a record low at 5.8%; the moose is 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 cold-water marine research facility and includes two floors of public displays; the U.S. Supreme Court in 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	The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race's founder, Joe Redington, Sr., passes away; Edgar Nollner, Sr., the last surviving musher of the 1925 diphtheria serum run to Nome which inspired the Iditarod, passes away; the state's top two oil producers, BP and ARCO, announces their intent to merge; the University of Alaska Museum in Fairbanks receives $1 million from the Bill Gates Foundation to help with their expansion project. In Anchorage, the Alaska Native Heritage Center, a 26-acre cultural park, opens its doors and is expected to attract 130,000 visitors a year. In September, a proposal to spend Alaska Permanent Fund earnings on state government was soundly rejected by 83% of voters; the state's largest financial institution, the National Bank of Alaska, announced its sale to Wells, Fargo & Co.; derailment of two Alaska Railroad trains in the Susitna River Valley in November and December resulted in jet fuel spills totaling approximately 100,000 gallons and cleanup was hampered by extreme weather and remote terrain.
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 and 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, an agreement was signed for BP to take over all of ARCO except ARCO Alaska, which was purchased by Phillips Petroleum. After more than 40 years, the bodies of 133 people who died at the Mt. Edgecumbe TB hospital and were buried in a WWII bunker were returned to their Native villages for burial; Elmer Rasmuson, Anchorage banker and Alaskan philanthropist, died in December; census 2000 results show a state population of 626,932, an increase of 14% from 1990; Alaska becomes the 47th most populated state and the number of square miles per person drops from 1 to approximately .9.

Alaska Facts

State Nick Name: "The Last Frontier" - the name Alaska is derived from the Aleut word "Alyeska," meaning "great land."

State Motto: "North to the Future"

State Capital: Juneau, located in the Southeast region of Alaska, has a population of 33,277 (2015 Estimate of Population, Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development)

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Alaska state flag is dark blue with yellow stars in the shape of the big dipper with the North star

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