The Last Frontier

a few facts

*Mt.McKinley*

N.America's tallest mountain at 20,320 feet

*Outsiders first discovered Alaska in 1741 when Danish explorer Vitus Bering sighted it on a voyage from Siberia.

*The first settlement was established by Russian whalers and fur traders on Kodiak Island in 1784.

*The state of Rhode Island could fit into Alaska 425 times!

*Prudhoe Bay on the north Alaskan coast is N.America's largest oil field.

*In 1942-43 Japan invaded the Aleutian Islands, which started the One Thousand Mile War~the first battle fought on American soil since the Civil War~

*The term'Alaska Native' refers to Alaska's original inhabitants,including Aleut,Eskimo and Indian groups.

*Joe Juneau's 1880 discovery of gold, ushered in the GOLD RUSH era

*Dog mushing is the official state sport,adopted in 1972

*Nearly 1/3 of Alaska is located within the Arctic Circle.

*The state motto is "NORTH TO THE FUTURE"

*The ALASKA HIGHWAY was originally built as a military supply road during WWII

*The state boasts the lowest population density in the nation. There are still more men living here,than women!

*The discovery of GOLD in the Yukon began a Gold Rush in 1898. Gold was later discovered at Nome and Fairbanks.

*Photo is the miners climbing up Chilkoot Pass*

*Gold is the state mineral and *Jade is the state gemstone

*JUNEAU is the only CAPITAL city in the U.S. accessible only by BOAT

or PLANE~

*The Tongass National Forest is the largest national forest in the U.S.A.

It is 17million acres of the largest temporate rain forest in the world. It extends 500 miles up South Eastern Alaskan coast of glaciers and fiords. Including the CHUGACH National Forest , there are 10,000 miles of coastline forest in Alaska.

*Measuring N to S the state is approximately 1,400 mi.long and E to W is 2,700 mi.wide. When a scale map is placed over the 48 lower states, Alaska reaches from coast to coast.

*Alaska has 33,904 miles of shoreline and 30,000 square miles of land under permanent ICE~called PERMAFROST

*Alaska has one-half of all the world's active volcanos and one-half of all the earthquakes registered in the United States.

Will Rogers~Famous American Humorist-philosopher

Died in a plane crash at POINT BARROW,ALASKA on Aug.15,1935,along with famed aviator Wiley Post.

Will Rogers said "My ancestors didn't come over on the Mayflower, they met them at the boat!"

*Alaska's name is based on the Eskimo word "Alakshak"~meaning "great lands or peninsula"

~You know you are Alaskan when driving is better in winter because the pot-holes are filled with snow~

Now we go on with our journey

"MUSH! YOU HUSKIES"

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