From its discovery and colonization by the Russians, through its purchase by Seward in the Johnson administration, and even through the modern era, Alaska has lived up to its billing as the Last Frontier.

Alaska has 20% of the land mass of the United States, and has more than half of the coastal land; this results in great swathes of barely touched wilderness, ranging from the Kuskokwim Delta up past the Alaska range, the Interior (where Fairbanks is), then the Brooks Range and the North Slope. 

Alaska is dominated by a resource extraction economy; most of the state budget comes from leasing fees for North Slope oil, and Alaska has a unique investment strategy – they took the proceeds of the North Slope and invested them in a financial structure called the Permanent Fund, which pays every Alaskan resident a dividend check.  Contrast this with the usual results of a government having a surplus, and you’ll see that the “frontier mentality” still exists in this state.

That being said, Alaska is rapidly approaching its tricentennial as a place inhabited by Europeans, and its history is as colorful as the landscape.

Fairbanks, Alaska’s second largest city, was founded by E.T. Barnette, on the banks of the Chena and Tanana Rivers, as a gold mining camp.  Barnette, a former river boat gambler, was eventually run out of town as a cheat.  Even so, Fairbanks reveres its Klondike days as a tourist attraction.

Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city, was founded as the northernmost place with an acceptable harbor on Cook Inlet; surrounded by beautiful mountains, Anchorage is one of the most “conventional” cities in the state…and is perhaps most known for the 1964 earthquake and resulting tsunami!

Near Anchorage are several active volcanoes, and one of them exploded – mount Katmai, became the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, in 1912.

The oldest permanently inhabited town in Alaska is Sitka, which has been permanently inhabited since the 18th century, and still has a lot of its original colonial architecture.

The only US territory that was ever captured by Japanese forces in World War II was Kiska and Adak, the last two islands on the Aleutian chain.  If you’re into open boat cold water spear fishing, the Aleutians are a good place to try it out – there are still native guides who will teach you to hunt in a kayak with a spear.

While Alaska has the largest bear population in the United States, and the Kodiak Grizzly is the largest bear in the world, it also has the lowest per capita incidence of bear attacks in the Western US – in part, this is because Alaska’s population is concentrated in four urban areas, and more than 90% of the state is held in trust by the Federal government as state parks and forests.  It’s been joked that bears outnumber registered Democrats in the state, and that when that changes, they’ll issue hunting permits for politicians to keep the numbers in check.

Alaska also has the highest incidence of private pilots licenses per capita (and the fourth highest total of any state).  This is because many villages are inaccessible without a small plane, and bush pilots can entertain you for days (and lots of liquor) talking about narrow escapes, and not-quite escapes.  Most have stories about how a bear family decided their plane was a neat Gymboree for bear cubs while the hunters were away.

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