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By the turn of the 20th century, commercial fishing was gaining a foothold in the Aleutian Islands. Packing houses salted cod and herring , and salmon canneries were opened. Another commercial occupation, whaling, continued with no regard for over-hunting. They pushed the bowhead whales to the edge of extinction for the oil in their tissue.
The Aleuts soon suffered severe problems due to the depletion of fur seals and sea otters which they needed for survival. As well as requiring the flesh for food, they also used the skins to cover their boats, without which they could not hunt. The Americans also expanded into the Interior and Arctic Alaska, exploiting the furbearers, fish, and other game on which Natives depended. James Wickersham , a Delegate to Congress, introduced Alaska's first statehood bill, but it failed due to the small population and lack of interest from Alaskans.
Even President Warren G. Harding 's visit in could not create widespread interest in statehood.
'World’s oldest shipwreck,’ dating to more than 2,400 years ago, found at bottom of Black Sea
Under the conditions of the Second Organic Act, Alaska had been split into four divisions. The most populous of the divisions, whose capital was Juneau, wondered if it could become a separate state from the other three. Government control was a primary concern, with the territory having 52 federal agencies governing it.
Then, in , the Jones Act required U.
All goods entering or leaving Alaska had to be transported by American carriers and shipped to Seattle prior to further shipment, making Alaska dependent on Washington. Supreme Court ruled that the provision of the Constitution saying one state should not hold sway over another's commerce did not apply because Alaska was only a territory. The prices Seattle shipping businesses charged began to rise to take advantage of the situation.
This situation created an atmosphere of enmity among Alaskans who watched the wealth being generated by their labors flowing into the hands of Seattle business holdings. On July 15 Harding drove in a golden railroad spike at Nenana. The train car in which he rode now sits in Fairbanks' Pioneer Park. The Depression caused prices of fish and copper, which were vital to Alaska's economy at the time, to decline. Wages were dropped and the workforce decreased by more than half. In , President Franklin D.
Roosevelt thought Americans from agricultural areas could be transferred to Alaska's Matanuska-Susitna Valley for a fresh chance at agricultural self-sustainment.
Powerful quakes buckle Alaska roads, trigger tsunami warning
Colonists were largely from northern states, such as Michigan , Wisconsin , and Minnesota under the belief that only those who grew up with climates similar to that of Alaska's could handle settler life there. The United Congo Improvement Association asked the president to settle African-American farmers in Alaska, saying that the territory would offer full political rights, but racial prejudice and the belief that only those from northern states would make suitable colonists caused the proposal to fail. The exploration and settlement of Alaska would not have been possible without the development of the aircraft, which allowed for the influx of settlers into the state's interior, and rapid transportation of people and supplies throughout.
However, due to the unfavorable weather conditions of the state, and high ratio of pilots-to-population, over aircraft wreck sites are scattered throughout its domain.
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Numerous wrecks also trace their origins to the military build-up of the state during both World War II and the Cold War. They were the only part of the continental territory of the United States to be occupied by the enemy during the war. Their recovery became a matter of national pride. The villagers were taken to Japan, where they were interned for the remainder of the war. Many suffered during their two years internment there, and the federal government, charged with their care, provided inadequate health care, food, and shelter. Attu was regained in May after two weeks of intense fighting and 3, American casualties: From June through August, a multitude of bombs were dropped on the tiny island, though the Japanese ultimately escaped via transport ships.
Why Alaska has more at stake in the government shutdown than any other state
After the war, the Native Attuans who had survived their internment were resettled to Atka by the federal government , which considered their home villages too remote to defend. In , the Alaska—Canada Military Highway was completed, in part to form an overland supply route to the Soviet Union on the other side of the Bering Strait.
The construction of military bases , such as the Adak base, contributed to the population growth of some Alaskan cities. Anchorage almost doubled in size, from 4, people in to 8, in By the turn of the 20th century, a movement pushing for Alaska statehood began, but in the contiguous 48 states, legislators were worried that Alaska's population was too sparse, distant, and isolated, and its economy was too unstable for it to be a worthwhile addition to the United States.
Juneau, the territorial capital , continued as state capital, and William A. Egan was sworn in as the first governor. Alaska does not have counties , unlike every other American state except Louisiana.
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Instead, it is divided into 16 boroughs and one " unorganized borough " made up of all land not within any borough. Boroughs have organized area-wide governments, but within the unorganized borough, where there is no such government, services are provided by the state.
The unorganized borough is divided into artificially-created census areas by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. On March 27, the Good Friday earthquake struck South-central Alaska, churning the earth for four minutes with a magnitude of 9. The earthquake was one of the most powerful ever recorded and killed people.
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Throughout the Prince William Sound region, towns and ports were destroyed and land was uplifted or shoved downward. The uplift destroyed salmon streams, as the fish could no longer jump the various newly created barriers to reach their spawning grounds. Ports at Valdez and Cordova were beyond repair, and the fires destroyed what the mudslides had not. At Valdez, an Alaska Steamship Company ship was lifted by a huge wave over the docks and out to sea, but most hands survived. At Turnagain Arm, off Cook Inlet , the incoming water destroyed trees and caused cabins to sink into the mud.
On Kodiak, a tsunami wiped out the villages of Afognak , Old Harbor, and Kaguyak and damaged other communities, while Seward lost its harbor. Despite the extent of the catastrophe, Alaskans rebuilt many of the communities. As one of the events leading up to the celebration, the Alaska Centennial Commission sponsored a contest in to come up with a centennial motto and emblem that would express the unique character of the State of Alaska. In December , the commission announced that they had selected Juneau journalist Richard Peter's suggestion.
He stated that the motto " The discovery of oil on the North Slope 's Prudhoe Bay —which would turn out to have the most recoverable oil of any field in the United States—would change Alaska's political landscape for decades. This discovery catapulted the issue of Native land ownership into the headlines. The government finally took action when permitting for a pipeline crossing the state, necessary to get Alaskan oil to market, was stalled pending the settlement of Native land claims. Between the North Slope and Valdez, there were active fault lines, three mountain ranges, miles of unstable, boggy ground underlain with frost, and migration paths of caribou and moose.
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The pipeline allowed an oil bonanza to take shape. Per capita incomes rose throughout the state, with virtually every community benefiting. State leaders were determined that this boom would not end like the fur and gold booms, in an economic bust as soon as the resource had disappeared. In , the state's constitution was amended to establish the Alaska Permanent Fund , in which a quarter of all mineral lease proceeds is invested.
Income from the fund is used to pay annual dividends to all residents who qualify, to increase the fund's principal as a hedge against inflation, and to provide funds for the state legislature.
Oil production was not the only economic value of Alaska's land, however. In the second half of the 20th century, Alaska discovered tourism as an important source of revenue. Tourism became popular after World War II, when men stationed in the region returned home praising its natural splendor. The Alcan Highway , built during the war, and the Alaska Marine Highway System , completed in , made the state more accessible than before. Tourism became increasingly important in Alaska, and today over 1.
With tourism more vital to the economy, environmentalism also rose in importance.