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137-511: 57°34′48″N 135°29′14″W  /  57.58000°N 135.48722°W  / 57.58000; -135.48722 Southeast Alaska , often abbreviated to southeast or southeastern , and sometimes called the Alaska ( n ) panhandle , is the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Alaska , bordered to the east and north by the northern half of the Canadian province of British Columbia (and

274-458: A moment magnitude of 9.2 (more than a thousand times as powerful as the 1989 San Francisco earthquake ). The time of day (5:36 pm), time of year (spring) and location of the epicenter were all cited as factors in potentially sparing thousands of lives, particularly in Anchorage. Alaska suffered a more severe megathrust earthquake on July 11, 1585, estimated at magnitude 9.25, which remains

411-409: A territory on May 11, 1912. It was admitted as the 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959. Abundant natural resources have enabled Alaska— with one of the smallest state economies—to have one of the highest per capita incomes , with commercial fishing , and the extraction of natural gas and oil, dominating Alaska's economy . U.S. Armed Forces bases and tourism also contribute to

548-539: A bear sanctuary. Park Service studies were favorable, and the Forest Service came to view an expansion of Glacier Bay as preferable to the designation of Admiralty Island as a national park, which was first proposed in the 1930s. By the late 1930s Ernest Gruening , the director of the Department of Territories and Island Possessions and future governor of Alaska, suggested that the entire region be protected in

685-399: A convoy to Valdez. On the advice of military and civilian leaders, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared all of Alaska a major disaster area the day after the quake. The U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard deployed ships to isolated coastal communities to assist with immediate needs. Bad weather and poor visibility hampered air rescue and observation efforts the day after the quake, but on Sunday

822-469: A longer coastline than all the other U.S. states combined. At 663,268 square miles (1,717,856 km ) in total area, Alaska is by far the largest state in the United States. Alaska is more than twice the size of the second-largest U.S. state (Texas), and it is larger than the next three largest states (Texas, California, and Montana) combined. Alaska is the seventh largest subnational division in

959-813: A massive underwater landslide, resulting in the deaths of 32 people between the collapse of the Valdez city harbor and docks, and inside the ship that was docked there at the time. Nearby, a 27-foot (8.2 m) tsunami destroyed the village of Chenega , killing 23 of the 68 people who lived there; survivors out-ran the wave, climbing to high ground. Post-quake tsunamis severely affected Whittier , Seward , Kodiak, and other Alaskan communities, as well as people and property in British Columbia, Washington , Oregon , and California . Tsunamis also caused damage in Hawaii and Japan . Evidence of motion directly related to

1096-601: A national monument at the urging of Cooper, forwarding copies of their resolutions to President Calvin Coolidge , the National Park Service, the Smithsonian and the governor of Alaska. The idea was opposed by the U.S. Geological Survey, which reported that the area had potential for mineral extraction. The Interior Department decided to send an agent to survey the area, assigning George Alexander Parks of

1233-670: A population that was genetically separate from other native groups present elsewhere in the New World at the end of the Pleistocene . Ben Potter, the University of Alaska Fairbanks archaeologist who unearthed the remains at the Upward Sun River site in 2013, named this new group Ancient Beringian . The Tlingit people developed a society with a matrilineal kinship system of property inheritance and descent in what

1370-452: A quartz monzonite porphyry , which includes gold at 0.04 ounces per ton, and silver at 7.07 ounces per ton. A copper deposit occurs on Observation Mountain. Quartz veins containing gold are exposed west of Dundas Bay and on Gilbert Island. Placer gold is also found in the bay. A silver deposit was mined on the western portion of Rendu Inlet. According to MacKevett et al., "The most extensive and best gold placer deposits...are in

1507-632: A route of discovery and migration from the coastal mountain range in the park to the Pacific Ocean in the preserve. Within the preserve, in contrast to the park, the Alsek River provides a setting for subsistence uses, commercial fishing, and hunting as provided for in the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) while simultaneously protecting the glacial ecosystem. The Park

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1644-655: A single unit extending up the Saint Elias Range to the Wrangell Range. The substance of Gruening's idea would not be realized until 1978, when Wrangell-St. Elias National Monument would be proclaimed. In the meantime, the Wrangell-St. Elias proposal was set aside in favor of expansions to the east for bear habitat and to the west to protect the Gulf of Alaska coastline. President Franklin D. Roosevelt used

1781-688: A small part of Yukon ). The majority of southeast Alaska is situated in Tlingit Aaní , much of which is part of the Tongass National Forest , the United States' largest national forest . In many places, the international border runs along the crest of the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains (see Alaska boundary dispute ). The region is noted for its scenery and mild, rainy climate . The largest cities in

1918-649: A total of 50 Aleut civilians and eight sailors were interned in Japan. About half of the Aleuts died during the period of internment. Unalaska / Dutch Harbor and Adak became significant bases for the United States Army , United States Army Air Forces and United States Navy. The United States Lend-Lease program involved flying American warplanes through Canada to Fairbanks and then Nome ; Soviet pilots took possession of these aircraft, ferrying them to fight

2055-670: A tourism agency in 1947 under the name Arctic Alaska Tours which was renamed Westours, which originally arranged trips for travelers on steamships. The border between Alaska and the Canadian province of British Columbia was the subject of the Alaska boundary dispute , where the United States and the United Kingdom claimed different borderlines at the Alaskan panhandle. While the British foreign affairs were in favor of support of

2192-546: Is 7a with an average annual extreme minimum temperature of 4.2 °F (-15.4 °C). Glacier Bay National Park preserves nearly 600,000 acres (2428.1 km ) of federally protected marine ecosystems in Alaska (including submerged lands) against which other less-protected marine ecosystems can be compared. Within the park and preserve there are two Tlingit ancestral homelands that are of cultural and spiritual significance to living communities today. The Alsek River serves as

2329-569: Is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America . Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii . Alaska is also considered to be the northernmost, westernmost, and easternmost (the Aleutian Islands cross the 180th meridian into the eastern hemisphere) state in the United States. It borders the Canadian territory of Yukon and

2466-403: Is another activity popular in the park. Halibut are frequently esteemed by deep-sea fishers and in rivers and lakes Dolly Varden and rainbow trout provide sport. An Alaskan sportfishing license is required for all nonresidents 16 and older, and residents 16–59, to fish in Alaska's fresh and salt waters. The earliest traces of human occupation at Glacier Bay date to about 10,000 years before

2603-612: Is based in Craig, Alaska . Debates over whether to expand logging in the federally owned Tongass are not uncommon. Mining remains important in the northern area with the Juneau mining district and Admiralty mining district hosting active mines as of 2015. Gold was discovered in 1880 and played an important part in the early history of the region. In the 2010s, mines increasingly began to be explored and eventually completed in neighboring British Columbia , upstream of important rivers such as

2740-797: Is based on the testimony of Chukchi geographer Nikolai Daurkin, who had visited Alaska in 1764–1765 and who had reported on a village on the Kheuveren River, populated by "bearded men" who "pray to the icons ". Some modern researchers associate Kheuveren with Koyuk River . The first European vessel to reach Alaska is generally held to be the St. Gabriel under the authority of the surveyor M. S. Gvozdev and assistant navigator I. Fyodorov on August 21, 1732, during an expedition of Siberian Cossack A. F. Shestakov and Russian explorer Dmitry Pavlutsky (1729–1735). Another European contact with Alaska occurred in 1741, when Vitus Bering led an expedition for

2877-821: Is bordered by Canada's Yukon and British Columbia to the east (making it the only state to border only a Canadian territory ); the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific Ocean to the south and southwest; the Bering Sea , Bering Strait , and Chukchi Sea to the west; and the Arctic Ocean to the north. Alaska's territorial waters touch Russia's territorial waters in the Bering Strait, as the Russian Big Diomede Island and Alaskan Little Diomede Island are only 3 miles (4.8 km) apart. Alaska has

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3014-491: Is by far the largest air carrier in the region, with Juneau's Juneau International Airport serving as the aerial hub for all of southeast, and Ketchikan's Ketchikan International Airport serving as a secondary hub for southern southeast Alaska. Alaska's bush airlines and air taxis serve many of the smaller and more isolated communities and villages in the regions. Many communities are accessible by air only by floatplane , as proper runways are often difficult to construct on

3151-609: Is cold and snowy. Access to the land can be difficult, since the glacial fjords have steep walls that rise directly from the water. Where there are shoreline flats, they can be densely vegetated with alder and devils club, making hiking difficult. Wildlife in Glacier Bay includes both brown and black bear species, timber wolf , coyote , moose , black-tailed deer , red fox species, porcupine , marmot , beaver , Canadian lynx , two species of otter , mink , wolverine , and mountain goat . Birds that nest in this park include

3288-492: Is divided into boroughs . Delegates to the Alaska Constitutional Convention wanted to avoid the pitfalls of the traditional county system and adopted their own unique model. Many of the more densely populated parts of the state are part of Alaska's 16 boroughs, which function somewhat similarly to counties in other states. Unlike county-equivalents in the other states, the boroughs do not cover

3425-495: Is exposed in Dundas Bay. Mafic dikes up to 20 feet in width occur throughout the area. Glacial advances occurred 7,000, 5,000 and 500 years ago, with the last extending to the entrance of the bay, where it left a huge semicircular terminal moraine . The consequent surface glacial deposits include gravels as outwash and moraines . Glacial gravels extend up to 2000 feet up the mountain slopes. Lakes have formed where

3562-526: Is from the last 200 years. The Haida , Eyak and Tlingit all could have occupied the coast until historical times, when the Tlingit came to dominate the area. Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse was the first European to explore the Alaskan coast on foot in the region of Glacier Bay in 1786, arriving in Lituya Bay and making contact with the Tlingit. Russian fur traders also probably visited

3699-569: Is home to Mount Shishaldin , which is an occasionally smoldering volcano that rises to 10,000 feet (3,000 m) above the North Pacific. The chain of volcanoes extends to Mount Spurr , west of Anchorage on the mainland. Geologists have identified Alaska as part of Wrangellia , a large region consisting of multiple states and Canadian provinces in the Pacific Northwest , which is actively undergoing continent building . One of

3836-629: Is known for its massive reserves of crude oil and contains both the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska and the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field . The city of Utqiaġvik , formerly known as Barrow, is the northernmost city in the United States and is located here. The Northwest Arctic area , anchored by Kotzebue and also containing the Kobuk River valley, is often considered part of this region. The respective Inupiat of

3973-455: Is maintained by the Office of History and Archaeology. The survey's inventory of cultural resources includes objects, structures, buildings, sites, districts, and travel ways, with a general provision that they are more than fifty years old. As of 31 January 2012 , more than 35,000 sites have been reported. Alaska is not divided into counties , as most of the other U.S. states, but it

4110-470: Is named for its abundant tidewater and terrestrial glaciers , numbering 1,045 in total. There are seven tidewater glaciers in the park: Margerie Glacier , Grand Pacific Glacier , McBride Glacier , Lamplugh Glacier , Johns Hopkins Glacier , Gilman Glacier , and LaPerouse Glacier . (High tide-water glaciers also include Riggs Glacier , Reid Glacier , Lituya Glacier , and North Crillon Glacier . ) Four of these glaciers actively calve icebergs into

4247-516: Is now Southeast Alaska , became the capital of Russian America . It remained the capital after the colony was transferred to the United States. The Russians never fully colonized Alaska, and the colony was never very profitable. Evidence of Russian settlement in names and churches survives throughout southeastern Alaska. In 1867, William H. Seward , the United States Secretary of State under President Andrew Johnson , negotiated

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4384-617: Is owned and managed by the U.S. federal government as public lands, including a multitude of national forests , national parks, and national wildlife refuges . Of these, the Bureau of Land Management manages 87 million acres (35 million hectares), or 23.8% of the state. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service . It is the world's largest wildlife refuge, comprising 16 million acres (6.5 million hectares). Of

4521-532: Is proportionally the second highest of any U.S. state, at over 15 percent, after only Hawaii. The name "Alaska" ( Russian : Аля́ска , romanized :  Aljáska ) was introduced during the Russian colonial period when it was used to refer to the Alaska Peninsula . It was derived from an Aleut-language idiom , alaxsxaq , meaning "the mainland" or, more literally, "the object towards which

4658-527: Is technically part of the continental U.S. , but is not usually included in the colloquial use of the term; Alaska is not part of the contiguous U.S. , often called " the Lower 48 ". The capital city, Juneau , is situated on the mainland of the North American continent but is not connected by road to the rest of the North American highway system. The largest lake in Alaska is Lake Illiamna . The state

4795-667: Is the fastest documented glacier retreat . Not all of the park's glaciers are in retreat. Two examples are the Johns Hopkins Glacier which, according to observations in 2012, has been advancing at the rate of 10 to 15 ft (3.0 to 4.6 m) per day, and the Margerie Glacier which is stable, neither advancing nor retreating. Scientists working in the park and preserve hope to learn how glacial activity relates to climate change . Wet tundra along with Sitka spruce and Western hemlock forests are mainly found in

4932-618: Is the largest glacier in North America, covering 2,008 square miles (5,200 km ) alone. There are no officially defined borders demarcating the various regions of Alaska, but there are five/six regions that the state is most commonly broken up into: The most populous region of Alaska contains Anchorage , the Matanuska-Susitna Valley and the Kenai Peninsula . Rural, mostly unpopulated areas south of

5069-677: Is the northern terminus of the Inside Passage , a protected waterway of convoluted passages between islands and fjords, beginning in Puget Sound in Washington state. This was an important travel corridor for Tlingit , Haida , and Tsimshian Native peoples, as well as gold-rush era steamships. In modern times it is an important route for Alaska Marine Highway ferries as well as cruise ships . Southeast Alaska includes seven entire boroughs and two census areas , in addition to

5206-596: Is the northernmost and westernmost state in the United States, but also has the most easterly longitude in the United States because the Aleutian Islands extend into the Eastern Hemisphere . Alaska is the only non- contiguous U.S. state on continental North America; about 500 miles (800 km) of Canadian territory consisting of British Columbia (in Canada ) separates Alaska from Washington . It

5343-581: Is the sixth largest national park in the United States . On August 20, 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt established the Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve, which formed the heart of the Tongass National Forest that covers most of the region. The climate of southeast Alaska is dominated by a mid-latitude oceanic climate ( Köppen Cfb ) in the south, an oceanic, marine sub-polar climate ( Köppen Cfc ) in

5480-614: Is today Southeast Alaska, along with parts of British Columbia and the Yukon . Also in Southeast were the Haida , now well known for their unique arts. The Tsimshian people came to Alaska from British Columbia in 1887, when President Grover Cleveland , and later the U.S. Congress, granted them permission to settle on Annette Island and found the town of Metlakatla, Alaska . All three of these peoples, as well as other indigenous peoples of

5617-650: The Exxon Valdez hit a reef in the Prince William Sound, spilling more than 11 million gallons (42 megalitres) of crude oil over 1,100 miles (1,800 km) of coastline. Today, the battle between philosophies of development and conservation is seen in the contentious debate over oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the proposed Pebble Mine . Located at the northwest corner of North America , Alaska

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5754-583: The Alaska Peninsula are considered part of the Southwest, with the Aleutian Islands often (but not always) being grouped in as well. While primarily part of Southwest Alaska when grouped economically, the Aleutian islands are sometimes recognized as an alternate group from the rest of the region due to the geographic separation from the continent. More than 300 small volcanic islands make up this chain, which stretches more than 1,200 miles (1,900 km) into

5891-755: The Alaska Purchase (referred to pejoratively as Seward's Folly) with the Russians for $ 7.2 million. Russia's contemporary ruler Tsar Alexander II , the Emperor of the Russian Empire , King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland , also planned the sale; the purchase was made on March 30, 1867. Six months later the commissioners arrived in Sitka and the formal transfer was arranged; the formal flag-raising took place at Fort Sitka on October 18, 1867. In

6028-556: The Alaska Purchase . The region is dominated by the Alexander Archipelago as well as the Tongass National Forest , the largest national forest in the United States. It contains the state capital Juneau , the former capital Sitka , and Ketchikan , at one time Alaska's largest city. The Alaska Marine Highway provides a vital surface transportation link throughout the area and country, as only three communities ( Haines , Hyder and Skagway ) enjoy direct connections to

6165-669: The Alaska Range and west of the Wrangell Mountains also fall within the definition of South Central, as do the Prince William Sound area and the communities of Cordova and Valdez . Also referred to as the Panhandle or Inside Passage , this is the region of Alaska closest to the contiguous states. As such, this was where most of the initial non-indigenous settlement occurred in the years following

6302-581: The Bering land bridge . The Russian Empire was the first to actively colonize the area beginning in the 18th century, eventually establishing Russian America , which spanned most of the current state and promoted and maintained a native Alaskan Creole population. The expense and logistical difficulty of maintaining this distant possession prompted its sale to the U.S. in 1867 for US$ 7.2 million (equivalent to $ 157 million in 2023). The area went through several administrative changes before becoming organized as

6439-608: The Discovery during the 1791–95 Vancouver expedition, found Icy Strait , at the south end of Glacier Bay, choked with ice in 1794. Glacier Bay itself was almost entirely covered by one large tidewater glacier. In 1879 naturalist John Muir found that the ice had retreated almost all the way up the bay, a distance of around 48 miles (77 km). By 1916 the Grand Pacific Glacier was at the head of Tarr Inlet about 65 miles (105 km) from Glacier Bay's mouth. This

6576-746: The Late Silurian Willoughby limestone and the youngest being the Middle Devonian Black Cap limestone. An outcrop west of Tidal Inlet includes a sandstone , graywacke and limestone of unknown age. Sedimentary rocks of unknown age on the east side of Muir Inlet include tuff interbedded with limestone. The rocks exposed on the 1,205 foot high hill called "The Nunatak " have been metamorphosed . Early Cretaceous diorite stocks are exposed south of Tidal Inlet, and on Sebree and Sturgress Islands. Quartz diorite outcrops on Lemesurier Island. A granitic stock

6713-412: The National Wildlife Refuge system , parts of 25 rivers to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers system , 3.3 million acres (13,000 km ) to National Forest lands , and 43.6 million acres (176,000 km ) to National Park land . Because of the Act, Alaska now contains two-thirds of all American national parklands. Today, more than half of Alaskan land is owned by the Federal Government . In 1989,

6850-597: The Pacific temperate rain forest zone, as classified by the World Wildlife Fund 's ecoregion system, which extends from northern California to Prince William Sound . The most common tree species are sitka spruce and western hemlock . Wildlife includes brown bears , black bears , endemic Alexander Archipelago wolf packs, Sitka black-tailed deer , humpback whales , orcas , five species of salmon , bald eagles , harlequin ducks , scoters , and marbled murrelets . The Ecological Atlas of Southeast Alaska , published by Audubon Alaska in 2016, offers an overview of

6987-403: The Saint Elias Mountains at Mount Fairweather , the park's tallest peak at 15,300 feet (4,700 m), transitioning to the Fairweather Range from there southwards. The Brady Icefield caps the Fairweather Range on a peninsula extending from the ocean to Glacier Bay , which extends from Icy Strait to the Canada–US border at Grand Pacific Glacier , cutting off the western part of the park. To

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7124-401: The United States General Land Office , and a future governor of Alaska, to examine the area and to canvass local residents. Parks' 1924 report recommended a very limited boundary designed to include glaciers and little else. In response Cooper and the Ecological Society undertook a letter-writing campaign that supported the park Service and caused Coolidge to add some portions of mature forest to

7261-418: The Unuk and the Stikine , which became known as the transboundary mining issue. In 2014, the dam breach at the Mount Polley mine focused attention on the issue, and an agreement between Canada and Alaska was drafted in 2015. The proposed Kerr Sulphurets Mitchell exploration is upstream of the Unuk. Mines upstream of the Stikine include the Red Chris, which is owned by the same company (Imperial Metals) as

7398-517: The bald eagle , golden eagle , five species of woodpecker , two species of hummingbird , raven , four species of falcon , six species of hawk , osprey , and ten species of owl . Marine mammal species that swim offshore are the sea otter , harbor seal , Steller sea lion , harbor porpoise, orca , minke whale , and humpback whale . About 80% of visitors to Glacier Bay arrive on cruise ships. The National Park Service operates cooperative programs where rangers provide interpretive services aboard

7535-438: The province of British Columbia to the east. It shares a western maritime border, in the Bering Strait , with Russia's Chukotka Autonomous Okrug . The Chukchi and Beaufort Seas of the Arctic Ocean lie to the north, and the Pacific Ocean lies to the south. Technically, it is a semi-exclave of the U.S., and is the largest exclave in the world. Alaska is the largest U.S. state by area, comprising more total area than

7672-418: The public record in Alaska. The state is divided into 34 recording districts which are centrally administered under a state recorder . All recording districts use the same acceptance criteria, fee schedule, etc., for accepting documents into the public record. Whereas many U.S. states use a three-tiered system of decentralization—state/county/township—most of Alaska uses only two tiers—state/borough. Owing to

7809-530: The 1890s. John Muir visited Glacier Bay in 1879, just prior to the 1880 establishment of Yosemite National Park , Muir's first great cause. Muir came to Alaska to learn about glaciers as a means of understanding the formation of the glaciated landscape of the Yosemite Valley . Muir sent dispatches back to San Francisco to be published in the San Francisco Bulletin in both 1879 and 1880, eventually collecting these stories, accounts of his third and fourth trips in 1890 and 1899, and later lectures and articles into

7946-493: The 1915 book Travels in Alaska , promoting Glacier Bay and the Inside Passage . Muir's writings led to the naming of Muir Glacier , then nearly 300 feet (91 m) tall at tidewater and the most active glacier in the bay, after Muir. The Pacific Coast Steamship Company ran tours up the Inside Passage from Tacoma and Portland during the 1890s, highlighting Muir Glacier and Glacier Bay. The accessibility of Glacier Bay brought naturalists and geologists to study, survey and name

8083-446: The 1960s after cruise ship entrepreneur Stanley B. McDonald repurposed a transport ship named Princess Pat, founding Princess Cruises to do leisure cruises which expanded into southeast Alaska by 1969. The TV series The Love Boat was set on a Princess cruise and featured episodes in Alaska; it also helped to popularize cruising generally which helped it grow rapidly between 1977 and 1987. Prior to Princess cruises, Chuck West created

8220-419: The 29th the situation improved and rescue helicopters and observation aircraft were deployed. A military airlift immediately began shipping relief supplies to Alaska, eventually delivering 2,570,000 pounds (1,170,000 kg) of food and other supplies. Broadcast journalist, Genie Chance , assisted in recovery and relief efforts, staying on the KENI air waves over Anchorage for more than 24 continuous hours as

8357-528: The Alaska Division of Emergency Services to respond to any future disasters. The 1968 discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay and the 1977 completion of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System led to an oil boom. Royalty revenues from oil have funded large state budgets from 1980 onward. Oil production was not the only economic value of Alaska's land. 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 military personnel stationed in

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8494-423: The Alsek lands. The final ANILCA legislation, signed into law by Carter on December 2, 1980, established Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve from the national monument. The Alsek addition comprised the bulk of the preserve lands. The chief distinction between park and preserve lands is that sport hunting by non-residents is permitted in accordance with Alaskan game regulations in the preserve, but prohibited in

8631-409: The Antiquities Act to expand the monument on April 18, 1939, creating the largest unit in the national park system at the time. During World War II the U.S. Army appropriated an area around Excursion Inlet to be used as a logistics base for transferring materiel from barges transiting the Inside Passage to seagoing vessels, logging the area for pilings to be used in piers. The base was never used. At

8768-484: The Canadian argument, the event resulted in what was thought of as a betrayal, leading to alienation of the British from the new nation of Canada . Due to the extremely rugged, mountainous nature of Southeastern Alaska, almost all communities (with the exception of Hyder , Skagway , and Haines ) have no road connections outside of their locale, so aircraft and boats are the major means of transport. The Alaska Marine Highway passes through this region. Alaska Airlines

8905-639: The Dry Bay Ranger Station in the Glacier Bay National Preserve. Trips generally take six days and pass through Kluane National Park and Reserve in the Yukon and Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park in British Columbia . According to the Köppen climate classification system, Glacier Bay National Park has six climate zones; Subarctic With Cool Summers and Year Around Rainfall ( Dfc ), Subpolar Oceanic ( Cfc ), Temperate Oceanic ( Cfb ), Humid Continental Mild Summer Wet All Year ( Dfb ), Humid Continental Dry Cool Summer ( Dsb ), and Warm Summer Mediterranean ( Csb ). The plant hardiness zone at Glacier Bay Visitor Center

9042-558: The German invasion of the Soviet Union . The construction of military bases contributed to the population growth of some Alaskan cities. Statehood for Alaska was an important cause of James Wickersham early in his tenure as a congressional delegate. Decades later, the statehood movement gained its first real momentum following a territorial referendum in 1946. The Alaska Statehood Committee and Alaska's Constitutional Convention would soon follow. Statehood supporters also found themselves fighting major battles against political foes, mostly in

9179-404: The Lower bay. In the Upper bay there are tidewater glaciers and from the newly deglaciated land are the post-glacial meadows. In the peaks of Glacier Bay are Alpine tundra, glaciers and ice fields. Regions of the park closest to the Gulf of Alaska have a relatively mild climate with significant rainfall and comparatively low snowfall. Lower Glacier Bay is a transitional zone, and upper Glacier Bay

9316-469: The Mining in the Parks Act to resolve and eventually prohibit mining at Glacier Bay and five other parks and monuments. However, the final bill contained a number of significant exemptions, and the Newmont claim has never been resolved, although no mining activity has been proposed since the 1970s. As a result of the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), 80,000,000 acres (32,000,000 ha) of Alaskan public lands were eligible for inclusion in

9453-429: The Mount Polley mine. Major hospitals include Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau and PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center in Ketchikan. Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium runs healthcare facilities across 27 communities as of 2022, including hospitals in Sitka and Wrangell; although it originally served Native Americans only, it has expanded access and combined with other local facilities over time. Due to

9590-407: The North Slope and of the Northwest Arctic seldom consider themselves to be one people. Southwest Alaska is a sparsely inhabited region stretching some 500 miles (800 km) inland from the Bering Sea. Most of the population lives along the coast. Kodiak Island is also located in the Southwest. The massive Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta , one of the largest river deltas in the world, is here. Portions of

9727-507: The Pacific Northwest Coast , experienced smallpox outbreaks from the late 18th through the mid- 19th century , with the most devastating epidemics occurring in the 1830s and 1860s, resulting in high fatalities and social disruption. Some researchers believe the first Russian settlement in Alaska was established in the 17th century. According to this hypothesis, in 1648 several koches of Semyon Dezhnyov 's expedition came ashore in Alaska by storm and founded this settlement. This hypothesis

9864-619: The Pacific Northwest. In 1789, a Spanish settlement and fort were built in Nootka Sound . These expeditions gave names to places such as Valdez , Bucareli Sound , and Cordova . Later, the Russian-American Company carried out an expanded colonization program during the early-to-mid-19th century. Sitka , renamed New Archangel from 1804 to 1867, on Baranof Island in the Alexander Archipelago in what

10001-654: The Pacific Ocean. Some of these islands fall in the Eastern Hemisphere, but the International Date Line was drawn west of 180° to keep the whole state, and thus the entire North American continent, within the same legal day. Two of the islands, Attu and Kiska , were occupied by Japanese forces during World War II. According to an October 1998 report by the United States Bureau of Land Management , approximately 65% of Alaska

10138-462: The Russian Navy aboard the St. Peter . After his crew returned to Russia with sea otter pelts judged to be the finest fur in the world, small associations of fur traders began to sail from the shores of Siberia toward the Aleutian Islands. The first permanent European settlement was founded in 1784. Between 1774 and 1800, Spain sent several expeditions to Alaska to assert its claim over

10275-436: The U.S. Congress but also within Alaska. Statehood was approved by the U.S. Congress on July 7, 1958; Alaska was officially proclaimed a state on January 3, 1959. On March 27, 1964, the massive Good Friday earthquake killed 133 people and destroyed several villages and portions of large coastal communities, mainly by the resultant tsunamis and landslides. It was the fourth-most-powerful earthquake in recorded history, with

10412-574: The action of the sea is directed". Numerous indigenous peoples occupied Alaska for thousands of years before the arrival of European peoples to the area. Linguistic and DNA studies done here have provided evidence for the settlement of North America by way of the Bering land bridge . At the Upward Sun River site in the Tanana Valley in Alaska, remains of a six-week-old infant were found. The baby's DNA showed that she belonged to

10549-525: The bay, filling it and making it less accessible and attractive to tourists. After 1900, Taku Glacier became a popular destination. A salmon cannery was established in 1900 at Dundas Bay, employing native, white, and Chinese laborers and operating until 1931. Muir's writings attracted the attention of William Skinner Cooper , an ecologist at the University of Minnesota, who saw the bay's retreating glaciers as an opportunity to study plant succession on

10686-647: The bay. In the 1990s, the Muir Glacier receded to the point that it was no longer a tidewater glacier . The advance and recession of the park's glaciers has been extensively documented since La Perouse visited the bay in 1786. According to the U.S. National Park Service, "In general, tidewater and terrestrial glaciers in the Park have been thinning and slowly receding over the last several decades." Some glaciers continue to advance, including Johns Hopkins Glacier and glaciers in Lituya Bay . Joseph Whidbey , master of

10823-520: The beach sands near Lituya Bay." Mining of these sands started in 1894, employing up to 200 men by 1896. However, most production had ended by 1917. The granodiorite and quartz diorite area between Lamplugh Glacier and Reid Glacier contains most of the quartz vein gold lodes , which were produced by six mines. This is known as the Reid Inlet gold area. The Monarch Mines and the Incas Mine

10960-416: The bottom of this section lists the 100 largest cities and census-designated places in Alaska, in population order. Glacier Bay National Park Glacier Bay became part of a binational UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, and was inscribed as a Biosphere Reserve in 1986. The National Park Service undertook an obligation to work with Hoonah and Yakutat Tlingit Native American organizations in

11097-473: The central region around Juneau , and a subarctic climate ( Köppen Dfc ) to the far northwest and the interior highlands of the archipelago. Southeast Alaska is also the only region in Alaska where the average daytime high temperature is above freezing during the winter months, except for in the southern parts of the Aleutian islands such as Unalaska . Southeast Alaska is a temperate rain forest within

11234-494: The ceremony, 250 uniformed U.S. soldiers marched to the governor's house at "Castle Hill", where the Russian troops lowered the Russian flag and the U.S. flag was raised. This event is celebrated as Alaska Day , a legal holiday on October 18. Alaska was loosely governed by the military initially and was administered as a district starting in 1884, with a governor appointed by the United States president. A federal district court

11371-555: The city proper and the communities of Eagle River, Chugiak, Peters Creek, Girdwood, Bird, and Indian. Fairbanks has a separate borough (the Fairbanks North Star Borough ) and municipality (the City of Fairbanks). The state's most populous city is Anchorage , home to 291,247 people in 2020. The richest location in Alaska by per capita income is Denali ($ 42,245). Yakutat City , Sitka, Juneau, and Anchorage are

11508-429: The community, disseminating information about shelters and prepared food rations, passing messages of well-being between loved ones, and helping to reunite families. In the longer term, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers led the effort to rebuild roads, clear debris, and establish new townsites for communities that had been completely destroyed, at a cost of $ 110 million. The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center

11645-410: The contiguous North American road system. The Interior is the largest region of Alaska; much of it is uninhabited wilderness. Fairbanks is the only large city in the region. Denali National Park and Preserve is located here. Denali , formerly Mount McKinley, is the highest mountain in North America and is also located here. The North Slope is mostly tundra peppered with small villages. The area

11782-569: The cruise ship industry). Logging has been an important industry in the past, but has been steadily declining with competition from other areas and the closure of the region's major pulp mills; the Alaska Forest Association described the situation as "desperate" in 2011. Its members include Alcan Forest Products (owned by Canadian Transpac Group, one of the top 5 log exporters in North America) and Viking Lumber, which

11919-462: The damage done by the earthquake to the city. The team, called the Engineering and Geological Evaluation Group, was headed by Ruth A. M. Schmidt , a geology professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage . The team of scientists came into conflict with local developers and downtown business owners who wanted to immediately rebuild; the scientists wanted to identify future dangers to ensure that

12056-524: The earthquake was also reported from Florida and Texas . Alaska had never experienced a major disaster in a highly populated area before and had very limited resources for dealing with the effects of such an event. In Anchorage, at the urging of geologist Lidia Selkregg , the City of Anchorage and the Alaska State Housing Authority appointed a team of 40 scientists, including geologists, soil scientists, and engineers, to assess

12193-598: The east of Glacier Bay the Takhinsha Mountains and the Chilkat Range form a peninsula bounded by the Lynn Canal on the east, with the park's eastern boundary with Tongass National Forest running along the ridgeline. The park's northwestern boundary, which also abuts Tongass National Forest, runs in the valley of the Alsek River to Dry Bay . The preserve lands comprise a small area at Dry Bay —

12330-466: The economy; more than half of the state is federally-owned land containing national forests , national parks , and wildlife refuges . It is among the most irreligious states , one of the first to legalize recreational marijuana , and is known for its libertarian-leaning political culture, generally supporting the Republican Party in national elections. The Indigenous population of Alaska

12467-807: The fishing and ferries in the region, ship building and maintenance are economically significant. Ketchikan hosts a shipbuilding yard owned by Vigor Industrial . Tourists visit southeast Alaska primarily in the summer, and most visit via cruise ships , which run from April 15 to October 30. In 2019, around 1.3 million people visited Alaska by cruise ship. The northbound Inside Passage cruise commonly starts from either Seattle or Vancouver, Canada and stops in various ports including Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway. One-way trips will end in Whittier or Seward. An alternative Gulf of Alaska cruise starts in Whittier (Anchorage) and also passes through southeast Alaska's Inside Passage. The cruise ship industry became prominent in

12604-467: The following three largest states of Texas , California , and Montana combined, and is the seventh-largest subnational division in the world . It is the third-least populous and most sparsely populated U.S. state, but is, with a population of 736,081 as of 2020 , the continent's most populous territory located mostly north of the 60th parallel , with more than quadruple the combined populations of Northern Canada and Greenland . The state contains

12741-481: The four largest cities in the U.S. by area . As reflected in the 2020 United States census , Alaska has a total of 355 incorporated cities and census-designated places (CDPs). The tally of cities includes four unified municipalities, essentially the equivalent of a consolidated city–county . The majority of these communities are located in the rural expanse of Alaska known as " The Bush " and are unconnected to that contiguous North American road network. The table at

12878-416: The four largest cities in the United States by area , including the state capital of Juneau . The state's most populous city is Anchorage , and approximately half of Alaska's residents live within its metropolitan area . Indigenous people have lived in Alaska for thousands of years, and it is widely believed that the region served as the entry point for the initial settlement of North America by way of

13015-406: The glaciers have dammed the heads of valleys. Preglacial forests are found east of Goose Cove and on the east side of Muir Inlet. According to Rossman, "One of the outstanding features of the Glacier Bay area is the rapid advance and retreat of the glaciers during several substages within the last few thousand years." A molybdenite deposit occurs on The Nunatak in quartz veins associated with

13152-477: The glaciers. The Harriman Alaska Expedition of 1899 was organized by railroad executive Edward Harriman who recruited Muir, George Bird Grinnell , photographer Edward S. Curtis and several others to study the Alaska coast on a specially-outfitted ship, spending five days at Glacier Bay. The expedition noted significant glacial retreat. A few months later, the magnitude 8.0 earthquake that shook Yakutat Bay on September 10, 1899, caused Muir Glacier to collapse into

13289-486: The icefield and found highly mineralized rock. Newmont Exploration Ltd. proposed the construction of a 3-mile (4.8 km) adit to an underground mine under the icefield, with a mill at the portal opening and a road to piers at Dixon Bay. This proposal took advantage of 1936 legislation that permitted mineral exploitation in the monument, which had been confined to small prospectors until this time. In response to this and other proposals, Montana senator Lee Metcalf proposed

13426-657: The island. A new Authority, the Rainforest Islands Ferry Authority, was created and in 2014 may possibly operate the North End route. The Authority would connect Coffman Cove with Wrangell and Petersburg. Small companies like Sitka-based Allen Marine and other independent operators in the Lynn Canal occasionally also offer marine passenger service. Ship traffic in the area is seasonally busy with cruise ships . Alaska Alaska ( / ə ˈ l æ s k ə / ə- LASS -kə )

13563-544: The lack of roads, the park received an average of about 443,975 recreational visitors annually from 2012 to 2021, with 89,768 visitors in 2021. Most of the visitors arrive via cruise ships. The number of ships that may arrive each day is limited by regulation. Other travelers come on white-water rafting trips, putting in on the Tatshenshini River at Dalton Post in the Yukon Territory and taking out at

13700-432: The largest private landowner in Alaska in advertisements and other communications. Provisions of ANCSA allowing the corporations' land holdings to be sold on the open market starting in 1991 were repealed before they could take effect. Effectively, the corporations hold title (including subsurface title in many cases, a privilege denied to individual Alaskans) but cannot sell the land. Individual Native allotments are sold on

13837-637: The low population density, most of the land is located in the Unorganized Borough . As the name implies, it has no intermediate borough government but is administered directly by the state government. In 2000, 57.71% of Alaska's area has this status, with 13.05% of the population. Anchorage merged the city government with the Greater Anchorage Area Borough in 1975 to form the Municipality of Anchorage, containing

13974-576: The majority of Glacier Bay lands are national park lands. The park boundary excludes Gustavus at the mouth of Glacier Bay. The lands adjoining the park to the north in Canada are included in Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park . No roads lead to the park and it is most easily reached by air or sea travel. The Alaska Marine Highway ferry travels between Juneau and Gustavus via the community of Hoonah twice weekly. Despite

14111-435: The management of the protected area in 1994. The park and preserve cover a total of 3,223,384 acres (5,037 sq mi; 13,045 km ), with 2,770,000 acres (4,328 sq mi; 11,210 km ) being designated as a wilderness area . The west side of the bay consists of a 26,000 feet thick sequence of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks , mainly massive limestones and argillite . The oldest rocks in this sequence are

14248-541: The monument and returned to the public domain, together with 10,184 acres (4,121 ha) at Excursion Inlet. No Park Service personnel were assigned to the monument until 1949, when a seasonal ranger was stationed at Bartlett Cove. The monument was administered locally from 1953 onwards. Starting in 1957 the facilities at Bartlett Cove were expanded as part of the Park Service's Mission 66 program with employee housing and maintenance facilities. An administrative site

14385-808: The most powerful earthquake recorded in North American history, and the second most powerful earthquake recorded in world history. The Good Friday earthquake lasted 4 minutes and 38 seconds. Six hundred miles (970 km) of fault ruptured at once and moved up to 60 ft (18 m), releasing about 500 years of stress buildup. Soil liquefaction , fissures, landslides, and other ground failures caused major structural damage in several communities and much damage to property. Anchorage sustained great destruction or damage to many inadequately earthquake-engineered houses, buildings, and infrastructure (paved streets, sidewalks, water and sewer mains, electrical systems, and other human-made equipment), particularly in

14522-738: The national park system. Studies for expansion of Glacier Bay focused on the area around the Alsek River. Facing an approaching deadline imposed by ANCSA to resolve land allotment and seeing delays in the proposed Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) in Congress that was intended to make a final settlement, President Jimmy Carter used his authority under the Antiquities Act to proclaim fifteen National Park Service units in Alaska on December 1, 1978. The proclamation also expanded Glacier Bay National Monument to include

14659-522: The often remote and roadless locations. The University of Alaska , as a land grant university , also owns substantial acreage which it manages independently. Another 44 million acres (18 million hectares) are owned by 12 regional, and scores of local, Native corporations created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 1971. Regional Native corporation Doyon, Limited often promotes itself as

14796-412: The open market. Various private interests own the remaining land, totaling about one percent of the state. Alaska is, by a large margin, the state with the smallest percentage of private land ownership when Native corporation holdings are excluded. The Alaska Heritage Resources Survey (AHRS) is a restricted inventory of all reported historic and prehistoric sites within the U.S. state of Alaska; it

14933-483: The park's boundaries. Coolidge's proclamation under the Antiquities Act of Glacier Bay National Monument came on February 26, 1925. Alaska game managers came under heavy criticism in the 1920s for a perceived lack of interest in protecting Alaskan brown bears . The state approached the Park Service with a proposal to expand the boundaries of the Glacier Bay monument using land from Tongass National Forest as

15070-407: The park. The Kluane-Wrangell-St. Elias-Glacier Bay-Tatshenshini-Alsek transborder park system comprising Kluane , Wrangell-St Elias , Glacier Bay and Tatshenshini-Alsek parks, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979 for the spectacular glacier and icefield landscapes as well as for the importance of grizzly bears , caribou and Dall sheep habitat. The Glacier Bay National Park

15207-468: The portion of the Yakutat Borough lying east of 141° West longitude. Although it has only 6.14 percent of Alaska's land area, it is larger than the state of Maine , and almost as large as the state of Indiana . The southeast Alaskan coast is roughly as long as the west coast of Canada. The 2010 census population of southeast Alaska was 71,616 inhabitants, representing approximately 10% of

15344-420: The present, with archaeological sites just outside the park dating to that time. Evidence of human activity is scarce, because so much of the area is or was glaciated for much of the period and because advancing glaciers may have scoured all traces of historical occupation from their valleys. Ongoing uplift of the land may reveal new sites that had been submerged by rising sea levels . Most archaeological evidence

15481-494: The preserve include black bears, mountain goats, wolves , wolverines , snowshoe hare , ptarmigans , waterfowls and a number of furbearers . There is one big game hunting guide authorized through concession contracts to operate within Glacier Bay National Preserve. Three lodges and one outfitter can provide transportation and services for fishing and hunting small game and waterfowl. Sport fishing

15618-500: The preserve. Sport hunting and trapping are also allowed in the preserve. To hunt and trap, you must have all required licenses and permits and follow all other state regulations. The National Park Service and the State of Alaska cooperatively manage the wildlife resources of the preserve. Campers and hunters should be aware that brown bears are common in the preserve and be prepared to avoid conflicts with them. Typically hunted species in

15755-428: The rebuilt infrastructure would be safe. The team produced a report on May 8, 1964, just a little more than a month after the earthquake. The United States military, which has a large active presence in Alaska, also stepped in to assist within moments of the end of the quake. The U.S. Army rapidly re-established communications with the lower 48 states, deployed troops to assist the citizens of Anchorage, and dispatched

15892-491: The recently exposed land. He visited Glacier Bay in 1916, surveying the glaciers and inlets and establishing nine test plots to be monitored in future visits. Cooper returned to Glacier Bay in 1922, wrote a paper for the Ecological Society of America in which he proposed that Glacier Bay be protected as a national monument. The Ecological Society established a committee to promote the designation of Glacier Bay as

16029-628: The region are Juneau , Sitka , and Ketchikan . This region is also home to Hyder , the easternmost town in Alaska. Southeast Alaska has a land area of 35,138 square miles (91,010 km), comprising much of the Alexander Archipelago . The largest islands are, from North to South, Chichagof Island , Admiralty Island , Baranof Island , Kupreanof Island , Revillagigedo Island and Prince of Wales Island . Major bodies of water of southeast Alaska include Glacier Bay , Lynn Canal , Icy Strait , Chatham Strait , Stephens Passage , Frederick Sound , Sumner Strait , and Clarence Strait . The archipelago

16166-400: The region are undergoing post-glacial rebound (also known as isostatic rebound), the process in which land rises after the weight of the glacier has been removed. Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve occupies the northernmost section of the southeastern Alaska coastline, between the Gulf of Alaska and Canada. The Canada–US border approaches to within 15 miles (24 km) of the ocean in

16303-655: The region in the mid-18th century. The region was later visited by George Vancouver in Discovery in 1794, during the Vancouver Expedition . The explorers are believed to have seen the Glacier Bay ice at its peak, which coincided with their visits. Russians were chiefly concerned with the area until the 1880s, when Americans were drawn to Alaska and the Klondike by the Klondike Gold Rush of

16440-602: The region returned home praising its natural splendor. The Alcan Highway , built during the war, and the Alaska Marine Highway System , completed in 1963, made the state more accessible than before. Tourism has become increasingly important in Alaska, and today over 1.4 million people visit the state each year. With tourism more vital to the economy, environmentalism also rose in importance. The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) of 1980 added 53.7 million acres (217,000 km ) to

16577-628: The region's landscape, birds, wildlife, human uses, climate change, and more, synthesizing data from agencies and a variety of other sources. This area is the traditional homeland of the Tlingit , and home of a historic settling of Haida as well as a modern settlement of Tsimshian . The region is closely connected to Seattle and the American Pacific Northwest economically and culturally. Major industries in southeast Alaska include commercial fishing and tourism (primarily

16714-514: The remaining land area, the state of Alaska owns 101 million acres (41 million hectares), its entitlement under the Alaska Statehood Act . A portion of that acreage is occasionally ceded to the organized boroughs presented above, under the statutory provisions pertaining to newly formed boroughs. Smaller portions are set aside for rural subdivisions and other homesteading-related opportunities. These are not very popular due to

16851-525: The same time the Army built an airfield at Gustavus , which offered flat terrain and good weather. The airfield was completed too late to participate in the Aleutian Campaign . However, it was one of four Alaskan airfields suitable for use by B-29s , with 5,000-foot (1,500 m) and 7,500-foot (2,300 m) runways and modern navigation equipment. In 1955 the area around Gustavus was removed from

16988-555: The several landslide zones along Knik Arm . Two hundred miles (320 km) southwest, some areas near Kodiak were permanently raised by 30 feet (9 m). Southeast of Anchorage, areas around the head of Turnagain Arm near Girdwood and Portage dropped as much as 8 feet (2.4 m), requiring reconstruction and fill to raise the Seward Highway above the new high tide mark. In Prince William Sound , Port Valdez suffered

17125-480: The ships and on the smaller boats that offer excursion trips to more distant park features. In-park accommodations are available at the Glacier Bay Lodge. The park and preserve hosts many outdoor activities such as hiking , camping , mountaineering , kayaking , rafting , fishing , and bird-watching . Unlike many other national parks in Alaska, subsistence hunting is not allowed in the park, only in

17262-470: The state's entire land area. The area not part of any borough is referred to as the Unorganized Borough . The Unorganized Borough has no government of its own, but the U.S. Census Bureau in cooperation with the state divided the Unorganized Borough into 11 census areas solely for the purposes of statistical analysis and presentation. A recording district is a mechanism for management of

17399-546: The state's total population. About 45% of residents in the southeast Alaska region were concentrated in the city of Juneau , the state capital. As of 2018, the number of settlements in southeast Alaska that have a population of at least 1,000 people has grown to nine. Populations are taken from the 2020 Census . Southeast Alaska includes the Tongass National Forest (which manages Admiralty Island National Monument and Misty Fjords National Monument ), Glacier Bay National Park , and Sitka National Historical Park . Glacier Bay

17536-495: The steep island slopes. Southeast Alaska is primarily served by the state-run Alaska Marine Highway , which links Skagway, Haines, Hoonah , Juneau , Sitka , Petersburg , Wrangell , Ketchikan and other outlying communities with Prince Rupert, BC and Bellingham, Washington ; and secondarily by the Prince of Wales Island -based Inter-Island Ferry Authority , which provides the only scheduled passenger and auto ferry service to

17673-522: The voice of calm from her temporary post within the Anchorage Public Safety Building. She was effectively designated as the public safety officer by the city's police chief. Chance provided breaking news of the catastrophic events that continued to develop following the magnitude 9.2 earthquake, and she served as the voice of the public safety office, coordinating response efforts, connecting available resources to needs around

17810-476: The world . If it was an independent nation, it would be the 18th largest country in the world; almost the same size as Iran . With its myriad of islands, Alaska has nearly 34,000 miles (55,000 km) of tidal shoreline. The Aleutian Islands chain extends west from the southern tip of the Alaska Peninsula . Many active volcanoes are found in the Aleutians and in coastal regions. Unimak Island , for example,

17947-520: The world's largest tides occurs in Turnagain Arm , just south of Anchorage, where tidal differences can be more than 35 feet (10.7 m). Alaska has more than 409,000 natural lakes at least one hectare or bigger. Marshlands and wetland permafrost cover 188,320 square miles (487,700 km ) (mostly in northern, western and southwest flatlands). Glacier ice covers about 28,957 square miles (75,000 km ) of Alaska. The Bering Glacier

18084-477: Was also developed outside the monument boundaries at the Forest Service ranger station at Indian Point on Auke Bay, closer to Juneau. The Glacier Bay Lodge was built to accommodate guests in 1966. Beginning in 1969 cruise ships became regular visitors to the monument. In 1958 survey crews found a rich deposit of copper and nickel ore under the Brady Icefield. Investigators looked at a nunatak outcrop in

18221-555: Was discovered in 1924 by J. Ibach. The Monarch No. 1 and No. 2 veins were drift mined with 200 and 150 foot adits respectively. The LeRoy Mine was the largest though, discovered in 1938 by Gustavus founder and resident A.L. Parker and his son L.F. Parker. They operated a two- stamp mill and an aerial tramway . Most production had ceased by 1945 though. The region experiences tectonic activity with frequent earthquakes. Earthquake-induced landslides have been significant forces for change, inducing tsunamis . Additionally, parts of

18358-512: Was extremely limited or unavailable until statehood took effect in 1959. Starting in the 1890s and stretching in some places to the early 1910s, gold rushes in Alaska and the nearby Yukon Territory brought thousands of miners and settlers to Alaska. From 1879 to 1920, Alaska produced a cumulative total of over $ 460,000,000 ($ 6,691,927,500 inflation-adjusted) of mineral production. Alaska was officially incorporated as an organized territory in 1912. Alaska's capital, which had been in Sitka until 1906,

18495-492: Was formed as a direct response to the disaster. Federal disaster relief funds paid for reconstruction as well as financially supporting the devastated infrastructure of Alaska's government, spending hundreds of millions of dollars that helped keep Alaska financially solvent until the discovery of massive oil deposits at Prudhoe Bay . At the order of the U.S. Defense Department , the Alaska National Guard founded

18632-408: Was headquartered in Sitka. For most of Alaska's first decade under the United States flag, Sitka was the only community inhabited by American settlers. They organized a "provisional city government", which was Alaska's first municipal government, but not in a legal sense. Legislation allowing Alaskan communities to legally incorporate as cities did not come about until 1900, and home rule for cities

18769-779: Was moved north to Juneau . Construction of the Alaska Governor's Mansion began that same year. European immigrants from Norway and Sweden also settled in southeast Alaska, where they entered the fishing and logging industries. During World War II , the Aleutian Islands Campaign focused on Attu , Agattu and Kiska , all of which were occupied by the Empire of Japan . During the Japanese occupation, an American civilian and two United States Navy personnel were killed at Attu and Kiska respectively, and nearly

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