Alaska Facts
New Alaska Maps:
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Flag:
Admitted to Statehood: January 3,
1959
Capital: Juneau
Nicknames: Great land and Last
Frontier
Motto: "North to the Future"
Bird: Willow Ptarmigan
Fish: King Salmon
Flower: forget me not
Gem: Jade
Tree: Sitka Spruce
Song: "Alaska's Flag"
Origin of Name: Russian
version of an Aleutian word, Alakahak, for "peninsula," "great lands," or "land that is not an island"
The U.S. bought Alaska from
Russia in October 1867 for 7.2 million dollars, or two cents per acre. Many Americans thought this was a
waste of money and called Alaska "Sewards Folly," after Secretary of State William H. Seward who championed
the purchase.
Alaska longest river, the Yukon,
runs2,300 Miles, 1,400 in Alaska and 900 in Canada. There are more than 3,000 rivers in Alaska and over 3
million lakes. The largest, Lake Iliamna, encompasses over 1,000 square miles.
Each year Alaska has approximately 5,000
earthquakes, including 1,000 that measure above 3.5 on the Richter scale. Of the ten strongest earthquakes
ever recorded in the world, three have occurred in Alaska.
Of the nation's 20 highest mountains, 17 are in Alaska.
Mount McKinley ( 20,320 feet ) in the Alaska Range is the highest in North America.
The
National Park Service oversees more than 50 million acres of Alaska land.
Six million-acre Denali National Park and Preserve is its most visited.
The
Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, know
as the Last Great Race on Earth, attracts mushers worldwide for the
Anchorage to Nome trek, about 1,100 miles.
Alaska
Extremes: the coldest day ever recorded: minus 80 degree's F at Prospect
Creek Camp, Jan.23, 1971.The hottest day: 100 degree's F at Fort Yukon,
June 27, 1915. The deepest single snowfall ever recorded in Alaska: 62
inches, Thompson Pass, Dec. 7, 1955.
Alaska has more than 5,000 glaciers covering 100,000 square miles. There
are more active glaciers and ice fields in Alaska than in the rest of the
inhabited world. The largest glacier is the Malaspina at 850 square miles.
Five percent of the state, or 29,000 square miles, is covered by glaciers.
Alaska
boasts the northernmost (Point Barrow), the easternmost (Semisopochnoi
Island in the Aleutians), and the westernmost (Little Diomede Island)
points in the United States. This is possible because Alaska straddles the
international dateline.
On March
27, 1964, North America's strongest recorded earthquake, moment magnitude 9.2 rocked central Alaska.
Alaska
has 6,640 miles of coastline and, including islands, has 33,904 miles of
shoreline. If you are looking for Information on a town in Alaska, may I suggest
you go to the links for the chamber of commerce of that town and email them for more information I have the chamber of
commerce links on another page: click here
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