Alaska Events

1867 Mar 30 Seward's Folly US agrees to purchase Alaska from Russia for 7.2 million
Secretary of State William H. Seward agreed to purchase Alaska from Russia for 7.2 million dollars. Critics attacked Seward for the secrecy surrounding the deal, which came to be known as...
1867 Mar 30 The Alaska Purchase Treaty Is Signed
The purchase of Alaska in 1867 marked the end of Russian efforts to expand trade and settlements to the Pacific coast of North America, and became an important step in the United States r...
1867 Apr 9 The United States Senate Ratifies The Alaska Purchase Treaty
The purchase of Alaska in 1867 marked the end of Russian efforts to expand trade and settlements to the Pacific coast of North America, and became an important step in the United States r...
1867 Oct 18 The Alaska Transfer Ceremony Takes Place
An Aleut name, "Alaska" was chosen by the Americans. The transfer ceremony took place in Sitka on October 18, 1867. Russian and American soldiers paraded in front of the governor's house;...
1896 Aug 16 Skookum Party Discovers Gold Deposits in Bonanza Creek, Yukon
In August 1896, three people led by Keish (Skookum Jim Mason), a member of the Tagish First Nations, headed north, down the Yukon River from the Carcross area, looking for his sister Kate...
1918 Oct 25 Wreck of the SS Princess Sophia
Princess Sophia, was built for the Alaska run, and made her maiden voyage on June 7, 1912. She was not a fancy ship, her hull was short and had high freeboard, but she had comfortable acc...
1942 Nov 21 U.S. Army Engineers Open The Alcan Highway
On November 21, 1942, U.S. Army engineers, working closely with their Canadian counterparts, completed an emergency war measure with the opening of the Alcan Highway, an overland military...
1948 Mar 12 Northwest Airlines Flight 4422 Crashes, Killing 30
Northwest flight 4422 was a non-scheduled charter flight en route from Shanghai-Lunghwa Airport to La Guardia Field. An intermediate stop was made at Anchorage. Take-off from Anchorage wa...
1959 Jan 3 Alaska is the 49th State Admitted to the Union
President Eisenhower stated his support for the idea of statehood for Alaska early in his administration but also expressed concerns that needed to be overcome before that could occur. Th...
1964 Mar 27 The Good Friday Earthquake
This great earthquake and ensuing tsunami took 128 lives (tsunami 113, earthquake 15), and caused about $311 million in property loss. Earthquake effects were heavy in many towns, includi...
1971 Sep 4 Alaska Airlines Flight 1866 Crashes Near Juneau
Alaska Airlines Flight 1866 was the first fatal jet airliner crash of Alaska Airlines (sometimes incorrectly cited as the first fatal crash involving the airline), an airline registered i...
1989 Mar 24 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
On March 24, 1989 the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling an estimated 11 million gallons of crude oil across 1,300 miles of coastl...
1997 Oct Raejean S. Bonham is Indicted for Mail Fraud and Money Laundering
Bonham owned and operated Atlantic Pacific Funding Corporation and World Plus, Inc., a business in Fairbanks selling to the public discounted airline tickets obtained from ticket broke...
2001 Mar 4
to 2001 Mar 11
 2001 Special Olympics World Winter Games
The biggest winter sporting event ever held in Alaska came to a ceremonial close Sunday at Sullivan Arena when Lt. Gov. Fran Ulmer declared an end to the 2001 Special Olympics World Wint...
2009 Jul 3
10:00AM
 Sarah Palin Announces That She Won't Seek a Second Term as Governor of Alaska, Resigns
(CNN) -- Gov. Sarah Palin announced Friday that she will step down as Alaska's chief executive by the end of the month. She will not seek election to a second gubernatorial term in 2010. ...
2010 Aug 9 Former Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens Dies In A Plane Crash
Former Senator Ted Stevens, who for several years played a leading role in controlling the nation's purse strings, died with four other people in a small plane crash in his home state of ...