COMMUNITIES
pre-contact
sa
1867
The sale of Alaska by Russia to United States - which rightfully belonged to neither. October 18 is now celebrated as "Alaska Day."
1882
The little Tlingit Indian village of Angoon on Kootznahoo Inlet, Admiralty Island has several claims to fame. In 1882 a shaman of this group was accidentally killed in the explosion of a whaling gun. According to Indian usage, a white hostage was taken and indemnity of 200 blankets demanded. Having been apprized of the situation, Capt. Merriman of the Revenue Cutter Corwin steamed in from Sitka, shelled the town and demanded and received a counter-indemnity of 400 blankets. (AFTC)
1899
Local communities authorized to set up school boards.
1902
Local school board established at Nome.
1909
Small seated Buddha-like figurines called Billikens carved of walrus tusk ivory by Eskimos are not actually Eskimo in origin as most people have been led to believe. The figurine was made originally of plaster-of-paris and was patented by one Florence Pritz of Kansas City in 1909. It sat on a throne, around the base of which was the wording, “Billiken, the God of Things as They Ought to be.”
The item was immediately popular and sold well at the A.Y.P. Exposition in Seattle in 1909. Then it disappeared from the stateside scene. But someone had brought one to Nome where the King Island and Wales Eskimos were put to carving replicas in ivory, however, without the throne or lettering. They caught on immediately as a northern souvenir and have been made ever since. But the Pullen Museum in Skagway had an original and they may still have it in their present Seattle location
1912
Alaska Native Brotherhood founded the first modern Alaska Native organization.
1915
Congress appropriated funds that allowed the Bureau of Education to build a 25-bed hospital for Alaska Natives at Juneau
1925
The possibility of an epidemic of diphtheria confronted Nome in January 1925 when Dr. Curtis Welch discovered seven cases of diphtheria in the area and no diphtheria antitoxin in town. He immediately issued and published instructions in the Nome Nugget of January 24, 1925.
The Nome Nugget of January 31, 1925 reported 22 cases and 5 deaths. 300,000 units of antitoxin were being relayed from Nenana to Nome by dogteam. On February 2, 1925 Gunnar Kaasen arrived with the antitoxin and his leader, Balto, became famous.
The dog mushers who composed the relay were Johnny Folger, Nickoli, Dave Corning, Sam Joseph, Harry Pitka, Jackscrew, Victor Annauma, Mires Connigan, Henry Ivanoff, Leonard Seppala, Charles Olson and Gunnar Kaasen. Ed Rohn was expected to make the final dash but Kaasen went through without awakening him. The distance from Nome to Nenana by dogtrail is 658 miles. The quarantine which was established on January 21 was lifted on February 21.
1925
Serum Run to Nome, beginning of Iditarod race
1936
Fourteen persons were killed in a slide that roared down the slopes of Mt. Roberts near the Juneau Cold Storage on Sunday, November 22, 1936 at 7:30 p.m. Up until the slide occurred, the month of November had seen 20.31 inches of rain. Between 10 p.m. Saturday and 10 p.m. Sunday, the day of the slide, 3.89 inches had fallen. (AFTC)
1938
Chief Anatlahash was a Taku Tlingit Chief of the Raven phratry who moved to Douglas Island when mining commenced there in the 1880’s and died there on October 8, 1918. A monument to his memory, a yellow cedar shaft in a concrete base, was erected on the Douglas Highway near the Douglas city limits by the C.C.C. on June 1, 1938. Jimmy Fox, whose Indian name is Anatlahash is his legal heir. (AFTC)
1953
1953 Warranty Deed for Anchorage property
1956
The constitution of the State of Alaska was agreed upon by the Delegates of the People of Alaska in Convention at the University of Alaska, College, Alaska, on February 5, 1956. It was approved by the voters in April, 1956.
1960
The 1960 Census of Alaska showed a total population of the largest state with the least people as 226,167. This was slightly above the wartime high of 225,986 in 1943 which included armed forces then stationed throughout the Territory. The 1950 census gave 128,643 as the civilian population compared to 193,475 in 1960. The 1960 census breaks down as follows:
Total Population: 226,167
Civilian Population: 193,475
Caucasian: 141,854
Eskimo-Aleut: 28,637
Indian: 14,444
Negro: 6,771
Japanese: 818
Filipino: 814
Chinese: 137 (AFTC)
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