DISCOVERTHEBESTOFanchorage

#11
Valley Hearing
& Audiology
Empowering your life with
a hearing solution
as individual as you are...
907-573-5443
2881 E. Oakland Park Blvd • Anchorage • AK 99501
Dr. John Philips
Board Certified in Audiologogy
Call Us Today to Schedule Your FREE Hearing Evaluation
Brief History of Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage, a year-round
seaport at the head of Cook
Inlet, is the largest city in Alaska.
Its location has made it an
important transshipment point
for intercontinental air traffic,
and the lack of a comprehensive
highway system led to its having
an unusual concentration of
private aircraft as well.
Captain James Cook in 1778.
Russian explorers had already
been to Alaska and Russian
activity continued until the
Alaska Purchase of 1867. The
Alaska Trading Company
subsequently established
dozens of stations along Cook
Inlet.
In 1915, President Woodrow
Wilson authorized the
construction of the Alaska
Railroad. Anchorage was
founded in the same year
as the headquarters of the
railroad and was incorporated
in 1920. Completion of
the Alaska Railroad led to
the first visit to Alaska by a
U.S. President. Warren G.
Harding came to Alaska to drive
the ceremonial golden spike on
July 15, 1923. He died in San
Francisco on the return trip.
When United States Secretary
of State William H. Seward
concluded the deal that bought
the U.S. 580,000 sq. mi of icy
terrain from Russia, many in
the government scoffed at
“Seward’s Folly” and “Seward’s
Lockbox”, but both Seward
and President Andrew Johnson
thought the land could one day
be organized as a state. Early
on, a viable trade developed
in furs and oil, and the First
Organic Act established a
formal government in the land,
but neither Johnson nor his
successors seemed in much of
a hurry to organize it. Until they
had to.
On this day, August 24, in 1912,
with the passage of the Second
Organic Act, Alaska became a
U.S. territory. A criminal code
was passed, along with a tax
on liquor, which heightened
calls for Alaskan congressional
representation. Combined
with several scandals involving
business interests and the
Gold Rush-fueled increase in
population served to sway the
minds in Congress.
Alaska before the act resembled
a “colonial economy” in the
words of an Atlantic magazine
story from around that time.
Private and international
interests were exploiting the
region’s resources, and the
U.S. was just standing by.
A scandal developed over
illegal distribution of federal
mines to outside interests, and
convinced President McKinley
that to bring order to the place
the U.S. needed to make it a
territory.
FOR GREAT OFFERS AND FREEBIES IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD VISIT OURTOWNSDEALS.COM • ©2019 DISCOVER THE BEST OF MAGAZINE • OURTOWNSFINEST.COM • 818-573-5443 8