I come from the the Northernmost “big” city in the U.S, a town of 350,000 brave/crazy/adventurous fools sandwiched between the Chugach Mountains and the cold waters of the Pacific Ocean: Anchorage, Alaska. I never thought it was weird to be from Alaska until I moved to Texas. Dealing with six months of extreme dark and cold, followed by summers of eternal light and temperatures that rarely broke eighty seems normal to me. It’s this silly Texas weather I’m getting used to…50 degrees? In December? Texas, you so crazy! Despite my misguided ideas of normalcy, it is kind of fun to be the new kid. I’m from a place that people are either very fascinated by, or know absolutely nothing about. I’ve been in Texas one month, and every time I meet a new person, the conversation goes like this:
Them: You’re from Alaska, what part??
Me: Anchorage.
Them:…
No one seems to know much about my state, unless they’ve been there. Few people even seem to realize there’s a decent sized bustling city nestled in the heart of that icy wasteland, and that all forms of people populate that place from rednecks to hippies to hipsters to musicians to engineers to students to skiiers to people that hate the cold.
So to clear things up, I will give you some information/”fun” facts about the state which I still find fascinating even after living there most of my life.
Alaska is the biggest state, at 2.5 times larger than Texas, with a population around 630,000. That’s a lot of free space. We obviously like to spread out, as we also contain the top four largest cities by size. The number one, being Sitka, rounding up to about 3,000 square miles and a population of only 10,000. That’s a lot of free space for activities.
Alaska is the coldest state. Alaska gets very cold, especially in the Northernmost parts. According to my internet sources, the coldest recorded temperature in the U.S. was in Prospect Creek Camp, Alaska, hitting a dismal -80F in 1971. The second biggest city, Fairbanks, recently topped a list of America’s 25 Coldest Cities:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2010/12/10/america-s-25-coldest-cities.html
. However, Anchorage, which is 360 miles South, didn’t even make the list. So, while it does get damn cold in certain areas of the state, most Alaskans aren’t hardcore enough to live in those areas.
The days/nights. One thing people ask me a lot is “are there really thirty days of night during the winter?” Or “does the sun stay up forever all summer.” The answer is: kind of. It depends on what part of the state you are in. On the shortest day of the year, Anchorage gets 5.5 of daylight hours. However, way up north in Barrow, they have no daylight from November 18 through January 24 (unfortunately there are no vampires either.) In the summer, Anchorage has 19.5 hours of daylight and Barrow has 84 days of continuous sunlight from May 10 to August 2. Trust me, Alaskan summers are pretty badass.
Alaska has a crapload of lakes. Seriously, Minnesota, I’m not sure why you’re bragging about 10,000 measly lakes. Alaska has three MILLION lakes and three thousand rivers. The state also contains over 50% of the glaciers in the WORLD, the number being at around 100,000. Only 616 have names though.
Alaska has the least accessible state capital. Juneau, AK, is the only U.S. capital that cannot be accessed by road. You have to fly in. Silly.
Alaska experience the biggest earthquake in U.S. history, in 1964. It registered a 9.2 on the Richter scale, and killed 130 people.
Alaska contains the highest peak on the North American continent, Mt. McKinley. It is 20,000 feet tall and located in Denali National Park, about 300 miles North of Anchorage. It is so tall, that on clear days, you can see the peak from Anchorage.
Yes, we get money for living there. Every resident of Alaska gets a check every October for Permanent Fund Dividend. It is generally between $1,000-$2,000, though one year it was $3,300 (thanks Sarah Palin!) It is related to our oil money, but I don’t know the details.
Alaska experienced the second worst oil spill in U.S. History, in 1989. Around 11 million gallons of oil spilled, killing thousands of animals and devastating the ecosystem for years to come. The captain was drunk and got a misdemeanor charge.
Alaskan Natives. There are 7 distinct Alaskan Native cultures and even more tribes than that. I find the history of Alaskan Natives to be very fascinating, sad, and ultimately (somewhat) triumphant. Everyone knows about the tragedies suffered by the Native tribes of the Continental U.S, but few know about the history of Alaskan Natives. Alaskan Natives had lived an indigenous lifestyle in Alaska for a very long time, first being contacted by the outside world when the Russians came over in the 1700s. There was conflict between the Russians and the Aleuts, but the Russians persisted in staying, establishing camps in Unalaska in the Aleutian Islands. In the late 1700s, some Spaniards showed up and continued to come to Alaska every so often to collect artifacts and study the Natives. Captain Cook also showed up and mapped most of the coastline of Alaska. The Russian Orthodox church began sending missionaries to religiously “school” the Native people and begin building churches, while conflict continues for several years between Natives and Russians.
Over the next 100 years, more outsiders came to Alaska, to hunt whales and trade. They brought with them alcohol and diseases that the Natives had never been introduced to. These diseases caused the deaths of many Natives, the whalers killed a large portion of the whale population, and the alcohol caused many problems to the people who had never had it as part of their lives before. By 1866, the population of Aleuts is 25% of what it was before the Russians made contact.
Despite the fact that Russia had never paid anything for Alaska, Alaska was sold to the U.S. by Russia in 1867, for 2 cents an acre. In this sell, Alaskan Natives are given no rights or citizenship. By the late 1890s, the Gold Rush had begun, and miners and prospectors were flooding into Alaska. Many schools had been established for Alaskan Native children, but their own languages were outlawed at school. Over the next twenty years, Native populations diminished further due to diseases introduced by outsiders. Over the next several decades, there continued to be strife between white people and Native Alaskans, as the latter struggled for citizenship, and the former refused to allow it, until the Natives adapted the white people’s way of life. In the 1920s and 1930s, Natives finally begin getting a few rights, including citizenship, ownership of lots, the ability to self govern, and the right to establish reservations. These are small steps, there is still a high level of segregation going on, that mirrored the segregation between blacks and whites in the rest of the U.S.
Finally, in the late 60s, the Tlingit and Haida received compensation for land that was taken by them from the U.S. government several decades before. That same year, a huge oil field was discovered on North Slope, and plans were formed to build a pipeline to transport the oil. Alaska was once again flooded with outsiders looking to cash in.
Finally, in 1971, Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement act, which awarded 12% of Alaska’s land back to Native Alaskans through corporations they had formed to control it. The next year, another act was passed, allowing Native culture and languages to be allowed back in schools.
They have continued to gain small freedoms since then, and today experience much more freedoms than they did 100 years ago, through hard work and determination. A few of my close friend are Alaskan Natives, I have studied their history and literature a bit, and find their plight very inspiring. They went from being treated as second class citizens to being owners of some of the biggest corporations in the state.
Anyway, I hope this has been informative, if not entertaining. Alaska is a beautiful state, the prettiest I’ve seen out of the 20 I’ve been to (perhaps I’m biased,) and you should definitely try to visit up there at least once in your life. Come with me, I’ll take you fishing…Next time you see me out and about, feel free to ask me anything I may have left out..Even if i don’t know the answer, I will either make one up, or google it. Next time I will talk about just how I ended up here..
Until then, adios!
~Ari
(Continue with Part 2) .
