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ANCHORAGE
BOROUGH, ALASKA - HISTORICAL TIMELINE
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| 100 Million BC | Land masses collided about this time and created Alaska. |
| 20,000 BC | Some scientists believe that ancient people from Siberia crossed the Bering land bridge about this time and began their southward immigration into the Americas. |
| 8,000 BC | Ice Age ending - rising waters cover land bridge. |
| 28 Jan 1725 | Peter the Great dies and Empress Catherine becomes head of Russia. |
| 1728 | Vitus Bering discovered St. Lawrence Island. |
| 4 June 1741 | Vitus Bering on the St. Peter and Alexei Chirikov on the St. Paul set sail from Kamchatka, Siberia. On June 20 they lose sight of each other in a storm and continue on their separate voyages. |
| 18 July 1741 | Vitus Bering sights Mount St. Elias in North America. He and his men were shipwrecked on Avacha Island off of Kamchatka and many died of disease and lack of food. |
| 15 July 1741 | Chirikov sights land and drops the anchor of the St. Paul. After losing two crews sent to shore to explore, he continues on to Unalaska and probably the island of Adak. He also loses some of his crew to disease and scurvy, before returning to Kamchatka. |
| 8 Dec 1741 | Bering dies on the island of Avacha and is buried there. The island is later renamed Bering Island. |
| 1745 | Russian fur traders first sight Attu and land there to trade with the natives. Several natives were killed. |
| early 1760s | Unalaska natives, tired of attrocities committed upon them by the Russians, strike back. Four Russian ships were destroyed. |
| 1768 | Pribalof discovers the seal islands in the Bering Sea, north of the Aleutians that now bear his name. |
| 1774 | Spanish navigator Juan Perez sailed from California to Prince William Sound. He is driven back by storms, but the Spanish returned in the Sonora the following year, venturing as far as Mt. Edgecume near Sitka. |
| 1778 | British Captain James Cook explores the Alaskan coast, seeking the Northwest Passage back to the Atlantic. On the Discovery he maps and names Mount Edgecumbe, Prince William Sound, Bristol Bay and Norton Bay. On the way back to England his crew almost mutinied, wanting to go back to Alaska, after stopping in China and discovering how much sea otter pelts were worth. |
| 19 Aug 1790 | Aleksandr Andreevich Baranoff embarks for Alaska. He is shipwrecked off of Unalaska. 5 of his crew members were killed by the Kolosh natives and the remainder nearly starved to death while spending winter there. The following spring he and his men travel by sealskin boats to Three Saints, arriving in June of 1791. |
| 1791-1795 | British Captain George Vancouver explores Northwest Coast exhaustively with two ships, but finds no Northwest Passage 1799 - Aleksandr Baranov consolidates Russian possession of Alaska with fort and trading base at Sitka. Two French ships visit Alaska - one reaching Frenchman's Bay and the other Sitka Bay. |
| 1797 | United American Company formed as a merger of 19 traders and trading companies to trade, explore, colonize and Christianize Alaska. |
| July 1799 | Czar
Paul grants a charter to Shelekhov's Russian-American Company for exclusive
rights in the fur trade in Alaska. Baranov leads 1110 men to Sitka. After purchasing land from the Tlingits, they begin to build the town of New Archangel. New Archangel is later renamed Sitka. |
| Apr 1800 | Baranov returns to Kodiak. In his absence the Tlingits burn New Archangel, killing and capturing some 600 people. New Archangel (later Sitka) is recaptured and rebuilt, two years later. |
| 10 Sep 1812 | Russians complete the settlement of Fort Ross (Russ) on Bodega Bay, north of the Russian River in California. This settlement was founded to provide foodstocks for Sitka, AK. |
| 1820 | Czar Alexander declared that Russian influence in North America extended as far south as Oregon and closed Alaskan waters to foreigners. |
| 1821 | Tlingits are allowed to return and rebuild a village at Sitka on their pre-empted land. Their new settlement is called The Ranche. |
| 1824 | Treaty signed between the United States and Russia which designates the southern border of Russian America at 54°40'. This treaty also re-opened all harbors in the region to fishing and trading. |
| 1824 | Ivan Popov, later known as Ioann Veniaminov arrives at Unalaska as a missionary. While he preaches he learns the Aleut language and creates an Aleut dictionary. |
| 1825 | Feb 22, Russia and Britain established the Alaska/Canada boundary. |
| 1834 | Ivan Popov, later known as Ioann Veniaminov moves from the Aleutians to Sitka and learns the Tlingit language in order to minister the natives. |
| 1839 | Dena’ina population decimated by smallpox |
| 1841 | Ivan Popov is appointed Bishop of Russia America and Siberia and is re-named Ioann Veniaminov. |
| 1848 | The onion-domed St. Michael's Cathedral is built in Sitka. |
| 1867 | Mar
30, U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward reached agreement with
Edouard de Stoeckel of Russia to purchase the territory of Alaska for $7.2
million, two cents an acre, a deal roundly ridiculed as "Seward's Folly."
Apr 9, The treaty authorizing the purchase was ratified. Through the negotiations of Secretary of State William H. Seward the purchase of the 591,000 square miles (more than 375 million acres) of Russian America territory cost $7.2 million. Oct 18, The United States took formal possession of Alaska from Russia. This is done by a formal lowering of the Russian flag at Baranoff Castle in Sitka and raising the Stars and Stripes. Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner popularized the name Alaska for the territory that had been known as Russian America in a famous Senate speech supporting the treaty to purchase Russian America. |
| 1871 | A whaling fleet of 32 ships was abandoned off Icy Cape in the Chukchi Sea. Seven other vessels escaped with all the crew members saved. In 1998 an attempt was made to locate the shipwreck site. |
| Jun 1877 | The US Army leaves Alaska and chaos ensues. |
| 1877 | First mission school for natives is founded |
| 1879 |
Naturalist John Muir canoes throughout Southeast Alaska and discovers Glacier Bay. (When Vancouver passed 80 years earlier the bay was still totally full of ice.) Muir's reports inaugurate tourism to the territory. Lode gold is found near what is now Juneau. |
| 1880 | First census of Alaska taken. |
| August 29, 1885 | Lieutenant Henry Allen reached St. Michael after exploring the Copper and Yukon Rivers. |
| 1888 | Gold discoveries in Turnagain Arm. |
| 1890 | Israel C. Russell, sponsored by the National Geographic Society, returned from an expedition to Mt. St. Elias with fossil bearing rocks. |
| 1896-1900 | Aug
16, Skookum Jim discovered gold on a creek of the Klondike River in Alaska.
1896-1900 - Discovery of Gold on a Yukon River tributary brings 100,000 people to Alaska and the Yukon Territory |
| 1896 | James Girdwood stakes placer claim at Crow Creek |
| 1897 | Jul
15, The gold-laden ship Excelsior from Alaska landed in San Francisco. Seattle
mayor W.D. Wood was visiting and immediately resigned his job, hired a ship,
and organized an expedition from SF to the Yukon territory. Jul 17, The Steamer Portland arrived into Seattle from Alaska with 68 prospectors carrying more than a ton of gold. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer announced that men with gold from Alaska were landing. This unleashed the Klondike gold rush and tens of thousands headed for the Yukon. |
| 1897-1902 |
The Jesup North Pacific Expedition was made to study the biological and cultural connections between peoples on each side of the Bering Strait. It was one of the first instances where a camera was used in such a study. |
| 1898 | Construction began on the White Pass & Yukon railroad. It was led by Big Mike Heney, a Canadian Railway contractor, and Sir Thomas Tancred, who represented the British financiers. The Klondike gold rush was in full swing. Congress extends Homesteading Act to Alaska |
| 1899 |
The White
Pass & Yukon railroad, which led to the goldfields, was completed.
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| 1900 | The
110-mile White Pass & Yukon narrow-gauge railroad from Skagway to Whitehorse,
the Alaska-British Columbia border, was completed. The Nome Daily Chronicle began publication. In September it changed to weekly publication and the following June it closed down. The USS Wheeling arrived in Sitka from the Philippines after taking part in the Spanish-American War. |
| 1901 | E.T. Barnette opened a trading post on the Chena River. A town formed that came to be called Chenoa City and was later renamed Fairbanks. |
| 1902 | Felix Pedro, an Italian miner, discovered gold northeast of Chenoa City. Miners surged in from the Fortymile and Klondike goldfields. Construction of the Alaska Central Railway begins at Seward. |
| 1903 | Jan
24, U.S. Secretary of State John Hay and British Ambassador Herbert created
a joint commission to establish the Alaskan border. Oct 20, A joint commission ruled in favor of the United States in a boundary dispute between the District of Alaska and Canada. U.S. Senator W. P. Dillingham arrived at Sitka on the Revenue Cutter McCullouch on a tour of Alaska. The town of Dillingham was later named for him. The Santa Ana landed 200 people at Seward. The date was long observed there as Founders Day. |
| 1906 |
Alaska territorial capital is moved from Sitka "the Paris of the Pacific"
to Juneau. The first official election was held to name a Delegate in Congress
for Alaska. Actually, two Delegates were elected: Frank Waskey for a short
term, Thomas Cale for a full term. The Alaska Packers Assoc. bought the square-rigged Balclutha ship and renamed it Star of Alaska. It carried workers to the Chignick Cannery and transported them back after the salmon season. In Alaska Dr. Frederick Cook claimed to have taken a picture of his companion, Edward Barrill, from the summit of Mt. McKinley. In 1998 it was reported that the photo was a fake, and that they probably never reached the summit. A fire burned down most of downtown Fairbanks. |
| 1908 | The first automobile in Fairbanks, a Pope-Toledo, arrived for David Laite |
| 1909 | The George C. Thomas Memorial Library was dedicated at Fairbanks |
| 1910 | Apr 3, Alaska's Mt. McKinley, the highest mountain in North America, was climbed. First cabins built on the flats of Ship Creek |
| 1911 | Jun
4, Gold was discovered in Alaska's Indian Creek. G/s F.S. Redfield stranded on Cape Prince of Wales. All 23 people aboard survived. |
| 1912 | Aug 24, By an act of Congress, Alaska was given a territorial legislature of two houses. President William Howard Taft signed the Organic Act which created the Territory of Alaska. The signing took place on the birthday of Delegate James Wickersham, author of the bill. |
| 1915 | First Alaska Railroad Anchorage townsite auction. Pioneer School established as Anchorage’s first school |
| 1916 | Baseball
diamond and grandstands built.Joe Spenard holds first ice carnival on Lake
Spenard "Skookum Jim" the miner who discovered the gold that led to the Klondike Gold Rush, dies penniless in Dawson, Yukon Territory.. |
| 1917 | All-Alaska Mid-Winter Carnival first held |
| 1918 | Train
service established between Anchorage and Seward Father William Duncan died at Metlakatla, a town he was instrumental in founding in 1887. |
| 1920 | Anchorage
is incorporated as a city. The cannery of the Straits Packing Company burned at Skowl Arm of Kasaan Bay. Juneau had its first airplane overflight when one of the four planes of the Black Wolf Squadron passed over on its way to Nome. |
| 1922 | Feb
6, The Washington Disarmament Conference came to an end with signature of
final treaty forbidding fortification of the Aleutian Islands for 14 years.
Roy Jones makes the first floatplane trip up the Inside Passage; such small
aircraft revolutionize travel in the bush. A 674 mile dogsled relay brings
diphtheria vaccine to Nome A fire at Haines destroyed the post office and other buildings. |
| 1923 | Aug 2, President Warren G. Harding died suddenly of an embolism in San Francisco on August 2, 1923, during a return trip form Alaska. Born November 2, 1865, in Corsica, Ohio, Harding was elected the 29th U.S. president in 1920. He had just driven the “Golden Spike” to complete the Alaska Railroad line from Seward to Fairbanks |
| 1924 | The railroad made it to Fairbanks. Eklutna Industrial School established in Anchorage, Fire destroyed the power plant at the Kennecott mine. |
| 1925 | January,
Dr. Curtis Welch in Nome began diagnosing cases of diphtheria. An emergency
delivery of serum against the disease was arranged by dogsled. 20 mushers
rushed the serum 674 miles from Nenana to Nome in 5 days. The last leg of
the journey was run by Gunnar Kaasen and his lead dog Balto. An animated
film on Balto was made in 1995 by Stephen Spielberg. The longest segment
of the journey, 260 miles, was run by Leonhard Seppala and his lead dog
Togo. The events were later described by Bill Sherwonit in his book: "Iditarod:
the Great Race to Nome." Glacier Bay National Monument was dedicated in Alaska. Anchorage Golf Club organized. |
| 1926 | First homestead established in South Anchorage by Thomas Hogan |
| 1929 | Pioneer aviator Russell Merrill disappears while crossing Cook Inlet |
| 1930 | Merrill Field opened |
| 1931 | Col. and Mrs. Charles A. Lindbergh landed at Barrow en route to the Orient. |
| 1935 | Aug
15, Humorist Will Rogers, American comedian and "cowboy philosopher," and
aviation pioneer Wiley Post were killed when their airplane crashed near
Point Barrow, Alaska. Alton C. Nordale, a Territorial Legislator, died in a plane crash near Healy River. Robert Atwood becomes editor and publisher of Anchorage Daily Times. Matanuska Colony experiment begins |
| 1937 |
First Fur Rendezvous held by Chamber of Commerce |
| 1938 | A Pan-American Airways "Baby Clipper" landed on the Juneau airfield in a trial flight. |
| 1939 | Providence Hospital opens in Anchorage. |
| 1940 | Construction begins on Fort Richardson and Elmendorf Air Force Base |
| 1942 | The
Japanese invaded Attu and Kiska in the Aleutian Islands. Sep 16, The Japanese base at Kiska in the Aleutian Islands was raided by American bombers. The Alaska-Canadian Highway across Canada was formally opened. Whittier Tunnel completed The Alaska Highway project is begun to move defense supplies. |
| 15 Aug 1943 | Americans retake Kiska Island from the Japanese. |
| 1946 |
Universal
Services was formed in 1946 to provide catering and other support services
for the civilian workforce rebuilding defense bases in Alaska. Extensive
work was then developed with the oil industry that was expanding its exploration
activity in Alaska. As the search for energy moved to other parts of the
world, Universal followed. Operations were established in the Gulf of
Mexico (1955), South America (1957), North Sea (1964), Africa (1960s),
Middle East and Far East. Additional work was developed with the mining
and construction industries. |
| 1949 |
First traffic lights installed on Fourth Avenue in Anchorage. |
| 1950 | First
“Carrs” grocery store opens in Anchorage Marvin "Muktuk" Marston lays out Turnagain-by-the Sea |
| 1951 |
Completion of highway between Anchorage and Seward |
| 1953 | Mount
Spurr erupts for first time in recorded history. The Northern Commercial Company displayed the first TVs to arrive in Fairbanks at the Tanana Valley fairgrounds. Prices ranged from $259 to $419. Ted Stevens was appointed as the U.S. District Attorney in Fairbanks, his first government job in Alaska. |
| 1954 | Anchorage Community College opens |
| 1956 | Anchorage named "All-American City" |
| 1957 | Oil discovered at Swanson River on the Kenai Peninsula |
| 1958 | Jun
30, Congress passed a law authorizing the admission of Alaska as the 49th
state in the Union, the first new state since 1912. Jul 7, President Eisenhower signed the Alaska statehood bill. |
| 1959 |
Jan 3, President
Eisenhower signed a proclamation admitting Alaska to the Union as the
49th state. Its area is 586,412 sq. mls. Capital: Juneau; bird: willow
ptarmigan; flower: forget-me-not; nickname: The Last Frontier. |
| 1964 | Mar
27, Good Friday, Valdez, Alaska, was rocked by an 8.6 earthquake, the largest
ever recorded in North America. It lasted 4 minutes and was followed by
tsunamis and fires and 32 people were killed. Survivors moved 4 miles west
to solid bedrock and rebuilt the town. This earthquake is forever dubbed
the "Good Friday" Earthquake. Greater Anchorage Area Borough created the State legislature |
| 1965 | Anchorage again named “All- American City” for earthquake restoration efforts |
| 2 Jan 1966 | The Russian-built Cathedral of St. Michael in Sitka was destroyed by fire. It was later rebuilt. |
| 1968 | The
Anchorage Museum of History and Art opened. Kincaid Park created from a former Nike missile site in South Anchorage Prudhoe Bay, the largest oil field in North America was discovered on the North Slope, near Barrow. |
| 1969 |
Walter Hickel named to Presidential Cabinet post, a first for any Alaskan |
| 1971 | Sep
4, An Alaska Airlines jet crashed near Juneau, killing 111 people. President Richard Nixon and Emperor Hirohito meet at Elmendorf Air Force Base |
| 1973 | The
Alaskan 1,159 mile Iditarod dog-sled race was first run in commemoration
of the 1925 dog-sled relay for diphtheria vaccine to Nome.. Joan Kimura designs official seal of Anchorage |
| 1974 | The USS Anchorage, on a tour of Alaska ports, arrived in Sitka harbor for a three-day stay. |
| 1975 |
Mar 9, Work
began on the Alaskan oil pipeline. |
| 1977 |
May 31, The trans-Alaska oil pipeline was completed after three years of work and the first oil through flows through an 800 mile engineering feat. The first tanker with Prudhoe Bay oil, the ARCO Juneau, left Valdez on August 1. |
| 1980 |
In the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act the size of Denali National Park was tripled to 6 million acres. Motorized access to the land was given for traditional activities such as hunting, fishing and camping. |
| 1982 | The White Pass & Yukon railroad closed after a highway opened between Skagway and Whitehorse, and a slump in metal prices shut down mines. |
| 1983 | Heritage Land Bank created |
| 1984 | Anchorage named “All-American City” for third time |
| 1985 | Mar
20, Libby Riddles won the Iditarod. State of Alaska purchases Alaska Railroad from federal government. Anchorage named a U.S. bid city for Olympic games |
| 1986 |
Kincaid Outdoor Center opens in Anchorage |
| 1988 |
Oct 16, Rescue
workers near Point Barrow, Alaska, continued their efforts to save three
California gray whales trapped in Arctic Ocean ice. |
| 1989 | Mar
24, Good Friday, The nation's worst oil spill occurred as the supertanker
Exxon Valdez ran into Bligh Reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound and began
leaking 11 million gallons of crude. The Exxon Valdez struck ground and
spilled 10.6 million gallons of oil. Exxon then spent some $2.5 billion
to clean up the spill and filed suit against Lloyd's of London for reimbursement
under a $210 million insurance policy. In 1996 a jury in Houston voted that
Lloyd's and some 250 other underwriters should compensate Exxon $250 million.
The Exxon Valdez spilled 240,000 barrels of oil in Alaska's Prince William
Sound. Apr 1, Alaska Gov. Steve Cowper announced that a "strike force" of state officials and local fishermen were taking over some of the cleanup operations following the massive Exxon Valdez oil spill. |
| 1990 | Jan
29, Former Exxon Valdez skipper Joseph Hazelwood went on trial in Anchorage,
Alaska, on charges stemming from the nation's worst oil spill. Hazelwood
was acquitted of major charges and convicted of a misdemeanor. Mar 22, A jury in Anchorage, Alaska, found Captain Hazelwood not guilty in the Valdez oil spill. Population: 550,043 |
| 1991 | Mar 13, Exxon paid $1 billion in fines and for the clean-up of the Alaskan oil spill. |
| 1992 |
Mount Redoubt erupts in August, covering Anchorage in volcanic ash |
| 1994 | Alaska population was 599,200. Alaskan Tommy Moe wins gold medal at Winter Olympics |
| 1996 |
Arctic Winter Games held in Chugiak/Eagle River |
| 1997 | Nov
9, A family of 7 and the pilot of a commuter plane died in a crash in Barrow.
Nov 26, In the Aleutian Islands 800 miles southwest of Anchorage, Alaska, the freighter, Kuroshima, ran aground off Dutch Harbor in heavy winds. Two crewmen were reported dead and 10,000 gallons of oil was reported to have leaked. As much as 240,000 gallons was reported on board. Emergency workers removed 57,000 gallons on Dec 5 and 30,000 gallons still remained. |
| 1999 |
Feb, The
snowmobile was banned from all but 7,000 of the 2 million acres of Denali
National Park designated as the Denali National Wilderness. |
| 2000 | Doug Swingley of Lincoln, MT wins the Iditarod |
| 2001 | Doug Swingley of Lincoln, MT wins the Iditarod |
| 2002 | Martin
Buser of Big Lake, AK breaks the 9-day barrier, winning his 4th Iditarod
title in 8 days, 22 hours, 46 minutes and 2 seconds. State study showed glaciers melting at higher rate. Earthquake damaged highways and rural homes |
| 2003 | Robert Sorlie of Hurdal, Norway wins the Iditarod. |
| 2004 | Federal
judge ordered Exxon to pay $6.75 billion for 1989 oil spill Mitch Seavey of Seward AK wins the Iditarod. |
| 2005 | Robert Sorlie of Hurdal, Norway wins the Iditarod. |
| 2006 | Sarah
Palin takes office as Alaska’s first woman governor British Petrolum had 267,000 gallons oil spill at Prudhoe Bay; crew rescued from cargo vessel listing by Aleutian Islands Jeff King of Denali, AK wins the Iditarod. Aug 5 - 4 time Iditarod winner, Susan Butcher dies. |
| 2007 | Lance Mackey becomes the first musher to win both the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race and the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in the same year. |
| 2008 | Alaska
Governor Sarah Palin runs on Republican ticket for US Vice President next
to Presidential Candidate John McCain. Election won handily by Democratic
Presidential candidate, Barack Obama and Vice Presidential candidate, Joseph
Biden. Lance Mackey won both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod sled dog races for the second year in a row. |
| 2009 | 50th
Anniversary of Alaska Statehood The minimum wage jumps from $5.65 to $7.15, giving Alaska the highest minimum wage on the West Coast Sarah Palin resigns as Alaska Governor for unspecified reasons. Lance Mackey of Fairbanks AK wins the Iditarod. |
| 2010 | Lance
Mackey of Fairbanks AK wins the Iditarod. Former Senator Ted Stevens is killed in a plane crash near Dillingham |
| 2011 | John Baker of Kotzebue, AK wins the Iditarod and sets a new record by finishing in 8 Days 18 Hours 46 Minutes 39 Seconds. Ramey Smith of Willow, AK comes in 2nd in 8 Days 19 Hours 50 Minutes 59 Seconds. Hans Gatt of Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada finishes third in 9 Days 0 Hours 24 Minutes 23 Seconds. |
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