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| District of Alaska | |||||||||
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| Incorporated and unorganized territory of the United States | |||||||||
| 1884–1912 | |||||||||
| Capital | |||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• District of Alaska | 17 May 1884 | ||||||||
| 24 August 1912 | |||||||||
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| Part of a series on the |
| History of Alaska |
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TheDistrict of Alaska was the federal government’s designation forAlaska from May 17, 1884, to August 24, 1912, when it became theTerritory of Alaska. Previously (1867–1884) it had been known as theDepartment of Alaska, a military designation.
The designation as a district meant that Alaska became an incorporated butunorganized territory with a civil government. Thegovernor of the District of Alaska was appointed by thepresident of the United States.
At the time of the 1867Alaska Purchase, legislators inWashington, D.C., were occupied with post–Civil Warreconstruction issues, and had little time to dedicate to Alaska. As adepartment, Alaska was handled as a strategic military area, variously under the jurisdiction of theUnited States Army until 1877, theUnited States Department of the Treasury from 1877 until 1879, and theUnited States Navy from 1879 until 1884.
By 1884, the civilian population had grown to the point where PresidentChester A. Arthur signed off on theFirst Organic Act, and appointed a civil government.[1]
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1890 | 32,052 | — |
| 1900 | 63,592 | +98.4% |
| 1910 | 64,356 | +1.2% |
| Source: 1890–1910;[2] | ||
It was the discovery of gold in the Yukon in 1896 that brought attention to the United States' northern possession. A wave of fortune hunters clamored for passage to theKlondike, but the Klondike was inYukon Territory, Canada, not Alaska as many a would-be miner believed. Still, the easiest route was by ship toSkagway, orDyea, in Southeast Alaska.Miners had their choice of two passes across the mountains to the Yukon fields: TheChilkoot Trail, an old Native route, started in Dyea, and theWhite Pass, also called Dead Horse Trail, was in Skagway. The Chilkoot Trail was a shorter trip but had a considerably steeper climb. The White Pass took a little longer but was at a lower elevation. Skagway and the White Pass trail also had a severe crime problem, organized and led by the infamous badman,Soapy Smith. Smith was killed in Skagway at theShootout on Juneau Wharf.
Alaska still had plenty of gold of its own, and many who had failed to make their fortunes in the Klondike strike came back to look for it. An earlier strike had establishedJuneau in Southeast Alaska, and gold was found inNome in 1899. For several years a prospector namedFelix Pedro had been searching in the Tanana Hills of the Interior for a gold-rich creek he had stumbled upon years earlier but had been forced to abandon. As the summer of 1901 drew to a close, Pedro was about to embark with his partner on a 165-mile walk to Circle City for supplies. He met up withE.T. Barnette, who had been forced to disembark from thesteamerLavelle Young with his entire load of supplies, some of which he sold to Pedro.
Replenished with supplies, Pedro continued his search in the area, and he finally struck gold in July 1902. Shortly afterward, Barnette's outpost was transformed into a booming town. NamedFairbanks in honor ofU.S. Senator Charles W. Fairbanks, the settlement grew as more miners and new businesses arrived. The town had shanties on the fringes, but the center offered many of the economic conveniences of the rest of the U.S.Traffic came through the river, and an overland route toValdez cut days off a trip to the contiguous United States. Eventually, the Tanana Mining District became a huge gold producer, and the metal attracted Americans and Europeans alike. In 1903 the predecessor to theAlaska Railroad began to be built, which would connect fromSeward to Fairbanks by 1923, though Alaska still has no railroad connecting it to the lower 48 states.
Many people in Alaska found ways to profit from the gold rushes without actually panning for the metal themselves. At Ruby Creek, a strike in 1907, and a more substantial one in 1910 brought the rush of miners to the area and created the town ofRuby. The steamers the newcomers used required large quantities of wood to keep them moving, and residents along the river supplemented their trapping and fishing by maintaining profitable wood lots. Ruby grew from a tent city in 1911 to a river port and then had running water in summer, a theater, shops, and cafés. By 1917, at the height of the rush, creeks south of Ruby had yielded $875,000 worth of gold.
Other precious and semiprecious metals were being mined in Alaska, too, particularly copper. In 1910, the richest copper mine in the world started operation at Kennicott in the Wrangell-St. Elias Mountains. The mine extracted more than 591,535 tons of copper ore from the earth, and at its peak employed more than 800 workers.
The more traditional ways of life, fishing, in particular, also provided a livelihood for many Alaskans, particularly aftercanning was introduced. In 1878 businessmen built the first two canneries at Klawock and Sitka. In 1883 the Arctic Pack Company established a cannery at Nushagak Bay in Southwest Alaska, where they were able to exploit the immense runs of salmon. In 1880, two years later, theAlaska Packing Company opened a cannery across the bay, and by 1908, 10 canneries ringed Nushagak Bay in Southwest Alaska. Kodiak's first canneries were built in the late 19th century when word of phenomenal fish runs became widespread.
By the turn of the 20th century, commercial fishing was gaining a foothold in the Aleutian Islands. Packing houses saltedcod andherring, and salmon canneries were opened. Another traditional occupation, whaling, continued with no regard for over-hunting. They pushed thebowhead whales to the edge of extinction for the oil in their tissue (though in recent years, due to a decline in commercial whaling, their populations have rebounded enough for Natives to harvest many each year without affecting the population). The Aleuts soon suffered severe problems due to the depletion of the furseals andsea otters which they needed for survival. As well as requiring the flesh for food, they also used the skins to cover their boats, without which they could not hunt. The Americans also expanded into the Interior and Arctic Alaska, exploiting the furbearers, fish, and other game on which Natives depended.
The following were the Governors of the District of Alaska, appointed by the President of the United States:[3]
| Years | Governor |
|---|---|
| 1884–1885 | John Henry Kinkead |
| 1885–1889 | Alfred P. Swineford |
| 1889–1893 | Lyman Enos Knapp |
| 1893–1897 | James Sheakley |
| 1897–1906 | John Green Brady |
| 1906–1909 | Wilford Bacon Hoggatt |
| 1909–1912 | Walter Eli Clark |
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