Alaska Facts

Alaska State Capital

Juneau (population of about 31,262) the only state capital is the US with no road access. It can only be reached by

air or sea.                                                                                                                                                                  

Purchase of Alaska: Alaska was purchased from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million by then Secretary of State

William H. Seward.

Entered the Union: Jan. 3, 1959, as the 49th state

Alaska State Population: 626,932

Alaska Area: 586,412 sq. mi. - two and a half times larger than Texas.

Motto: North to the Future - created to represent Alaska as a land of promise. [3] 

Territory: 1912

Alaska State Flower: Forget-me-not – was adopted in 1917

Alaska State Fish: King Salmon - was adopted in 1962

Alaska State Bird: Ptarmigan - was adopted in 1955

Alaska State Tree: Sitka Spruce - was adopted in 1962

Alaska State Mineral: Gold - was adopted in 1968

Alaska State Gem: Jade - was adopted in 1968

Alaska State Sport: Dog Mushing - was adopted in 1972

Alaska State Insect: Dragonfly - was adopted in 1995

Alaska State Fossil: Woolly Mammoth - was adopted in 1986

Alaska State Mammal: Moose - was adopted in 1998 In some areas of Alaska there is 24 hours of daylight  
 

More Alaska Facts

Per Capita Personal Income: $30,675 in 2000

Heaviest Annuam Snowfall: 974.5 inches at Thompson Pass near Valdez, during the winter of 1952-53

Tallest Mountain in North America: Mount McKinley at 20,320 feet

Most Glaciers in the Nation: 29,000+ square miles or 5% of the State

Largest Cabbage: 98 Pounds in 1990

Highest Point: Mount McKinley, 20,320 ft

Shoreline: 33,904 miles

Land Area: Alaska is the largest state in the union at 586, 412 square miles (approx. 365,000,000 acres). It's about

1/5 the size fo teh contiguous 48 states. Alaska is about 1390 miles tall and 2210 miles wide. The mean elevation is

1900 ft. The aleutian Islands are 1100 miles long. Alaska has both the eastern, western, northern most points in the

U.S.

Largest Glacier: The Maslaspina Glacier at 850 sq miles is the largest. There are more active glaciers and ice

fields in Alaska than all the remaining states combined - 100,000 glaciers in all.

Longest Day: Barrow, 800 miles south of the North Pole, has the longest and hortest day. When the sun rises on

May 10th, it don't set for nearly 3 months. When it sets on November 18th, Barrow residents do not see the sun again

for nearly two months. The langest day in Anchorage is about 20 hours and the shortest is about 4.5 hours.

Temperature Extremes: The highest air temperature recorded in Alaska was 100 degrees F at Fort Yukon in

1915. The lowest temperature, -80 degrees F, was recorded at Prospect Creek Camp in 1971.

Earthquakes: America's biggest earthquake, on March 27th 1964, devastated much of Southcentral Alaska. The

Good Friday earthquake measured 8.6 on the Richter Scale. This has since revised upward to 9.2 - the strongest

ever recorded in North America.

Mountains: Alaska has 17 of the 20 highest mountains in North America. Mt McKinley is the highest at 20,320 ft,

second is Mt Saint Elias, near Glennallen, at 18,008 ft. National Parks: Alaska has 15 National Parks

Tides: Turnagain Arm, near Anchorage, has tides as much as 30 feet. Tidal bores occur just as the tide changes

from outgoing to incoming.

Population: The 1990 census lists Alaska's population as 550,043. 1996 estimates place the population at 607,

007, with approx. half in Anchorage, 80,000 in Fairbanks, 27,000 in Juneau and the rest distributed about the state

in a few small towns and numerous villages. This gives Alaska a population density of 2.6 people per square mile

(less rivers, lakes, etc.).

Alaska is closer to Russia than the 48 contiguous US states. Little Diomede Island (US) is 2.5 miles from Big
 

Diomede Island (Russia). The mainland is only 51 miles from Russia across the Bering Strait.Alaska is almost as

close to Tokyo, Japan (3,520 miles) as New York City (3,280 miles)

Alaska is 2 times the size of Texas (Tallest in North America)

We have 29 volcanoes

586,400 Square Miles

33,000 miles of coastline!

1,400 miles North to South

2,700 miles East to West

Over 1/2 the world's Glaciers

55 miles east of Russia

We are the only state to have coastlines on three different seas. Arctic Ocean, Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea.

Records

Record high temperature: 1915 +100 oF

Record low temperature: Tanana -78 oF

High tides of 37 feet

Snow: 24 hours; 62 inches

1 year; 974 inches (Thompson Alaska, near Valdez).

Mountains

Mount Elias: 18,008 feet

State Motto: North to the future.

State Flower: Forget-me-not.  The plant grows well in most of Alaska's varied climate.

State Bird: Alaska Willow Ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus alascensis Swarth)

It can change it's color from light brown to snow white. The willow ptarmigan was named Alaska's state

bird in 1955.

State Tree: Sitka spruce (picea sitchenensis)

State Marine Mammal: Bowhead whale

State Fish: King salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)


King salmon weighing up to 100 lb. have been caught in Alaska. The king salmon is also known as the


chinook salmon and is a popular sport fish. It became the state fish in 1962.

State Sport: Dog Mushing - It once was the primary form of transportation in most of Alaska. Today dog

sled racing is a popular winter sport. It was adopted as the state sport in 1972.

Kodiak Bear; 1,400 pounds, 11 feet tall

Polar Bear; 1,400 pounds, 11 feet tall

Grizzly Bear (Brown Bear); 800 pounds, 9 feet tall

Moose; 1,350 pounds, 5 feet high to shoulder Antlers span; 72 inches

Mount Denali: 20,320 feet

Bona - 16,500 feet

Blackburn - 16,390 feet 

Sanford - 16,237 feet

 Foraker - 17,400 feet

Blackburn - 16,390 feet 

Vancouver - 15,700 feet

Churchhill - 15,638 feet

Fairweather - 15,300 feet

Hubbard - 15,015 feet

Bear - 14,831

Purchased from Russia in 1867 for under 2 cents an acre.

Official  Information

State Gem: Jade

Alaska has a large deposit of jade, including an big mountain filled with dark green jade on the Seward

Peninsula.

State Mineral: Gold

The search for gold played a major role in shaping the history of Alaska, from the discovery of gold in

Juneau to the great gold rush at Nome. Gold was named the state mineral in 1968.

State Insect: Four spot skimmer dragonfly 

Islands (largest) 

Kodiak - 3,588 square miles

Prince of Wales - 2,770 square miles

Chichagof - 2,062 square miles

Lakes (largest) 

Yukon - Total of 2,300 miles, 1,875 in Alaska