Talk:Territory of Alaska

I just took this content off the page bc it's not relevant to the time period. If anyone wants to merge it into other appropriate Alaska history articles, please do. Calliopejen1 15:34, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Background

General Jefferson C. Davis was sent to set up a military occupation until a civil government could be established. To encourage economic growth a government subsidized, profit-sharing monopoly was formed called The Alaskan Commercial Company. The A.C.C. organized the fur trade and created transportation, however it hurt private commerce and population growth. The military rule lasted for an incredible seventeen years until 1884 when the Organic Act was passed. This law provided Alaska with a governor, John Kincaid, and judicial courts, however these governments were largely unsuccessful and it still did not have a legislative representative in Congress. Life prior to the Organic Act was chaos; with no civil law there was no marrying, collecting of debts, or acquiring of personal peoperty.

Gold Rush

In 1897 gold was struck in the Klondike and life in Alaska was forever changed. The gold rush pushed Alaska to the forefront of national attention, people flocked to the Klondike and Yukon valleys to get rich. As a result of this influx of people all the land north of the 61st parellel was put under military control. Though the land was harsh and many of the "miners" perished, the gold rush helped boost the Alaskan economy and induce the building of the its first railroad. The rails connected Skagway with the lower 48 states and was owned by the English White Pass Railroad Company.

In 1899, gold was found in Alaska itself in Nome, and several towns subsequently began to be built, such as Fairbanks and Ruby. In 1902, the Alaska Railroad began to be built, which would connect from Seward to Fairbanks by 1914, though Alaska still does not have a railroad connecting it to the lower 48 states today. Still, an overland route was built, cutting transportation times to the contiguous states by days. The industries of copper mining, fishing, and canning began to become popular in the early 1900s, with 10 canneries in some major towns.

1. Jeannette Paddock Nichols, Alaska, (New York: Russell & Russell INC, 1963).

Since War of 1812 statement
What about Pancho Villa? Battle of Palo Alto —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.85.24.5 (talk) 17:59, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

If occupation means, 'enter and stay for a time with the intent of keeping contol of' the Mexican entrance which led to the Battle of Palo Alto breaks this War of 1812 to Attu Islands no occupation statement. Be fair minded and edit it back or I will in a few days time if you debate not and merely add worthless citations. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.85.24.5 (talk) 15:42, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Move to "Territory of Alaska"
I moved the page to "Territory of Alaska" per WP:COMMONNAME established by this ngram. See also WP:Naming_conventions_(country-specific_topics) Kauffner (talk) 03:09, 22 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Better ngram restricted to American English and to more recent corpus. HTML2011 (talk) 23:33, 29 December 2011 (UTC)