Alaska, whose area is equal to about 120 States the size of
Connecticut, became the property of the United States in 1867 by
purchase from Russia. The sum paid for it was $7,000,000. The purchase,
negotiated by Secretary of State Seward, was denounced by many as
an extravagant use of public funds because Alaska appeared to be
practically worthless. The Government, however, unheeding the kind
of criticism paid $200,000 in addition to the first price named to
extinguish the rights of various commercial companies and thus acquired
a clear title. It was soon found the supposed ice bound land was full
of wealth in fisheries and lumber, the income from seal fisheries alone
amounting in one year to $2,500,000. Alaska’s wealth in gold was,
however, not suspected until recent years and not demonstrated until
the summer of 1896, when the now famous treasure ship arrived in San
Francisco having on board over $600,000 in gold, the property of 50
prospectors who had washed it out of the bars of the creeks emptying
into the Yukon river. Alaska, the “ice bound, inhospitable desert of
the north,” as it was designated in 1868, was a Mecca for the world for
the next few months and thousands braved the dangers of Chilkoot pass
to search for the yellow metal, and at this time it is estimated over
50,000 people are in that part of the Territory which two years ago was
practically uninhabited.