I love my state. A lot of people want to visit Alaska, or at last learn a little more about it. I can understand that!

Maybe I can answer some questions?

Here's some basics:

The name Alaska is derived from the Aleut word "Alyeska," meaning
"The Great Land."

Outsiders first discovered Alaska in 1741 when Russian explorer Vitus Jonassen Bering sighted it on a voyage from Siberia.
 
Russian whalers and fur traders on Kodiak Island established the first settlement in Alaska in 1784.
 
In 1867 United States Secretary of State William H. Seward offered Russia $7,200,000, or two cents per acre, for Alaska. They took the offer. Donald Trump couldn't have swung a sweeter deal...
 
On October 18, 1867 Alaska officially became the property of the United States. Many Americans called the purchase "Seward's Folly." They were dumbasses...
 
Joe Juneau's 1880 discovery of gold ushered in the gold rush era. That may be why we named our capitol city after him.
 
In 1943 Japan invaded the Aleutian Islands, which started the One Thousand Mile War, the first battle fought on American soil since the Civil War.
 
Alaska officially became the 49th American State on January 3, 1959.
 
Alaska's most important revenue source is the oil and natural gas industry. But we think they suck and should pay top dollar for every drop they extract. Unfortunately, Big Oil buys lots of our politicians before they remember they are Alaskans.
 
Alaska accounts for 25% of the oil produced in the United States. But most of it gets exported to Japan. We pay about the national average in Anchorage and Fairbanks, with wild increases proportionate to the square of the distance from Anchorage and Fairbanks... 
 
The state of Rhode Island could fit into Alaska 425 times, but we could give a shit about Rhode Island...
 
Prudhoe Bay, on the northern Alaskan coast  is North America's largest oil field. It's also operated (quite poorly) by British Petroleum...
 
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline moves up to 88,000 barrels of oil per hour on its 800 mile journey to Valdez. If one of the locs doesn't get drunk and shoot it with his bear gun...
 
The fishing and seafood industry is the state's largest private industry employer, especially if you count the illegal Filipino and Mexican cannery crews.
 
Most of America's salmon, crab, halibut, and herring come from Alaska. Much of it brought to your happy table by yours truly..
 
The term Alaska Native Capital "N") refers to Alaska's original inhabitants including Aleut, Eskimo and Indian groups. They are some of the most spectacular indigenous cultures on Earth. They also drink like fish and their women are beautiful...
 
The wild forget-me-not is the official state flower. The Territorial Legislature adopted it in 1917. Very cool choice, aesthetically speaking.
 
The willow ptarmigan is the official state bird. The Territorial Legislature adopted it in 1955. They's also darn good eatin'...
 
The Sitka spruce is the official state tree. The Territorial Legislature adopted it in 1962. Highest strength:weight ratio of any wood. We burn it in our fireplaces, as well as make guitar bodies, houses, boats and aircraft out of it...
 
Dog mushing is the official state sport. The Alaska Legislature adopted it in 1972. The unofficial state sport is talking about each other behind each other's backs. That, and brawling in the winter.
We also do some other "outdoorsy" shit...
 
An unnamed draftsman created the state seal in 1910. It consists of a rising sun shining on forests, lake, fishing and shipping boats, and agricultural and mining activities.
 
The state motto is North to the Future. That's because most of us have some pretty checkered pasts..
 
Jade is the official state gemstone. Particularly Kobuk Jade. Very nice!
 
Gold is the official state mineral. It was named the state mineral in 1968. And there's still tons of it laying around.
 
The four-spot skimmer dragonfly is the official state insect. The 36" rainbow trout consider them a delicacy.
 
In 1926 13-year-old Bennie Benson from Larsen Bay, Alaska designed the state flag. He did a good job too!
 
Alaska has been called America's Last Frontier. It IS America's Frontier. One big happy gold camp!
 
Every four years Alaskans elect a Governor and a Lieutenant Governor to four-year terms. Then they sell indulgences to the highest bidder. Gubernatorial wealth is considered to be the "classic" path to success here in The Great Land...
 
The Alaska State Legislature is made up of a Senate and a House of Representatives. Yep. Just like everyone else except Nebraska, the only other state that rhymes with us.
 
 
Alaska's Constitution was adopted in 1956 and became effective in 1959 making it the 49th state. Too bad we don't read it more often...
 
Nearly one-third of Alaska lies within the Arctic Circle. By land area. There's also about 12 people there, sniviling in the wind...
 
The Alaska Highway was originally built as a military supply road during World War II. By mostly African Americans living in tents in -60F. They got the job done when it counted.
 
The state boasts the lowest population density in the nation. And that' the way we like it!
 
The discovery of gold in the Yukon began a gold rush in 1898. Later gold was discovered at Nome and Fairbanks and a hell of  lot of other places. Tons and tons and tons of it...
 
Alaska is a geographical marvel. When a scale map of Alaska is superimposed on a map of the 48 lower states, Alaska extends from coast to coast.
 
The state's coastline extends over 9,600 miles.
 
Alaska is the United State's largest state and is over twice the size of Texas. Measuring from north to south the state is approximately 1,400 miles long and measuring from east to west it is 2,700 miles wide. It is America's Westernmost, Easternmost, and Northernmost state. It is also the coolest...
 
Agattu, Attu, and Kiska, in the Aleutians, are the only parts of North America occupied by Japanese troops during World War II.
 
 
Alaska's Tongass National Forest is the largest national forest in the United States, and probably the rowdiest...
 
17 of the 20 highest peaks in the United States are located in Alaska. Think you can climb? Wait 'til you find out that the high latitude lowers atmospheric O2 and keeps the weather bad and makes the big mountains here 5-8000' higher...
 
At 20,320 feet above sea level, Mt. McKinley, located in Alaska's interior, is the highest point in North America. It kills 10-20 climbers a year.
 
Juneau is the only capital city in the United States accessible only by boat or plane. We think that's brilliant! It makes it so much easier to bribe our legislators...
 
The state's largest city is Anchorage; the second largest is Fairbanks. But why make either a capitol city? Tht would make too much sense..
 
 
In 1915 the record high temperature in Alaska was 100 degrees Fahrenheit at Fort Yukon; the record low temperature was -80 degrees Fahrenheit at Prospect Creek Camp in 1971.



What else do you want to know?

That's a hell of a note, loosing the $$ like that...
You make the politics of the sale quite interesting, Green!


Vitus Bering was born and trained in Denmark. Russia didn't have enough trained navigators because that information was considered "National Secrets".
Catherine The Great hired whoever she needed to help forge Russia into a modern nation after 600 years of isolationist feudalism.
Bering was a merc. He didn't do anything for the Rodina, he did it for cash.
But like you said, he did a lot for Russia. If you feel he should be remembered as Russsian for all he did for Russia, I think it's fitting.



The tale of the Promyshlenniki in Alaska is one of incredible courage, hardship, persistence, and rapacious avarice. Remember that sea otter and fur seal furs were worth more than their weight in gold at the time...

Alexandr Baranov's (Baranof, Baranoff, Баранов) rises and falls are the stuff of legend. The man overcame personal setback after professional problems over years to succeed masterfully at exactly what he came to do. An example of fortitude and personal strength worthy of Hercules.

The history of Russian Alaska is very, very interesting.

 

Another lost post...

Quote from: Green on October 23, 2007, 11:37:32 PM


So in all senses it was European expansion to America, however from the other side of the planet.

Well said.
Today's Alaska owes a lot to her vibrant living Russian heritage. It's one of the things that make her special.
I leave my house on Monashka Bay Rd on Kodiak, follow it until it turns into Rezanof Hwy, past Melnitza and Metrokin lanes, a quick rt, then left, and I'm on Simeonoff headed toward Baranof past Holy Resurrection Church.



Quote
     Restaurant owner opens door to village of Nikolaevsk
By McKibben Jackinsky
Homer Tribune Wednesday, April 3, 2002

The tiny picturesque village of Nikolaevsk sits on the edge of the Kenai Peninsula's Caribou Hills, a popular snowmachining area nine miles easet of Anchor Point. The Samovar Café and Gift Shop sit on the edge of Nikolaevsk. Anyone wanting a taste of Russian cooking can sit at the counter surrounding owner Nina Fefelov's kitchen and sample from a variety of tasty dishes...
...
Borsch comes out of the kitchen steaming hot. The soup is thick with cabbage, beets, potatoes, tomatoes and celery. A spiral of sour cream and a sprinkling of dill float on its surface.
''This keeps people together,'' Fefelov claims of the soup's popularity.
And the slices of hearty whole wheat bread baked by her husband, Dennis, are a good excuse to keep diners asking for more of the tasty soup.
Piroshoks are dumplings that can be filled with meat or made to fit a vegetarian diet by stuffing them with rice, mushroom and vegetable mixture. Pelimeny are Siberian dumplings filled with beef and boiled in chicken broth ''until they float.'' As with the borsch, sour cream and dill make a perfect topping.
As satisfying as all that may be, Fefelov will still encourage sampling her cream puff dessert, topped with cherries, chocolate, and whipped cream.
After dinner, cups of Russian tea, a mild mixture of raspberry, strawberry, mint and fireweed blossoms, prove a perfect finale...


Fefelov is an electrical engineer from Khabarovsk, in the Russian Far East. She has lived in Nikolaevsk for 10 years and teaches the Russian language at Nikolaevsk School.[/quote]

Yummy! I highly recommend!


 


Quote
It's interesting that Aleut and Eskimo are still Orthodox believers and many have Russian surnames since they were christianized. Though, their rites always had inclination towards paganism, have a look on how they bury their dead.



 



Those "Inclinations" often result in some beautiful things.
The spirit of potlatch means that human interrelationships should work in in a circle. It is a conscious cultural affirmation that "No man is an island" or "It takes a village". It is a recognition that every act between free people is a chance "for good things to come".

I once gave a village elder a pair of boots because he remarked how they'd keep his feet warm. I asked him what size foot he had. He glanced down at my feet and said, "10 and a half! Ha!" I sat down and took off my boots. He smiled like a Mayan statue.
We're still such good friends that I have to laugh at my initial desire to keep  his boots.   Grin

 












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And final accords:
Yunona and Avos, perestroika musical based on a real story. American girl waiting for her Russian guy. Middle of the 18th century. He could never come back. Auditorium is sobbing. Great stuff.

Does it sound a little like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9_eQTyZ0-g

"Heading East, we cross the hump and take in the first look at Prince William Sound..."








"College Fjord has no less than 17 tidewater glaciers, Coghill Lake gets a major run of Sockeye..."



L

"Back to work..."



We compile land lines, utilities, ownership, easements and rights of way, trails, traditional subsistance and other use areas, archeological, ethnobotannical and ethnobiologcal, geological, navigational and aviation, medical and a lot of other information for a highly detailed map that community leaders, the Government, and whoever else can use with the highest confidence for planning, emergency, future claims, and other uses.
The way we tie all this information to what is on the ground is to take very precise measurements of precise ground features, like lot corners to locate land lines to the standard of the electronic and paper map.




And we dial in the aerial photogrammetry and LIDAR, particularly in the vertical plane, as well as the ground will allow...



We use survey grade "static" GPS to create a network of base measurements and resulting vectors that is tied quite precisely and accurately to the national network of known points



Then we use Real Time Kinematic GPS to locate all the important features of the village. This results in enough known points with descriptions to accurately tie all the info together geographically.


ftp://ftp.dcbd.dced.state.ak.us/profiles/profile-maps.htm

Houm, sister is a topographer, but she just makes railway tunnels (no fancy gPS there, heh)... and obviously she wears no beard, but tunnel diggers -or is it tunneleer?- respected her the same. Well, actually they behaved like human beings (as much human as a tunnel digger can be) with her...

And of course this is not Alaska.

Lucky bastard.


I'm off to the computer lab to work on my AutoCad assignment and finish writing a geo-processing script.

I'll most likely be back in the woods this weekend. Nothing with a view quite like that though.