
Alaska History and Facts
Alaska Facts
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Alaska State: Flower Forget-me-not
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Alaska State Bird: Willow Ptarmigan
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Alaska State Tree: Sitka Spruce
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Alaska State Mineral: Gold
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Alaska State Gem: Jade
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Alaska State Mammal: Moose
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Alaska State Fish: King Salmon
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Alaska State Sport: Dog Mushing
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State Nickname: The Last Frontier
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State Motto: North To The Future
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State Song: Alaska's Flag
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Alaska State Holidays: Alaska Day, Oct.18th and Seward's Day March 27
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The United States purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million, about 2 cents an acre.
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15 species of whales are found in Alaska waters.
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Alaska has more than 80 potentially active volcanoes.
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The flag of Alaska contains 8 gold stars representing the Big Dipper and the North Star on a field of blue.
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Longest Day: Barrow the sun rises on May 10th, it don't set for nearly 3 months.
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Shortest Day: Barrow when sun sets on November 18th, Barrow residents do not see the sun again for nearly two months.
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What maybe the oldest documented site of human habitation in North America, the Mesa Site found in 1993 lies 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
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There are more than 3,000 rivers in Alaska and over 3 million lakes.
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The name of Alaska probably comes from Unalaska, an Aleut word derived from agunalaksh which translates the shores where the sea breaks its back.
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The 90,000 Native people of Alaska make up roughly 15% of the state's population.
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Almost half of Alaska (175 million acres) is classified as wetlands.
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Highest Point: Mount McKinley, 20,320 ft
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17 of the highest 20 mountains in the U.S. are in Alaska. It has 19 peaks over 14,000 feet.
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Of the total 365 million acres of land that make up Alaska, less than one-twentieth of 1% is settled.
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Alaska has numerous natural hot springs found across the state. Near Port Moller Hot Springs on the Alaska Peninsula, a village site has been occupied intermittently over the past 3000 years.
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The largest gold nugget found in Alaska was discovered near Nome in 1903. It weighed 155 troy ounces and was 2 inches thick, 4 inches wide and 7 inches long.
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It is estimated that there are 100,000 glaciers in Alaska covering 29,000 square miles or 5% of the state.
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The estimated tidal shoreline of Alaska including inlets, islands and shoreline to head of tidewater is 47,300 miles.
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The largest state in the union, Alaska is one-fifth the size of the Lower 48 and spans 2,400 miles east to west and 1,420 miles north to south.
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On average 1,000 earthquakes registering 3.5 or more on the Richter scale occur in Alaska each year.
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Most snowfall in 24 hours: 62 inches, at Thompson Pass near Valdez, Dec. 1955.
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Most monthly snowfall: 297.9 inches, at Thompson Pass near Valdez, Feb. 1953.
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Most snowfall in a season: 974.5 inches (over 81 feet), at Thompson Pass near Valdez, 1952-53.
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Most precipitation in 24 hours: 15.2 inches, in Angoon, Oct. 12, 1982.
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Most monthly precipitation: 70.99 inches at MacLeod Harbor (Montague Island), Nov. 1976.
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Most annual precipitation: 332.29 inches at MacLeod Harbor (Montague Island), 1976.
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Highest recorded temperature: 100°F, at Ft. Yukon, June 27, 1915.
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Lowest recorded temperature: -80°F, at Prospect Creek Camp, Jan. 23, 1971.
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Earthquakes: 9.2 on the Richter Scale on March 27th 1964 - the strongest ever recorded in North America
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430 bird species have been sited in Alaska.
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Over 50 species of wild fruit is found in Alaska including Low and Highbush Cranberries, Blueberries, Salmonberries, wild rose and strawberries.
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Three species of bear are found in Alaska: the black, the brown/grizzly and the polar bear. Brown bears are the largest living omnivorous land mammals in the world.
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The Arctic Circle is the latitude where the sun does not set for one day at summer solstice and does not rise for one day at winter solstice