Welcome to Alaska!
Interesting Facts About Alaska!
- Entered Union: Jan. 3, 1959, Purchased from Russia in 1867
- Population: 626,932 (As of December 2000 census)
With the U.S. population now at 284.8 million Alaska represents 0.22% of U.S. citizens.- There are now three states with fewer people than Alaska: Wyoming, Vermont, and North Dakota.
The population density in Alaska is still about one person per square mile.
- There are now three states with fewer people than Alaska: Wyoming, Vermont, and North Dakota.
- Capital: Juneau
- Largest city: Anchorage (nearly half of Alaska's residents live in Anchorage - 271,000 (Y 2000))
- Size: 656,424 square miles, total area
- Glaciers: More than 5,000 (5% of Alaska, and more than the rest of the entire inhabited world)
- Lakes: More than 3,000,000 (three million)
- Rivers: More than 3,000- Yukon River extends nearly 2,000 miles, the third largest in North America.
- Shoreline: 47,000 miles, of which 6,640 is marine coastline.
- Volcanos: More than 70 are active (the last significant eruption was in May, 1999)
- Earthquakes: 5,000 a year, over 1,000 greater than 3.5 (The "Big One", magnitude 9.2, occurred March 27, 1964)
- Tides: Highest range in world except for the Bay of Fundy -From a high of +33 feet to low of -5 feet in Anchorage
- Alaska is the only U.S. state that borders TWO other countries -
ALASKA STATE SYMBOLS
- State Motto: North to the future
- State Nickname: The Last Frontier (Some use Land of the Midnight Sun)
- State Flower: Forget-Me-Not (1917)
- State Bird: Willow Ptarmigan (1955)
- State Tree: Sitka Spruce (1962)
- Song: Alaska's Flag (Designed by 13 year old Benny Benson in 1926)
- State Insect: Dragonfly (Four spot skimmer-1995)
- State Gem: Jade
- State Mineral: Gold (1968)
- State Sport: Dog Mushing (1972)
- State Mammal: Moose (1998)
- State Marine Animal: Bowhead Whale
- State Fossil: Woolly Mammoth (1986)
- State Fish: King (Chinnok) Salmon
- State Wine: "I wanna go to Hawaii (Whine)
- Highest mountain: Mt. McKinley (Denali) 20,320 feet (6,194 meters), tallest peak in North America
- The points in the U.S.A. farthest north, west and east are all in Alaska.
| SOUTH BOUND | ||
|---|---|---|
| Anchorage to Girdwood | 37 miles | |
| Anchorage to Portage Glacier | 49 miles | |
| Anchorage to Hope | 80 miles | |
| Anchorage to Seward | 127 miles | |
| Anchorage to Kenai | 137 miles | |
| Anchorage to Homer | End of The Road | 226 miles |
| NORTH BOUND | ||
|---|---|---|
| Anchorage to Wasilla | 45 miles | |
| Anchorage to Willow | 85 miles | |
| Anchorage to Talkeetna | 113 miles | |
| Anchorage to Denali NP | 249 miles | |
| Anchorage to Fairbanks | 359 miles | |
| Anchorage to Valdez | 304 miles | |
| Anchorage to Tok | 328 miles | |
| Anchorage to Skagway | 832 miles | |
| Anchorage to Whitehorse, BC | 724 miles | |
| Anchorage to Los Angeles | 3712 miles | |
| Anchorage to Miami | 5434 miles |
Links to activities, sights, tours and etc.
Top Alaska Links - List of Contents
Anchorage - things to do! (See downtown Anchorage on camera..Live!)
Photos of Alaska
| Alaska | Outdoor | Photos |
|---|---|---|
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| Crow Pass Creek | Anchorage, from Hilltop | Fire Island, winter |