The District of Alaska was the federal government’s designation for Alaska from May 17, 1884, to August 24, 1912, when it became Alaska Territory. Previously (1867–1884) it had been known as the Department of Alaska, a military designation.
Miners and prospectors climb the Chilkoot Trail during the Klondike Gold Rush
Alaskan fishing boat with a catch of cod and halibut, c. 1900
Alaska is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. It borders the Canadian province of British Columbia and the Yukon territory to the east; it shares a western maritime border in the Bering Strait with Russia's Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The Chukchi and Beaufort Seas of the Arctic Ocean lie to the north and the Pacific Ocean lies to the south. Technically a semi-exclave of the U.S., it is the largest exclave in the world.
The Russian settlement of St. Paul's Harbor (present-day Kodiak town), Kodiak Island, 1814
Miners and prospectors climb the Chilkoot Trail during the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush.
U.S. troops navigate snow and ice during the Battle of Attu in May 1943.
Bob Bartlett and Ernest Gruening, Alaska's inaugural U.S. Senators, hold the 49 star U.S. Flag after the admission of Alaska as the 49th state.
