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the original Natives who migrated from what is now
Siberia to Alaska across the Bering Land Bridge some
29,000 years ago) arrived in 3000 BC. Important dates
and major events in Anchorage history are included
below:
Mid-1700s. Russian trappers and hunters, called
“promyshlenniki” arrived in search of furs and trade.
Many Natives were converted to the Russian Orthodox
religion.
1778 - British Captain James Cook arrived,
searching for the Northwest Passage.
1835 - Russian traders and explorers established a
mission near Knik, across the inlet from present-day
Anchorage.
March 30, l867 - Financially strapped Russia sold
Russian-America to U.S. for 7.2 million or about
two cents an acre. The treaty was negotiated by U.S.
Secretary of State William Seward.
1882 - Gold was found at Crow Creek near
Girdwood, just 39 miles (62 km) south of Anchorage.
1914 - Congress authorized construction of Alaska
Railroad, the only railroad to be owned and operated
by the U.S. Government.
April 10, l915 - President Woodrow Wilson selected
the railroad’s route from Port of Seward through coal
fields in the Interior to the gold claims near Fairbanks.
Anchorage selected as construction headquarters.
Thousand of job seekers and adventurers poured into
the area to build the railroad, living in a tent city of
more than 2,000 on the banks of Ship Creek. Anchorage Cityscape
July 10, l915 - Land auction held that shaped layout
of present-day Anchorage. First lot sold for $825.
November 23, 1920 - Anchorage incorporated. 200 families from the Midwest to begin an agricultural 1942 - Japanese invaded Alaska’s Aleutian Islands.
July 15, 1923 - President Warren G. Harding drove community north of Anchorage. In defense of the West Coast, the Alaska Highway
a golden spike at Nenana, officially completing the June 27, 1940 - Anchorage’s strategic position was built in eight months and 12 days, linking Alaska
railroad’s construction. attracted military interest with the threat of world war. with the rest of the nation through an overland route.
1935 - Matanuska Valley Project brought more than Construction began on army base and airfield. December 10, l951 - Anchorage International

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