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The Alaska Purchase
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In
March 1867, the United States bought a piece of land as large as all the
states east of the Mississippi: Alaska. It was described as "a dreary
waste of glaciers, icebergs, white bears, and walruses." Chief
negotiator William Seward, the shrewd American Secretary of State, saw its
strategic importance, but even he could not have foreseen that this
purchase would pave the way for the world's most dramatic gold rush.
(To
get to the subjects clic at the blue spots) |
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| The Russians had been eager to sell Alaska since the disastrous
effects of the Crimean War. The purchase price was an incredibly low $7.2
million. But Seward faced an immediate and hostile public and press
reaction. Critics called the new territory "Seward's Folly" and
"Seward's Icebox". The House of Representatives refused to
approve the deal until the following year. The Russians formally handed
over the territory in October 1867, although they still had not been paid. |
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Washington ignored its new northern territory
for ten years, just as the Canadian government ignored the Yukon.
Meanwhile, American free traders moved in, sold illegal liquor openly, and
flagrantly ignored the law. Still, the American authorities did nothing
until 1879, when they sent Captain L.A. Beardslee in the U.S.S. Jamestown
to deal with an outbreak of violence in Sitka. Beardslee agreed to help
American miners in Sitka negotiate the opening of the Chilkoot Pass. The
gateway to the goldfields of the Klondike swung wide open.
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