1979
Four thousand pounds of mail for Anchorage and Rural Alaska was lost as a mail container van washed overboard in the Gulf of Alaska.
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22
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1909
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All Fairbanks residents started setting their watches according to the big clock in front of Jack Sale's Jewelry Store. Previously, nearly every watch and clock in town had been set according to its owners fancy.
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1916
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Jack London , widely known for his Alaskan fiction, died in California.
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1949
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Under the new Alaska Public Works Act, the U.S. Bureau of Community Facilities began the job of determining how to spend $5 million in Alaska.
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1974
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Jay Hammond was finally certified as the winner in a tight gubernatorial race with incumbent William Egan. Hammond had a reported 45,483 votes to Egan's 45,118, a difference of 365 votes.
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23
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1898
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The weekly Douglas Island News was established in Douglas and operated there until 1921.
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1924
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The Northern Commercial Company in Fairbanks dropped the price of gasoline four cents to 40¢ per gallon.
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1939
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The first (and only ) annual Gold Bowl football game was played in Juneau.
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1980
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A roaming dog killed 3 caribou calves at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. The caribou had been the subject of nutrition and metabolism studies.
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24
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1929
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The steamer Princess Norah, later a favorite of Juneau travellers, arrived in Juneau on her maiden voyage.
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1941
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Much of the business district of Seward was destroyed by fire.
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1959
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Ten Royal Canadian divers dove in the waters off the Taku Glacier, near Juneau, testing wet suits in the 30 Fahrenheit salt water.
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25
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1912
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The name of the post office at the smelter town of Port Hadley, on Prince of Wales Island, was changed to Hadley.
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1969
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The greatest deluge of mail to Governor Keith Miller, over 700 letters, hit the Governor's desk in Juneau following a televised documentary supposedly showing wolves being hunted for bounty.
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1970
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Walter J. Hickel was fired from his job as Secretary of the Interior by Richard M. Nixon. He was appointed to the post in January, 1969.
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1974
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A recount was begun of the 90,000 votes cast for governor. Prior to the recount, Jay Hammond led Governor William Egan by 365 votes.
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26
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1867
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The first bill was introduced in the U.S. Congress to "organize the Territory of Alaska." It failed to get a hearing.
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1922
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The Alaska Electric Light and Power Company installed Juneau's first radio broadcast station at its Front Street office.
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1949
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The Anchorage International Airport arrived in Seward - in barrels - 21,700 barrels of asphalt destined to pave the airport's runways.
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1958
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William Egan was elected as the State of Alaska's first Governor in the state's first general election.
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27
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1880
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Arthur G. Shoup, author of the womens suffrage bill in the first Territorial Legislature, was born in Idaho.
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1954
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Elana France of Fairbanks won a drawing at the Seattle Boat Show. Her prize was an 18-foot long, half-ton totem pole ("carved by a real, genuine Indian").
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1974
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The completed recount of all 90,000 votes cast for governor showed Jay Hammond beating incumbent Governor William Egan by 287 votes.
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28
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1859
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Elmer J. White, who became known as "Stroller" White , was born in Ohio. Mt. Stroller White - near the Mendenhall Glacier - was named after this newspaperman.
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1969
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A massive rockslide buried Ketchikan's new Lake Silvis hydroelectric plant.
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1980
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Three top Alaska military commanders and the State Department of Natural Resources signed an agreement giving the state and the public far greater control over military use of state land.
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29
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1929
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A search was begun for Carl Ben Eielson , pioneer Alaskan pilot, who was missing for two weeks on a trip to Cape North, Siberia, to salvage furs from an ice-bound ship. His body was later found on February 18, 1930, concluding a 100-day search. It was suspected a white-out and a faulty altimeter caused the crash.
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1930
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Mining operations were suspended at the big copper mine at Latouche.
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1953
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The Alaska Native Service Hospital in Anchorage was opened for public inspection.
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1979
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"Alaska's Grand Old Adventurer," 74-year old Norman Vaughn, reached the South Pole for the second time as part of a group commemorating Admiral Byrd's 1929 expedition, of which Vaughn was a member.
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30
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1881
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Anthony J. Dimond, Alaska's delegate in Congress and District Judge, was born in New York State.
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1895
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Peter Trimble Rowe was consecrated the first Episcopal Bishop of Alaska.
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1929
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The largest totem pole rehabilitated in the Saxman Totem Project was finished. It was to be taken to a lot at the head of Totem Lane in Ketchikan , where it would be the center pole of seven. It was 47 feet long, with a base diameter of 5 feet.
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1935
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The Pioneer Sea Foods Company Cannery in Cordova was destroyed by fire.
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1979
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U.S. Presidential hopeful Ronald Reagan visited Anchorage.
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December
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1
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1894
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The Yukon Order of Pioneers was organized at Forty Mile on the Yukon River.
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1924
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Alaska Governor Scott C. Bone met with President Calvin Coolidge asking that Alaska be included in the Federal Highway Act.
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1935
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The University of Alaska Library at Fairbanks moved into the new library/gymnasium building. It took 13 hours to move 12,000 books.
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1953
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The Chugach Electric Company began operating the Knik Arm Power Facility on Ship Creek near Anchorage .
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1973
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The Snettisham Hydroelectric Plant, which supplies Juneau with most of its electricity, was inaugurated.
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1978
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President Jimmy Carter invoked the 1906 Antiquities Act to designate 56 million acres of land in Alaska as national monuments. (He did this after Congress failed to pass a D-2 law and before protection under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act ended December 18.)
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1980
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U.S. Secretary of the Interior Cecil Andrus finalized approval for the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline right-of-way across federal lands from the North Slope into Canada. (The line has yet to be built.)
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1986
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Steve Cowper took office as the seventh Governor of the State of Alaska.
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2
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1863
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Prince Dimitri Maksoutoff became the last Alaska Chief Manager of the Russian American Company.
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1903
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The B.M. Behrends Mercantile Company was incorporated in Juneau.
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1959
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Phil Holdsworth, then Commissioner of Natural Resources said "We'll flood the Bureau of Land Management with applications in the next 6 months," as the state increased the pace of acquiring the 104 million acres of land granted by the Statehood Act.
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1974
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Jay S. Hammond took office as the fifth Governor of the State of Alaska. (He was later elected to a second term.)
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1980
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The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act was signed into law by President Jimmy Carter.
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3
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1906
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Frank H. Waskey was seated at the first delegate in the U.S House of Representatives from Alaska. He had, however, no voting power in Congress.
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1954
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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced $3-5 million worth of improvements for the airport at Naknek.
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1955
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The first record of the first Alaskan recording company began national distribution with the release of "Down Hill Drag" by the Polar Recording Company.
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4
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1912
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The 100-stamp mill at the Perseverance Mine in the Silver Bow Basin was destroyed by fire.
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1932
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The main school building at Fairbanks was destroyed by fire.
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1934
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Cordova was struck by gale force winds that did $100,000 damage in two days.
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1939
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Radio-telephone rates were reduced between Alaska and the United States. The new Seattle-Juneau rate was $6 for the first three minutes, down from $9.
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1972
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Plans were unveiled in Anchorage by the El Paso Natural Gas Company for a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to a Southcentral port.
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1978
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Jay Hammond was sworn in for his second term as Governor of Alaska.
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5
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1905
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Roald Amundsen, enroute through the Northwest Passage, reached Eagle from Herschel Island. He left his ship, the Gjoa in frozen ice and sledded to Eagle to telegraph his crossing.
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1914
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The Juneau Public Library opened with 1,000 volumes.
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1966
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Walter J. Hickel took office as the second governor of the State of Alaska.
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1970
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William A. Egan took office again as the fourth Governor of the State of Alaska, after having been the first.
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6
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1920
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Seaborn J. Buckalew, who became an Alaska legislator and judge, was born in Texas.
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1939
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Ernest Gruening took office as the 13th territorial governor of Alaska, appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
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1960
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U.S. Secretary of the Interior Fred Seaton established three national wildlife reserves in Alaska: The Arctic National Wildlife Range (9 million acres in the extreme northeastern corner of Alaska), the Izembek National Wildlife Range (415,000 acres on the north side of the Alaska Peninsula), and the Kuskoquim National Wildlife Range (1.8 million acres on the Yukon-Kuskoquim Delta).
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1973
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The Alaska State Ferry MV Le Conte was officially launched.
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1979
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R. Buckminster Fuller, age 84, spoke at the Alaska State Legislature's Future Frontiers Conference in Anchorage.
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1982
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Bill Sheffield took office as the sixth Governor of the State of Alaska.
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