You do not have permission to edit this page, for the following reasons:

This IP address has been blocked from editing Wikipedia.
This does not affect your ability to read Wikipedia pages.
Most people who see this message have done nothing wrong. Some kinds of blocks restrict editing from specific service providers or telecom companies in response to recent abuse or vandalism, and can sometimes affect other users who are unrelated to that abuse. Review the information below for assistance if you do not believe that you have done anything wrong.

The IP address or range 54.163.0.0/16 has been blocked (disabled) by ‪Blablubbs‬ for the following reason(s):

The IP address that you are currently using has been blocked because it is believed to be a web host provider or colocation provider. To prevent abuse, web hosts and colocation providers may be blocked from editing Wikipedia.
You will not be able to edit Wikipedia using a web host or colocation provider because it hides your IP address, much like a proxy or VPN.
We recommend that you attempt to use another connection to edit. For example, if you use a proxy or VPN to connect to the internet, turn it off when editing Wikipedia. If you edit using a mobile connection, try using a Wi-Fi connection, and vice versa. If you are using a corporate internet connection, switch to a different Wi-Fi network. If you have a Wikipedia account, please log in.
If you do not have any other way to edit Wikipedia, you will need to request an IP block exemption.

How to appeal if you are confident that your connection does not use a colocation provider's IP address:
If you are confident that you are not using a web host, you may appeal this block by adding the following text on your talk page: ((unblock|reason=Caught by a colocation web host block but this host or IP is not a web host. My IP address is _______. Place any further information here. ~~~~)). You must fill in the blank with your IP address for this block to be investigated. Your IP address can be determined here. Alternatively, if you wish to keep your IP address private you can use the unblock ticket request system. There are several reasons you might be editing using the IP address of a web host or colocation provider (such as if you are using VPN software or a business network); please use this method of appeal only if you think your IP address is in fact not a web host or colocation provider.

Administrators: The IP block exemption user right should only be applied to allow users to edit using web host in exceptional circumstances, and requests should usually be directed to the functionaries team via email. If you intend to give the IPBE user right, a CheckUser needs to take a look at the account. This can be requested most easily at SPI Quick Checkuser Requests. Unblocking an IP or IP range with this template is highly discouraged without at least contacting the blocking administrator.

This block will expire on 17:28, 10 March 2024.

Even when blocked, you will usually still be able to edit your user talk page, as well as email administrators and other editors.

For information on how to proceed, please read the FAQ for blocked users and the guideline on block appeals. The guide to appealing blocks may also be helpful.

Other useful links: Blocking policy · Help:I have been blocked
Your IP address is in a range that has been blocked on all Wikimedia Foundation wikis. The block was made by ‪Jon Kolbert‬. The reason given is Open proxy/Webhost: See the help page if you are affected .
- Start of block: 18:27, 12 November 2023
- Expiry of block: 18:27, 12 November 2028
Your current IP address is 54.163.179.242. The blocked range is 54.163.0.0/16. Please include all above details in any queries you make. If you believe you were blocked by mistake, you can find additional information and instructions in the No open proxies global policy. Otherwise, to discuss the block please post a request for review on Meta-Wiki. You could also send an email to the stewards VRT queue at stewards@wikimedia.org including all above details.

You can view and copy the source of this page:

((short description|Governmental designation for Alaska from 1884 to 1912))
((About|Alaska during the period of 1884 to 1912|other uses of the term|Alaska's at-large congressional district|and|United States District Court for the District of Alaska))
((More citations needed|date=June 2013))
((Use mdy dates|date=February 2023))
((Use American English|date=February 2023))
((Infobox Former Subdivision
|native_name = 
|conventional_long_name = District of Alaska
|common_name = Alaska
|nation      = the United States
|subdivision = [[Territories of the United States#Former territories and administered areas|Incorporated and unorganized territory]]

|event_start = District of Alaska
|date_start  = May 17,
|year_start  = 1884
|event_end   = [[Territory of Alaska]]
|year_end    = 1912
|date_end    = August 24,
|event1      = 
|date_event1 = 
|event2      = 
|date_event2 = 
|event_pre   = 
|date_pre    = 
|
|p1          = Department of Alaska
|flag_p1     = Flag of the United States (1877-1890).svg
|s1          = Territory of Alaska
|flag_s1     = Flag of the United States (1877-1890).svg
|image_flag  = Flag of the United States (1877-1890).svg
|image_coat  = Seal of Alaska (1884–1910).svg
|symbol      = Seal of Alaska
|symbol_type = Seal
|image_map   = 
|image_map_caption = 
|
|capital      = 
|government_type = 
|title_leader = 
|leader1      = 
|year_leader1 = 
|leader2      = 
|year_leader2 = 
|title_deputy = 
|deputy1      = 
|year_deputy1 = 
))
((Alaska History))
The '''District of Alaska''' was the federal government’s designation for [[Alaska]] from May 17, 1884, to August 24, 1912, when it became [[Territory of Alaska|Alaska Territory]]. Previously (1867–1884) it had been known as the [[Department of Alaska]], a military designation.

The designation as a district meant that Alaska became an incorporated but [[Territories of the United States#Formerly unorganized territories|unorganized territory]] with a civil government. The [[List of governors of Alaska#Governors of the District of Alaska|governor of the District of Alaska]] was appointed by the [[president of the United States]].

==Prelude to District status==
At the time of the 1867 [[Alaska Purchase]], legislators in Washington, D.C., were occupied with post–[[American Civil War|Civil War]] reconstruction issues, and had little time to dedicate to Alaska. As a [[Department (United States Army)|department]], Alaska was handled as a strategic military area, variously under the jurisdiction of the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] (until 1877), the [[United States Department of the Treasury]] (from 1877 until 1879) and the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] (from 1879 until 1884).

By 1884, the civilian population had grown to the point where President [[Chester A. Arthur]] signed off on the [[Alaska Statehood Act#The First Organic Act|First Organic Act]], and appointed a civil government.<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.akhistorycourse.org/articles/article.php?artID=170|title=Alaska History and Cultural Studies|publisher=Alaska Humanities Forum|access-date=July 8, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050103122630/http://www.akhistorycourse.org/articles/article.php?artID=170|archive-date=January 3, 2005|url-status=dead))</ref>

==History while a District==
((See also|Alaska boundary dispute))

[[File:Miners climb Chilkoot.jpg|thumb|left|upright|250px|Miners and prospectors climb the [[Chilkoot Trail]] during the [[Klondike Gold Rush]]]]
[[File:Commercial fishing.jpg|thumb|220px|left|upright|Alaskan fishing boat with a catch of cod and halibut, c. 1900]]
((Historical populations
|type= USA
|1890|32052
|1900|63592
|1910|64356
|footnote=Source: 1890–1910;<ref>((cite report|editor-last=Forstall|editor-first=Richard L.|title=Population of the States and Counties of the United States: 1790–1990|page=3|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/PopulationofStatesandCountiesoftheUnitedStates1790-1990.pdf|access-date=May 18, 2020))</ref>
))

It was the discovery of gold in the Yukon in 1896 that brought attention to the United States' northern possession. A wave of fortune hunters clamored for passage to the [[Klondike, Yukon|Klondike]], but the Klondike was in [[Yukon|Yukon Territory]], Canada, not Alaska as many a would-be miner believed. Still, the easiest route was by ship to [[Skagway, Alaska|Skagway]], or [[Dyea, Alaska|Dyea]], in Southeast Alaska. [[Miner]]s had their choice of two passes across the mountains to the Yukon fields: The [[Chilkoot Trail]], an old Native route, started in Dyea, and the [[White Pass]], also called Dead Horse Trail, was in Skagway. The Chilkoot Trail was a shorter trip but had a considerably steeper climb. The White Pass took a little longer but was at a lower elevation. Skagway and the White Pass trail also had a severe crime problem, organized and led by the infamous badman, [[Soapy Smith]]. Smith was killed in Skagway at the [[Shootout on Juneau Wharf]].

Alaska still had plenty of gold of its own, and many who had failed to make their fortunes in the Klondike strike came back to look for it. An earlier strike had established [[Juneau, Alaska|Juneau]] in Southeast Alaska, and gold was found in [[Nome, Alaska|Nome]] in 1899. For several years a prospector named [[Felix Pedro]] had been searching in the Tanana Hills of the Interior for a gold-rich creek he had stumbled upon years earlier but had been forced to abandon. As the summer of 1901 drew to a close, Pedro was about to embark with his partner on a 165-mile walk to Circle City for supplies. He met up with [[E. T. Barnette|E.T. Barnette]], who had been forced to disembark from the [[steamboat|steamer]] ''Lavelle Young'' with his entire load of supplies, some of which he sold to Pedro.

Replenished with supplies, Pedro continued his search in the area, and he finally struck gold in July 1902. Shortly afterward, Barnette's outpost was transformed into a booming town. Named [[Fairbanks, Alaska|Fairbanks]] in honor of [[Charles W. Fairbanks|U.S. Senator Charles W. Fairbanks]], the settlement grew as more miners and new businesses arrived. The town had shanties on the fringes, but the center offered many of the economic conveniences of the rest of the U.S. [[Traffic]] came through the river, and an overland route to [[Valdez, Alaska|Valdez]] cut days off a trip to the contiguous United States. Eventually, the Tanana Mining District became a huge gold producer, and the metal attracted Americans and Europeans alike. In 1903 the predecessor to the [[Alaska Railroad]] began to be built, which would connect from [[Seward, Alaska|Seward]] to Fairbanks by 1923, though Alaska still has no railroad connecting it to the lower 48 states.

Many people in Alaska found ways to profit from the gold rushes without actually panning for the metal themselves. At Ruby Creek, a strike in 1907, and a more substantial one in 1910 brought the rush of miners to the area and created the town of [[Ruby, Alaska|Ruby]]. The steamers the newcomers used required large quantities of wood to keep them moving, and residents along the river supplemented their trapping and fishing by maintaining profitable wood lots. Ruby grew from a tent city in 1911 to a river port and then had running water in summer, a theater, shops, and cafés. By 1917, at the height of the rush, creeks south of Ruby had yielded $875,000 worth of gold.

Other precious and semiprecious metals were being mined in Alaska, too, particularly copper. In 1910, the richest copper mine in the world started operation at Kennicott in the Wrangell-St. Elias Mountains. The mine extracted more than 591,535 tons of copper ore from the earth, and at its peak employed more than 800 workers.

The more traditional ways of life, fishing, in particular, also provided a livelihood for many Alaskans, particularly after [[canning]] was introduced. In 1878 businessmen built the first two canneries at Klawock and Sitka. In 1883 the Arctic Pack Company established a cannery at Nushagak Bay in Southwest Alaska, where they were able to exploit the immense runs of salmon. In 1880, two years later, the [[Alaska Packing Company]] opened a cannery across the bay, and by 1908, 10 canneries ringed Nushagak Bay in Southwest Alaska. Kodiak's first canneries were built in the late 19th century when word of phenomenal fish runs became widespread.

By the turn of the 20th century, commercial fishing was gaining a foothold in the Aleutian Islands. Packing houses salted [[cod]] and [[herring]], and salmon canneries were opened. Another traditional occupation, whaling, continued with no regard for over-hunting. They pushed the [[bowhead whale]]s to the edge of extinction for the oil in their tissue (though in recent years, due to a decline in commercial whaling, their populations have rebounded enough for Natives to harvest many each year without affecting the population). The Aleuts soon suffered severe problems due to the depletion of the fur [[pinniped|seal]]s and [[sea otters]] which they needed for survival. As well as requiring the flesh for food, they also used the skins to cover their boats, without which they could not hunt. The Americans also expanded into the Interior and Arctic Alaska, exploiting the furbearers, fish, and other game on which Natives depended.

==Governors of the District of Alaska==

(appointed by the President of the United States) <ref>((cite web | url=https://lam.alaska.gov/sled/governors | title=Libraries, Archives, Museums: Governors of Alaska, archival collections: Governors of Alaska ))</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|+ 
|-
! Years !! Governor
|-
| 1884-1885 || John Henry Kinkead
|-
| 1885-1889 || Alfred P. Swineford
|-
| 1889-1893 || Lyman Enos Knapp
|-
| 1893-1897 || James Sheakley
|-
| 1897-1906 || John Green Brady
|-
| 1906-1909 || Wilford Bacon Hoggatt
|-
| 1909-1913 || Walter Eli Clark
|}

((Portal bar|Alaska))

==References==
((Reflist))

((Territories of the United States))
((Alaska history footer))
((Authority control))
((Coord|64|N|153|W|display=title))

((DEFAULTSORT:Alaska, District of))
[[Category:1884 establishments in the United States]]
[[Category:1912 disestablishments in Alaska]]
[[Category:Former regions and territories of the United States]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Alaska| 4]]
[[Category:History of the American West]]

Pages transcluded onto the current version of this page (help):

District of Alaska (edit)
Template:About (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Alaska History (edit)
Template:Alaska History sidebar (edit)
Template:Alaska history footer (edit)
Template:Ambox (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Authority control (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Both (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Cite report (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Cite web (view source) (protected)
Template:Coord (view source) (protected)
Template:DMCA (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Dated maintenance category (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Dated maintenance category (articles) (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:FULLROOTPAGENAME (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Find sources mainspace (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Historical populations (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Hlist/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Template:Icon (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:If empty (view source) (protected)
Template:Infobox (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Infobox Former Subdivision (view source) (semi-protected)
Template:Infobox country/formernext (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Infobox country/imagetable (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Infobox country/multirow (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Infobox former subdivision (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Infobox former subdivision/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Main other (view source) (protected)
Template:More citations needed (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Navbox (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Nobold (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Nobold/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Ns has subpages (view source) (protected)
Template:Pagetype (view source) (protected)
Template:Plainlist (view source) (protected)
Template:Plainlist/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Template:Portal bar (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Reflist (view source) (protected)
Template:Reflist/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Template:SDcat (view source) (protected)
Template:See also (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Short description (view source) (protected)
Template:Short description/lowercasecheck (view source) (protected)
Template:Sidebar (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Template other (view source) (protected)
Template:Territories of the United States (edit)
Template:Use American English (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Use mdy dates (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Wikidata image (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Yesno (view source) (protected)
Module:About (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Arguments (view source) (protected)
Module:Authority control (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Authority control/config (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Category handler (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/blacklist (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/config (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/data (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/shared (view source) (protected)
Module:Check for unknown parameters (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1 (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/COinS (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Date validation (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Utilities (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Whitelist (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Module:Coordinates (view source) (protected)
Module:Coordinates/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Module:Disambiguation/templates (view source) (protected)
Module:Find sources (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Find sources/config (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Find sources/links (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Find sources/templates/Find sources mainspace (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Format link (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Hatnote (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Hatnote/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Hatnote list (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Historical populations (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Icon (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Icon/data (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:If empty (view source) (protected)
Module:Infobox (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Infobox/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:InfoboxImage (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Labelled list hatnote (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Math (view source) (protected)
Module:Message box (view source) (protected)
Module:Message box/ambox.css (view source) (protected)
Module:Message box/configuration (view source) (protected)
Module:Namespace detect/config (view source) (protected)
Module:Namespace detect/data (view source) (protected)
Module:Navbar (view source) (protected)
Module:Navbar/configuration (view source) (protected)
Module:Navbar/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Module:Navbox (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Navbox/configuration (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Navbox/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Ns has subpages (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype/config (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype/disambiguation (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype/setindex (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype/softredirect (view source) (protected)
Module:Portal (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Portal/images/a (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Portal bar (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Portal bar/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:SDcat (view source) (protected)
Module:Sidebar (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Sidebar/configuration (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Sidebar/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:String (view source) (protected)
Module:Unsubst (view source) (protected)
Module:Wikitext Parsing (view source) (protected)
Module:Yesno (view source) (protected)

Return to District of Alaska.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Alaska"