Following the oil strike in Katalia, oil companies raced to stake out oil claims in Alaska. In response, on November 5th 1910, President Taft withdrew all oil lands in Alaska from exploration and drilling. The oil lands that President Taft closed down would not be released until definite surveys could be made and the petroleum […]
After exploring the Pacific, Captain George Vancouver turned north into the Pacific Northwest in 1793 before setting south to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) to winter there before setting sail to Cook Inlet in search of the Northwest Passage. After Cook Inlet, Vancouver set south along the coastline, drawing detailed charts along the way through 1794. […]
Civil War veteran Charles Raymond was 27 when he accepted an assignment to visit the new U.S. territory of Alaska, a place so far away from his home in New York City he couldn’t imagine it. Two years after Secretary of State William Seward had brokered the purchase of Alaska from Russia, U.S. leaders suspected […]