Alaska: Saga of a Bold Land

632 Pages·2004·5.93 MB·English

by  Walter R. Borneman

Alask a
Saga of a Bold Land
Walter R. Borneman
For my son, Russ,
who has traveled this land with me
and who has his own frontiers yet to cross.
Contents
viii
MAP
PROLO GUE Alaska—a Sense of Scale xi
INTRODUCTION Crossing the Next Frontier xiii
BOOK ONE
The Land before Time (Prehistory–1728)
Mountains, Glaciers, and Innumerable Rivers 4
First Steps, Continuing Traditions 18
BOOK TWO
Lifting the Veil:
An Empire Up for Grabs (1728–1865)
The Czar Looks East 34
Spanish Entradas 42
Cook and Vancouver 49
Port des Français 54
Lord of Alaska 60
God Is in His Heaven 74
Limitations of Empire 79
BOOK THREE
Seward’s Folly: Two Cents an Acre
Becomes a Heck of a Deal (1865–1897)
Last Guns of the Civil War 94
The Telegraph Survey and Mr. Dall 101
Two Cents an Acre 106
Boston Men in the Pribilofs 113
John Muir Visits Glacier Bay 120
iv Contents
Sheldon Jackson’s Missionary Zeal 127
Untangling the Rivers 133
The Lewis and Clark of Alaska 138
Juneau, or Whatever Its Name Is 145
One for the Duke 153
BOOK FOUR
Go North: The Rush Is On (1897–1915)
Fortymile, Circle, and the Sourdoughs of Rabbit Creek 168
The Trails of ’98 176
Two Towns and a Railroad 189
One Man’s Summer Vacation 200
Last Stops of the Mining Frontier 206
Crest of the Continent 220
Copper, Kennecott, and One Heck of a Railroad 230
Preserving the Bounty 238
The Day the Sky Turned Black 246
BOOK FIVE
Interlude: The Calm between the Storms (1915–1941)
Alaska’s Railroad 258
The First Iditarod 271
Conflicting Views, Continuing Battles 278
Salmon on the Run 286
Thrill ’em, Spill ’em, but Never Kill ’em 292
Knocking around the Gates 303
Farmers in the Matanuska 311
Never the Same Again 317
BOOK SIX
The Forgotten Campaign:
World War II in Alaska (1941–1945)
The Rush to Get There 332
The Darkest Chapter 344
No Place to Fight a War 349
Victory 363
Contents v
BOOK SEVEN
Postwar Rumblings:
Statehood and Earthquake (1945–1964)
Offspring of Victory 376
Logging the Forests 381
Cold War Standoff 387
The Forty-ninth Star 395
Oil Boom on the Kenai 404
A New Meaning of Wilderness 413
Earthquake! 426
BOOK EIGHT
North Again: This Time the Gold Is Black (1964–1980)
Black Gold 441
The Blue Canoes 453
The Long, Long Road to ANCSA 458
Working on the Pipeline 473
A Capital Move 487
The Permanent Fund 492
BOOK NINE
Whose Land? Competing Claims (1980–2001)
d-2 Becomes ANILCA 502
The Big One 511
Toward a New Economy 522
ANWR—2001 530
Postscript to an Era, Prologue to the Next 537
EPILOGUE Alaska—a Sense of Scale 539
Notes 541
Bibliography 561
Acknowledgments 573
Index 577
About the Author
Praise
Other Books by Walter R. Borneman
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