Classroom clipper, Vol. XX, No. 4, April - May 1964

              Alaska, Land of Gold Mines, Glaciers and Grizzlies, Thrives on Statehood and Jet Transportation
TOTEM POLE PARK . . . Totem poles record genealogy, death, wealth and scandal.
Tourists Strike It Rich in Modern Alaska
ALASKA, AMERICA’S LAST FRONTIER, is now enjoying its biggest boom since Joe Juneau struck gold in Silver Bow Basin back in 1880. Here in the 49th state the Jet Age has arrived almost concurrent with statehood, bringing in its wake heavy commercial traffic and ever-increasing tides of tourists with a taste for sourdough and an eye for gold mines, glaciers and grizzlies.
While modern tourists still come to Alaska to seek their fortune, the majority come to explore the pleasures of this vast state, twice the size of Texas. The attrac-
tions are as varied as the salmon streams of Ketchikan in the south to the Eskimo camps high in the Arctic Circle.
No Longer Isolated
Exploring nowadays, however, does not mean roughing it, for the discomforts of the frontier have all but disappeared. Smooth new highways crisscross the land and dozens of fine hotels now cater to the booming tourist trade.
Juneau, Alaska’s growing capital, is riding high on the waves of statehood pub-
licity and has become the prosperous point of the panhandle.
Wedged between towering peaks and the shores of the Gastineau Channel, Juneau is no longer remote. The city is now just three hours and $60 one-way from Seattle via Pan American Airways Jet Clipper — a far cry from the Gold Rush caravans of 1880 which took months to push north into the wilderness.
Although a wave of progress is now transforming Juneau into a bustling capital, the citizens of the first American town in Alaska view the past with pride and respect. The museum on the hill is the best in the state, with a vast collection ranging from Eskimo artifacts to gigantic totem poles. Among its most precious treasures is a copy of the letter by President Andrew Johnson authorizing Secretary Seward, in 1867, to negotiate with the Russians for the purchase of Alaska at the equivalent of two cents an acre. The cancelled check for $7,200,000 is there.
Indians Friendly Now
The Alaskans celebrate the transfer of their territory from Russia to the United States with a curious, colorful ceremony, staged during October at the old Russian settlement of Sitka near Juneau. The program traces the history of Alaska from the landing of Alexander Baranof to the dawn of statehood. There are chants by the Thlingit Indians, whose ancestors terrorized the first Russian colonists, and rituals at the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Michael, famous for its array of icons.
Sitka guards not only its Russian but also its Indian heritage. A large collection of restored totem poles comprise the Sitka National Monument, open to visitors free of charge. The totems, reading from top to bottom, tell everything about a person, family or tribe from genealogy to scandal.
Dress Up for Shooting
Aside from the Alaska Day pageant in Sitka, the 49th state pays tribute to the good old days with a variety of special events, all of which are major drawing cards for tourists. Notable among them is the Days of ’98 in Skagway throughout the summer, which calls for the townspeople to dress in period costume and reenact the “Shooting of Dan McGraw.” Fairbanks, too, relives a page from its lusty history with the “Gold Rush Days” in July, as does Anchorage with the performance of “Cry of the Wild Ram.”
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