Alaska History Timeline; Russian America Timeline
This is my working timeline. I have used and modified: http://www.kodiakisland.net/timeline.php and Alaska Native Cultures Timeline: http://jukebox.uaf.edu/site/jukebox-includes/vilda/timeline.pdf
Russian America Timeline[1]
1648 Russian Semeon Dezhnev sails through Bering Strait and lands in the Diomede Islands. Russians in Siberia are aware of trade between Alaska, Chukchi, and Asiatic Eskimos.
1732 Russians M.S. Gvozdev and Ivan Fedorov in the Sv. Gabriel venture north from the Kamchatka Peninsula. Expedition members go ashore on Little Diomede Island and later sight the North America mainland at Cape Prince of Wales and King Island. Contacts with Natives are recorded.1732-Russian expedition under Mikhail Gvozdev sights
1741 July 15 Aleksei Chirikov with Vitus Bering Expedition sights land – the Great Land is discovered. Chirikov, in command of the ship the St. Paul, sighted what is believed to be Prince of Wales Island of the Alexander Archipelago. Bering’s ship, the St. Peter, had sailed a more northerly direction and came upon Kayak Island the next day.
1741 Vitus Bering, captain of the Russian vessel the St. Peter, sends men ashore on Kayak Island near today’s Cordova. Naturalist Georg Steller and Lt. Khitrovo collect ethnographic items during the time they spend on the island. This is generally accepted as the European discovery of Alaska because of the records and charts kept during the voyage. A month later, Bering makes contact with Native people near the Shumagin Islands.
1741 Several days before Bering saw land, Alexei Chirikov, captain of the St. Paul that had been separated from Bering’s vessel the St. Peter in a storm, sights land in Southeast Alaska. He sends two parties ashore, neither of which return. One day Natives in a canoe come from shore toward the ship, but no contact is made. With supplies low and the season growing late, the St. Paul heads back to Kamchatka. At Adak Island in the Aleutian Islands, Chirikov trades with Aleut men. According to oral tradition, the Tlingit of Southeast Alaska accepted the men into their community.
1743 A Russian expedition departs from Kamchatka to trade for sea mammal furs with Native people in the Commander Islands.
1743 Russian hunters begin hunting in Aleutians “Because the Near Islands were the closest populated lands to Russia, the people of those islands were the first to be contacted in the 18th century. Crews of promyshlenniki (fur hunters and traders) that included both Russians and Kamchadals were assembled in the Russian Far East to travel to the Aleutians” (Laughlin 1984:315).
1747 Russian Promyshlenniki reach the Near Islands in the Aleutians
1758, Spring, Russian named Stepan Glotov arrived[2]
1759-August 1: First Russian party under Stepan Glotov spends three years trading on Umnak and Unalaska.[3]
1759 Promyshlenniki are trading with Natives on Umnak and Unalaska islands in the Eastern Aleutians
1760 Eleven Russians arrived at Atka, west of Fox Islands, they were ambushed without warning by angry Unangan men.[4]
1762 Two Russian ships wintered in Unalaska harbor, and joined by a third, the Zakhari Elizavet under Captain Medvedef. The ships separated to spend the winter.
One group was met by70 Aleut men, which scared them, they fled to their boat, but were drowned when caught in weather. Meanwhile, the Elizaveta had been burned to the water line.
The Aleuts had carefully planned the attack, and 2 of the 3 ships were destroyed. Only 12 Russians survived from the 3 ships. This is known as Aleut revolt.[5]
1763 Reacting to trespass of their territory, Unangan/Eastern Unangans destroy four Russian vessels at Unalaska, Umnak and Unimak islands and only 12 survive of the more than 200 men. The Russians retaliate and kill more than 200 Unangan/Unangans and destroy their boats, weapons, and tools.
1763-1766 Conflict between Russian fur hunters and Unalaska Natives in which Unangan (Unangans) destroy four Russian ships and kill 175 hunters. Solov’ev returns to Unalaska and directs massacre of many Natives.
1764 Russian skipper Stepan Glotov and his crew winters on Kodiak Island. They repel several organized attacks on the camp. Glotov records information on Kodiak Islanders’ war tactics and weapons.
1767 Russian Afanasii Ocheredin and Unangan of Umnak Island attack and destroy villages in the Islands of the Four Mountains in the Aleutians.
1768 Russian Navy Captain Levashov winters at Unalaska, adopts two Unangan boys, and does watercolors showing Unangan/Eastern Aleut’s tools and weapons, clothing, and houses.
1769 Captain M.D. Levashov winters in Unalaska at Amuga which became known as “Captain’s Bay.”[6]
1770 Russian fur traders working for Pavel Lebedev-Lastochkin build a warehouse at Unalaska in the Aleutian Islands. Although not occupied permanently, the building indicates a sustained Russian presence in Alaska.
1770 Tuberculosis epidemic in Aleutians
1772-1775 Permanent Russian settlement established at Unalaska by Solov’ev.[7]
1774 Learning of Russian activity in the North Pacific, Spanish authorities order Juan Perez and Estéban Martinez to sail north from Mexico along the Pacific coast. They reach Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska. The Spanish are interested in protecting, perhaps extending, their North American empire. The Spanish send expeditions to the North Pacific over the next 15 years. They record information about Native people and collect artifacts, particularly from Southeast and Southcentral coastal areas.
1776 Captain James Cook leaves Great Britain on his third major expedition for the North Pacific. He maps much of the southern coast of Alaska in 1778. His crew trades for sea otter pelts with Alaska Natives and sell the furs at Canton, China, on their journey home in 1779. A British fur trader leaves Canton for Southeast Alaska waters several years later. John Webber, the expedition’s artist, depicts Native people, dress, housing, tools, boats, geography, and resources of the North Pacific.
1778 October: Captain Cook visits English Bay, Samgan Udaa [8]
1774 to 1791 Charles III of Spain fears Russian expansion; sends expeditions north along northwest coast of North America. Spain leaves few traces except place names such as Malaspina Glacier and Valdez.
1776 Captain James Cook of England searches for Northwest Passage. His maps of northern North America prove that America and Asia are separate land masses and remain the standard for over a century.
1784 The Russian led by Russian fur trader Gregorii Shelikhov attack men, women and children at Refuge Rock on Sitkalidak Island, the Awa’uq Rock, and destroy several villages on Shuyak Island, in an effort to force the Natives on the island into submission.
1784 Russian fur trader Gregorii Shelikhov establishes first permanent Russian settlement, a trading post, at Three Saints Bay on Kodiak Island. Shelikov brings his wife Natalya to Kodiak: first European woman in Russian America. Shelikov, a Siberian fur merchant, established the post as a means of restricting the British fur trade. He wanted to establish a monopoly of the fur trade in Alaska, but the Empress Catherine would not allow it.
1778-1850 Ivan Pank’ov (born in 1778), Unangan leader of Tigalda Island, develops the Unangax orthography with Father John Veniaminov, later glorified, the Orthodox equivalent of canonized, St. Innocent, and translates part of the Bible into Unangax. The Unangax/ (Aleut) Russian Orthodox Catechism is the first book written in a Native language of Alaska.
1785 to 1794 British ships visited NW coast traded metal items, fabric, clothing, knickknacks for sea otter and other furs
1786 Russian fur trader Gavriil Prilbylov finds the islands in the Bering Sea that bear his name. Russians took Unangan to the islands to hunt the Northern Fur Seals that breed there, and later moved families to the islands to live permanently.
1788 Gerrasium Prybilov resettles Unangan on Pribilof Islands as forced labor for the fur seal harvest.
1788 2 ships associated with Shelikhov’s efforts set out from Kodiak Island to the southeast for visited Yakutat and Lituya bays, Tlingit chiefs who visited the ship were given Russian copper coats of arms
1789 First American expedition sets out for northwestern North American to compete with British and Russians for fur trade.
1791 Respiratory epidemic in Unalaska
1792 Respiratory epidemic on Sitkanak Island, near Kodiak
1792 Baranov led exploring expedition to Prince William Sound, 150 hole baidarkas. w/ 300 Kodiak people. Yakutat Tlingit and Eyak allies attacked the Russians who were encamped on Hinchinbrook Island, Russians retaliated with firearms but Tlingit all wore armor, Baranov was nearly killed
1793 wo Aleuts get smallpox in Yakutat
1793 Baranov sent a first hunting party to Yakutat. [e-90]
1794 Baranov sent out a hunting party with more than 500 baidarkas and about 1,000 Kodiak
1794 First Russian Orthodox missionaries arrive at Kodiak from Russia to provide religious instruction to Native people.
1794 Aleksandr Andreyevich Baranov builds first ocean-going vessel in northwestern America on the Kenai Peninsula at Voskressenski 1795 The monk Makarius baptizes many residents of Unalaska Island.[9]
1796 Orthodox Hieromonk Makarii leaves Unalaska with six Unangan/Aleuts for St. Petersburg to protest Russian treatment of Native people. The tsar met with the two Natives who reach St. Petersburg and Makarii, but nothing comes of the meeting. The three men die returning to Alaska.
1796-1799 The Russian-American Company is established. Unalaska becomes a major station.[10]
1799Alexander Baranov, General Manager of the Shelikhov-Golikov Company, establishes a trading post at Sitka. The site is a strategic and important trading location in Southeast Alaska and has a large Tlingit settlement.
1799 Tsar Paul I grants the Russian-American Company, formed by Shelikhov’s heirs and other Siberian entrepreneurs, sole trading rights in North America for 20 years. Baranov remains General Manager. The third and last charter, issu
1799 60 persons lost in Baidarka swamping accident when Baranov trekked to Sitka; the baidarkas fleet was also attacked by Tlingit.
1799 Baranov finds those in Yakutat succumb to serious disease and learns a similar outbreak is hitting hard in the Kenai and Kodiak areas. Many deaths resulted.
1799 Baranov moves base operations of RAC to Sitka, several hundred Aleut hunters in baidarkas, joined by an additional 250 Aleut hunters that wintered in Nuchek; 60 Aleuts died when their boats were swamped
1799 First Russian trading charter grants Russian-American Company sole trading rights in America for 20 years. Baranov establishes Russian post known today as Old Sitka.
1799 Baranov moves base operations of RAC to Sitka, several hundred Aleut hunters in baidarkas, joined by an additional 250 Aleut hunters that wintered in Nuchek; 60 Aleuts died when their boats were swamped
1799 Baranov reports finds population of Yakutat inflicted with severe disease outbreak. Most died within 24 hours. Losses not reported in number.
1799 Peril Strait, 100 Aleuts die of shellfish poisoning on journey from Sitka back to Kodiak; survivors suffer starvation, scurvy and cold
1799 The founding of the new capital in Sitka costs many Koniag lives; numbers not provided
1800 Yakutat suffers a respiratory disease, losses not stated
1802 A Russian vessel winters in Atka with a crew that had a deadly, contagious “fever” they picked up in Okhotsk. The epidemic spread thru the local population causing many deaths and food shortages.
1802 After the attack on Old Sitka, Baranov was forced to pay 10,000 rubles ransom for surviving settlers.1804 Baranov returned to Sitka with a large contingent of Russians and Aleuts, and the Russian warship Neva. The ship destroyed the Native village and its occupants. Baranov immediately began to build the settlement of New Archangel, now known as Sitka.
1804 Respiratory epidemic on Kodiak Island, Koniags return from a hunting trip off the coast of California on Boston ship O’Cain. Reported to have selectively killed off all shaman, spared most others
1804 Second Battle of Sitka, Russians retake the site and reestablish the fort
1805 First cargo of Russian furs from Russian America is delivered to Canton, China by Yuri Lisiansky.
1805 Tlingit destroy Russian fort at Yakutat
1805 Atkan mother and infant beaten to death by Russian hunter
1805 Rezanov sends creole students to Russia to increase education. Suggests they should be vaccinated for small pox, one student died after the declaration.
1805 Several Koniag tortured to death by Promyshlenniki
1806 “Contagious rotting fever” reported in the Aleutians and Kodiak. Many deaths of natives resulted.
1806 72 “Boston Ships” or American trade voyages had made it to the coast; possibly introducing disease, particularly syphilis
1806 Respiratory epidemic in Unalaska, reported 350 deaths
1806 Respiratory epidemic on Atka, no one left to bury the dead, no numbers provided. Atka never regained former importance.
1807-1808 Severe dysentery outbreak (bloody diarrhea) on Unalaska after natives ate spoiled rice found in a shipwreck
1808 “Contagious rotting fever” reported in the Aleutians and Kodiak. Many deaths of natives resulted.
1809- 1810 RAC resumes hunting sea otters in the Tlingit kwáans’ territorial waters
1812 Napoleon invades Russia, increasing isolation of Russia from its distant colonies.
1812 Russians plant Ft. Ross on Northern California Coast
1815 Otto von Kotzebue, an Estonian German, sets out on Russian round-the-world expedition; visits St. Lawrence Island and Unalaska during summer.
1817 Two Aleuts aboard a Russian vessel developed the first case of measles and recovered.
1818 Russian inspection tour (Golovnin) accused RAC of not providing workers with medical care or provisions
1818-1820 20 bed hospital built in Sitka
1819 “Contagious rotting fever” reported in the Aleutians and Kodiak. Many deaths of natives resulted.
1819 Epidemic (likely influenza/measles) on Kodiak Island brought by the ship Finlandia, death toll 42; few escaped death
1819 Epidemic (likely influenza/measles) then spread from Kodiak to neighboring islands, then to Ukamok, an isolated island. 6 reported dead
1819 Epidemic in Sitka brought by an American ship from Java, 50 died
1820 American voyagers ventured into the Aleutians offering liquor and guns (possibly made it even to Kotzebue Sound)
1820 Russian America Company assigns first physician to Kodiak for the benefit of employees
1821 Russian Trading Charter is renewed extending Russian jurisdiction to 51st parallel.
1821 Hudson’s Bay Company, was trying to gain a foothold in the Alaska fur trade. The British made a deal with the Russians to lease the mainland south of Cape Spencer for 10 years at an annual payment of 2,000 land otter skins. The British were a presence in Alaska for the next 30 years.
1821– Practice of requiring “tribute, taxes, duty or any other kind of gift” is outlawed
1823 December 2 President James Monroe, seeking to exclude European intervention in the New World, issues the Monroe Doctrine.
1822-23 Fedor Lolmakov, Semen I Lukin (an interpreter ) and others make a trading expedition on behalf of RAC to locate a suitable site for an odinochka. [smallest of trading posts, maintained by just 1-3 men. They construct a cabin at confluence of Kuskokeim and Holitna, near todays Sleetmute
1823– summer, Lukin’s Odinochka, established near confluence of Kuskokwim and Kolmakof River (20 miles e. of Aniak.) Later elevated to status of Redoubt, )small defensive temporary fortification) named for Kolmakov.
1824 Russia and USA sign a treaty accepting 54 degrees, 4 minutes as southern boundary of Russian America.
1833 Russian establish Fort at St. Michael, near the mouth of the Yukon
1839 Destruction of the Russian Mission Post
1841 Russians establish a remote post at Fort Kolmakof on the Kuskokwim River
1841 Russian post at Ikogmiut, destroyed by Yup’iks who blamed the Russians for the smallpox epidemic which was devastating their village.
1842- 1843 Lt. Zagoskin and small party entered the Interior via Fort St. Michael and the Unalakleet-Kaltag portage.Arrive Nulato, Jan. 1843
1843 -summer, Zagoskin explores the Yukon upriver from Nulato
1844 Zagoskin traveled over to Fort Kolmakof on the Kuskokwim River
1848 Cathedral of St. Michael is dedicated in New Archangel (Sitka)
1853 Oil seeps in Cook Inlet discovered by employees of Russian-America Company
1857 Coal mining begins at Coal Harbor on Kenai Peninsula to supply steamers.
1861 Gold is discovered at Telegraph Creek at the Stikine River.
1867 March 30 – Secretary of State William H. Seward negotiates purchase of Russian America
1867 Major General Jefferson C. Davis, U.S. Army, assumes command of the Department of Alaska. A decade of military rule begins.
1868 First Alaska newspaper, “The Sitka Times,” is published by Thomas Murphy.
1877 US troops withdraw from Alaska. 1878 First Alaska fish cannery opens in Klawock.
1880 Joe Juneau and Richard Harris discover gold on Gastineau Channel. Juneau is founded
1882 First Alaska salmon canneries are built in central Alaska. First commercial herring fishing begins at Killisnoo.
1884 Steamers begin bringing first tourists to Alaska. Congress passes First Organic Act; $15,000 appropriated to educate Alaska Native children.
1887 Congress creates the Indian Reservation of Metlakatla on Annette Island. Around 1887, 1890 First oil claims are staked in Cook Inlet.
1890 Sheldon Jackson introduces reindeer into Alaska. Large corporate salmon canneries begin to appear.
1893 Gold is discovered on Birch Creek; Circle City is founded. 1896 Klondike Gold Rush begins. 1898 April 23 – Libby Partners make first major gold strike on Melsing and Ophir Creeks; Nome Gold Rush begins.
1900 First exploratory well is drilled in Cook Inlet. 20,000 gold miners on Nome beach. Capital moves from Sitka to Juneau. White Pass and Yukon Railroad is completed.
1902 First oil production in Alaska.
1902 Felix Pedro discovers gold near Fairbanks.
1902 President Theodore Roosevelt establishes the Tongass National Forest.
1903 Alaska-Canada border is settled.
1904 Washington Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System (WAMCATS) begins to lay submarine cable between Seattle, Sitka, and Valdez linking Alaska to “Outside.”
1905 First message is telegraphed from Fairbanks to Valdez.
1906 Native Allotment Act passes; first opportunity for Natives to obtain land under restricted title.
1911 Morgan-Guggenheim Corp. begins Copper River and NW Railroad from Cordova to Kennicott Copper Mine.
1911 July 7th – US, Canada, Russia, Great Britain, Japan sign an agreement in Washington D.C. to preserve the fur seal in the North Pacific.
1912 The Alaska Native Brotherhood is founded in Sitka.
1912 Mt. Katmai explodes massively, destroying villages near Lake Illiamna, depositing 12 feet of ash on Kodiak, .
1913 First Alaska Territorial Legislature Convenes; first law passed grants [white] women voting rights.
1914 Surveying begins for Alaska Railroad; Anchorage starts as construction camp on Ship Creek.
1915 Alaska Native Sisterhood holds first convention in Sitka.
1916 Delegate James Wickersham introduces first Alaska statehood bill in Congress. Congress creates the National Park Service through passage on an Organic Act.
1917 Pribilof fur seal exports exceed $274,000. Total Alaska fur exports: $1,338,599.
1917 Treadwell Mine caves in at Douglas.
1918 Alaska salmon pack exceeds six million cases, valued at over $51 million.
1920 Anchorage city government is organized.
1920 The Alaska Air Expedition from New York to Nome demonstrating that airplanes capable of carrying heavy loads could fly to and across Alaska.
1922 Alaska Agricultural College & School of Mines, later the University of Alaska, opens at College near Fairbanks.
1923 President Warren G. Harding drives golden spike near Nenana completing the Alaska Railroad. Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4 is created.
1924 Congress extends citizenship to all American Indians. William L. Paul, a Tlingit, is the first Alaska Native elected to Territorial Legislature.
1926 Alaska Native Townsite Act allows Natives to obtain restricted deeds to village lots. .
1928 Court case resolves the right of Native children to attend public school.
1935 New deal government sends 202 Midwest farmers to colonize Matanuska Valley.
1935 Salmon pack peaks at 8,437,603 case
1936 Congress extends the Indian Reorganization Act to Alaska. Nell Scott of Seldovia becomes the first woman elected to the Territorial Legislature.
1938 Kennicott Mine closes at McCarthy.
1940 Fort Richardson is established and work begins on Elmendorf Air Force Base.
1942 Japan bombs Dutch Harbor; invades Aleutians.
1942 US Army begins construction on Alaska Highway
1942 US evacuates Aleuts from Aleutian and Pribilof Islands
1943 American forces retake the Aleutian Islands, Attu and Kiska, from the Japanese.
1943 Secretary of the Interior creates the Venetie Reservation.
1944 Alaska-Juneau Gold Mine shuts down.
1946 Boarding school for Native high school students opens at Mt. Edgecumbe.
1947 The Alaska Command is established; first unified command of the US Army, Air Force, and Navy.
1947 First Alaska Native land claims suit, filed by Tlingit and Haida people, introduced in US Court of Claims.
1948 Alaska Highway opens to civilian traffic. Alaskans vote to abolish fish traps by a 10 to 1 margin.
Back to the top.
1953 The first plywood operations begin at Juneau and the first large pulp mill opens at Ketchikan. DEW-Line construction begins in the Arctic at Barter Island. First Alaska television broadcast by KENI, Anchorage.
1955-1956 Constitutional convention held at the University of Alaska.
1957 Atlantic Richfield discovers oil at Swanson River on the Kenai Peninsula, beginning Alaska’s modern oil era. The Swanson River field on the Kenai Peninsula was the first commercial production site for oil and gas in Alaska’s modern oil era. During the next ten years, additional oil fields are discovered offshore in nearby Cook Inlet and production platforms are installed to bring production on-line for the Middle Ground shoal field, the Granite Point field, the MacArthur River field and the Trading Bay field. By 1968, the Cook Inlet is producing nearly 200,000 barrels per day, and the income generated by oil production in Alaska is contributing more than 20% of the state government’s total revenues.
1958 Congress passes Alaska Statehood Act conveying ownership of 104 million acres.
1959 Alaska is admitted to the Union as the 49th state, and William A. Egan becomes Alaska’s first governor. Sitka pulp mill opens. State revenues: $25.4 million. British Petroleum begins to explore for oil on Alaska’s North Slope.
1960 Amoco finds offshore oil in Cook Inlet.
1963 Stevens Village and other Yukon villages protest the proposed Rampart Dam.
1964 Good Friday earthquake at 5:36 pm; Richter Scale measures 8.6. Alaska’s population reaches 250,000. Fortunately, the loss of life caused by the earthquake was relatively low; but property damage was estimated at almost $500 million. The earthquake was more than 10 million times the force of an atomic bomb. The town of Valdez was completely destroyed.
1965 State revenues total $82,964,000.
1966 Secretary of the Interior, Stewart L. Udall, imposes a land freeze until Native land claims can be settled. Alaska Federation of Natives is organized.
1967 August 15: Chena River floods Fairbanks. First bill introduced in Congress to settle Alaska Native land claims.
1968 Atlantic Richfield pumps oil from exploratory well at Prudhoe Bay; recoverable reserves of oil estimated at 9.6 billion barrels. State budget exceeds $100 million for the first time.
1969 September 10: Prudhoe Bay Lease Sale provides $900 million in lease bonuses to state treasury. In this year, Alaska’s population totals 295,000.
1970 State revenues: $1,067,264,000 First bill introduced in the legislature to establish a Permanent Fund. In this year, Alaska’s population totals 295,000. Environmental studies measuring the impact of pipeline construction on Alaska wildlife begin.
1971 Congress passes Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act; transfers ownership of 44 million acres of land to newly established Native corporations.
1973 Congress passes legislation allowing construction to begin on the trans-Alaska pipeline. War in the Middle East in October causes oil prices to rise from $3 to $16 per barrel.
1974 Construction begins on the pipeline; thousands of workers flock to Alaska in search of jobs. Construction lasts 39 months, costs $8 billion, including the Marine Terminal in Valdez.
1975 First Permanent Fund bill passes the legislature; Governor Hammond vetoes it and urges establishment of the Permanent Fund by amendment to the State Constitution.
1976 In November’s General Election, Alaska’s voters, by a vote of 75,588 to 38,518, approve constitutional amendment establishing the Permanent Fund. Article IX, Section 15 – At least 25 percent of all mineral lease rentals, royalties, royalty sale proceeds, federal mineral revenue sharing payments and bonuses received by the State shall be placed in a permanent fund, the principal of which shall be used only for those income-producing investments specifically designated as eligible for permanent fund investments. All income from the permanent fund shall be deposited in the general fund unless otherwise provided by law. Alaska’s population passes 400,000.
1977 February 28 – The Permanent Fund receives its first deposit of dedicated oil revenues: $734,000 Construction on the pipeline is completed, and the first oil arrives through the pipeline in Valdez. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline – A barrel of crude oil takes 5.04 days to flow from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez through the trans-Alaska pipeline at 6.62 mph. If the pipeline were full, it would hold 9 million barrels. One barrel equals 42 gallons.
1980 Alaska Legislature creates the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, makes a special appropriation to the Fund of $900 million, and approves the first Permanent Fund Dividend program (which is later ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court). Congress passes and President Jimmy Carter signs the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). Legislature repeals Alaska income tax.
1981 Alaska Legislature approves second special appropriation to the Permanent Fund, this time for $1.8 billion.
1982 State revenues peak at $4,108,400,000 after OPEC fixes oil price at $34/barrel. Alaska Legislature enacts inflation-proofing to protect purchasing power of Permanent Fund principal. First Permanent Fund Dividend check is distributed:$1,000.
1983 Crab stocks so low that most commercial seasons are canceled 1985 January 5 – Federal government transfers ownership of the Alaska Railroad, complete with 470 miles of mainline track, to State of Alaska; the purchase price was $22.3 million. Oil prices drop. During the 1985-87 recession, nearly 1 in 10 jobs disappear from the Alaska economy.
1986 Price of oil drops below $10 per barrel, causing Alaska oil revenues to plummet. Alaska Legislature approves third special appropriation to Fund principal: $1.26 billion.
1987 Congress passes amendments to the Alaska Native Land Claims Settlement Act, which protect lands and stocks. Trans-Alaska Pipeline celebrates its 10th anniversary.
1988 International efforts to rescue three whales caught by ice off Barrow captures world-wide attention. The Soviets allow a one-day visit of a group of Alaskans to the Siberian port city of Providenya. Total annual throughput of oil in the trans-Alaska pipeline peaks at 744 million barrels (2 million barrels per day).
1989 On March 24, the Exxon Valdez spills 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound. On May 27, the 9,000th tanker loads in Valdez.
1990 Alaska population reaches 550,000 according to the US Census Bureau. Over 800,000 visitors come to Alaska, some for business, most for pleasure. Mining ranks as Alaska’s fastest growing industry. Permanent Fund makes its first investments in stocks and bonds outside the United States.
1991 January 1 – 8 billionth barrel of oil arrives in Valdez. Permanent Fund Dividends are paid to all Alaska residents for the 10th consecutive year.
1992 Alaska Highway celebrates its 50th anniversary. Denali National Park is 50 years old. Anchorage is now the largest city in Alaska with more than 250,000 residents.
1996 Permanent Fund celebrates its 20th anniversary.
[1] I began with timelines from http://www.kodiakisland.net/timeline.php and
Alaska Native Cultures Timeline http://jukebox.uaf.edu/site/jukebox-includes/vilda/timeline.pdf
[2] Torrey, p. 30
[3] Unalaska Arts and Historical Society: 1976
[4] Torrey
[5] Torrey
[6] Bergsland: 1994: 69
[7] Iluula, Bergsland: 1994: 603; Partnow
[8] Bergsland: 1994:603; Unalaska Arts and Historical Society: 1976
[9] Unalaska Arts and Historical Society: 1976
[10] [Iluula{[Bergsland: 1994: 603]] [Partnow]2-Feb-17