Editing Alaska (section)

==History==
{{Main|Prehistory of Alaska|History of Alaska}}

===Pre-colonization===
{{Main|Alaska Natives}}Numerous indigenous peoples occupied Alaska for thousands of years before the arrival of European peoples to the area. Linguistic and DNA studies done here have provided evidence for the settlement of North America by way of the [[Bering land bridge]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=UCL |date=2012-07-12 |title=Native American populations descend from three key migrations |url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2012/jul/native-american-populations-descend-three-key-migrations |access-date=2023-12-22 |website=UCL News |language=en |archive-date=December 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209214252/https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2012/jul/native-american-populations-descend-three-key-migrations |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Handwerk |first=Brian |date=June 5, 2019 |title=Ancient DNA Reveals Complex Story of Human Migration Between Siberia and North America |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/ancient-dna-reveals-complex-story-human-migration-between-siberia-and-north-america-180972356/ |access-date=2023-12-22 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222035011/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/ancient-dna-reveals-complex-story-human-migration-between-siberia-and-north-america-180972356/ |url-status=live }}</ref> At the [[Upward Sun River site]] in the [[Tanana Valley]] in Alaska, remains of a six-week-old infant were found. The baby's DNA showed that she belonged to a population that was genetically separate from other native groups present elsewhere in the [[New World]] at the end of the [[Pleistocene]]. Ben Potter, the [[University of Alaska Fairbanks]] archaeologist who unearthed the remains at the Upward Sun River site in 2013, named this new group [[Ancient Beringian]].<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/01/alaska-dna-ancient-beringia-genome/|title=Lost Native American Ancestor Revealed in Ancient Child's DNA|magazine=National Geographic|date=January 3, 2018|access-date=January 3, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180103235253/https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/01/alaska-dna-ancient-beringia-genome/|archive-date=January 3, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The [[Tlingit people]] developed a society with a [[matrilineal]] kinship system of property inheritance and descent in what is today Southeast Alaska, along with parts of [[British Columbia]] and the [[Yukon]]. Also in Southeast were the [[Haida people|Haida]], now well known for their unique arts. The [[Tsimshian]] people came to Alaska from British Columbia in 1887, when President [[Grover Cleveland]], and later the U.S. Congress, granted them permission to settle on [[Annette Island]] and found the town of [[Metlakatla, Alaska]]. All three of these peoples, as well as other [[indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast]], experienced [[smallpox]] outbreaks from the late 18th through the mid-19th century, with the most devastating [[epidemics]] occurring in the 1830s and 1860s, resulting in high fatalities and social disruption.<ref>Brian C. Hosmer, ''American Indians in the Marketplace: Persistence and Innovation among the Menominees and Metlakatlans, 1870–1920'' (Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1999), pp. 129–131, 200.</ref>

===Colonization===
{{Main|Russian colonization of North America|Alaskan Creole people|Department of Alaska|District of Alaska|Fairbanks Gold Rush|Kobuk River Stampede|Nome Gold Rush|Alaska Purchase}}
[[File:Russian Sloop-of-War Neva.jpg|thumb|The Russian settlement of St. Paul's Harbor (present-day [[Kodiak, Alaska|Kodiak town]]), [[Kodiak Island]], 1814|left]]
[[File:Miners climb Chilkoot.jpg|thumb|Miners and prospectors climb the [[Chilkoot Trail]] during the 1898 [[Klondike Gold Rush]].|left]]

Some researchers believe the first Russian settlement in Alaska was established in the 17th century.<ref>Свердлов Л. М. Русское поселение на Аляске в XVII в.? "Природа". М., 1992. No. 4. С.67–69.</ref> According to this hypothesis, in 1648 several [[Koch (boat)|koches]] of [[Semyon Dezhnyov]]'s expedition came ashore in Alaska by storm and founded this settlement. This hypothesis is based on the testimony of [[Chukchi people|Chukchi]] geographer Nikolai Daurkin, who had visited Alaska in 1764–1765 and who had reported on a village on the Kheuveren River, populated by "bearded men" who "pray to the [[icons]]". Some modern researchers associate Kheuveren with [[Koyuk River]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.docstoc.com/docs/4877141/ALEXEI-V-POSTNIKOV-nautical-charts-compiled-by-these-promyshlenniki |title=Outline of the History of Russian Cartography |website=Regions: a Prism to View the Slavic Eurasian World |year=2000 |first=Alexey V. |last=Postnikov |author-link=Alexey Postnikov |access-date=June 6, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117073034/http://www.docstoc.com/docs/4877141/ALEXEI-V-POSTNIKOV-nautical-charts-compiled-by-these-promyshlenniki |archive-date=January 17, 2013 }}</ref>

The first European vessel to reach Alaska is generally held to be the ''St. Gabriel'' under the authority of the surveyor [[Mikhail Gvozdev|M. S. Gvozdev]] and assistant navigator [[Ivan Fyodorov (navigator)|I. Fyodorov]] on August 21, 1732, during an expedition of Siberian Cossack A. F. Shestakov and Russian explorer [[Dmitry Pavlutsky]] (1729–1735).<ref>Аронов В. Н. Патриарх Камчатского мореходства. // "Вопросы истории рыбной промышленности Камчатки": Историко-краеведческий сб.—Вып. 3.—2000. Вахрин С. Покорители великого океана. Петроп.-Камч.: Камштат, 1993.</ref> Another European contact with Alaska occurred in 1741, when [[Vitus Bering]] led an [[second Kamchatka expedition|expedition]] for the Russian Navy aboard the ''St. Peter''. After his crew returned to Russia with [[sea otter]] pelts judged to be the finest fur in the world, small associations of [[fur trade]]rs began to sail from the shores of Siberia toward the Aleutian Islands. The first permanent European settlement was founded in 1784.

Between 1774 and 1800, [[Viceroyalty of New Spain|Spain]] sent several [[Spanish expeditions to the Pacific Northwest|expeditions to Alaska]] to assert its claim over the Pacific Northwest. In 1789, a Spanish settlement and [[Fort San Miguel|fort]] were built in [[Nootka Sound]]. These expeditions gave names to places such as [[Valdez, Alaska|Valdez]], [[Bucareli Sound]], and [[Cordova, Alaska|Cordova]]. Later, the [[Russian-American Company]] carried out an expanded colonization program during the early-to-mid-19th century. [[Sitka, Alaska|Sitka]], renamed [[New Archangel]] from 1804 to 1867, on [[Baranof Island]] in the [[Alexander Archipelago]] in what is now [[Southeast Alaska]], became the capital of [[Russian America]]. It remained the capital after the colony was transferred to the United States. The Russians never fully colonized Alaska, and the colony was never very profitable. Evidence of Russian settlement in names and churches survives throughout southeastern Alaska.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Magazine |first=Smithsonian |last2=Montaigne |first2=Fen |title=Tracing Alaska's Russian Heritage |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/alaska-russian-heritage-smithsonian-journeys-travel-quarterly-180959449/ |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en |archive-date=April 10, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410195818/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/alaska-russian-heritage-smithsonian-journeys-travel-quarterly-180959449/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1867, [[William H. Seward]], the [[United States Secretary of State]] under President [[Andrew Johnson]], negotiated the [[Alaska Purchase]] (referred to pejoratively as Seward's Folly) with the Russians for $7.2&nbsp;million.<ref>[[Don H. Doyle|Doyle, Don H.]] (2024). ''The Age of Reconstruction: How Lincoln's New Birth of Freedom Remade the World''. Princeton & Oxford: Princeton University Press, pp. 99–120.</ref> Russia's contemporary ruler [[Tsar]] [[Alexander II of Russia|Alexander II]], the [[Emperor of the Russian Empire]], [[King of Poland]] and [[Grand Duke of Finland]], also planned the sale;<ref>[https://www.adn.com/alaska-life/we-alaskans/2017/03/05/the-man-who-old-alaska/ The man who $old Alaska] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201201085507/https://www.adn.com/alaska-life/we-alaskans/2017/03/05/the-man-who-old-alaska/ |date=December 1, 2020 }} – Anchorage Daily News</ref> the purchase was made on March 30, 1867. Six months later the commissioners arrived in Sitka and the formal transfer was arranged; the formal flag-raising took place at Fort Sitka on October 18, 1867. In the ceremony, 250 uniformed U.S. soldiers marched to the governor's house at "Castle Hill", where the Russian troops lowered the Russian flag and the U.S. flag was raised. This event is celebrated as [[Alaska Day]], a legal holiday on October 18.

Alaska was loosely governed by the military initially and was administered as a [[District of Alaska|district]] starting in 1884, with a governor appointed by the United States president. A federal [[United States territorial court|district court]] was headquartered in Sitka. For most of Alaska's first decade under the United States flag, Sitka was the only community inhabited by American settlers. They organized a "provisional city government", which was Alaska's first municipal government, but not in a legal sense.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wheeler|first=Keith|chapter=Learning to cope with 'Seward's Icebox'|title=The Alaskans|url=https://archive.org/details/alaskans00time|url-access=registration|year=1977|publisher=[[Time–Life Books]]|location=[[Alexandria, Virginia|Alexandria]]|isbn=978-0-8094-1506-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/alaskans00time/page/57 57–64]}}</ref> Legislation allowing Alaskan communities to legally [[Municipal corporation|incorporate as cities]] did not come about until 1900, and [[Home rule#Home rule in the United States|home rule]] for cities was extremely limited or unavailable until statehood took effect in 1959.

===U.S. territorial incorporation===
{{Main|Organic act#List of organic acts|Territory of Alaska}}

Starting in the 1890s and stretching in some places to the early 1910s, gold rushes in Alaska and the nearby Yukon Territory brought thousands of miners and settlers to Alaska. From 1879 to 1920, Alaska produced a cumulative total of over $460,000,000 ({{Inflation|US|460000000|1920|fmt=eq}}) of mineral production.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brooks |first=Alfred H. |display-authors=etal |date=1920 |title=Mineral Resources of Alaska, 1920 |url=https://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/0722a/report.pdf |journal=USGS |pages=7 |archive-date=August 8, 2024 |access-date=August 8, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240808035325/https://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/0722a/report.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Alaska was officially incorporated as an organized territory in 1912. Alaska's capital, which had been in Sitka until 1906, was moved north to [[Juneau, Alaska|Juneau]]. Construction of the [[Alaska Governor's Mansion]] began that same year. European immigrants from Norway and Sweden also settled in southeast Alaska, where they entered the fishing and logging industries.
[[File:US troops at the Battle of Attu.jpg|thumb|U.S. troops navigate snow and ice during the [[Battle of Attu]] in May 1943.]]

During [[World War II]], the [[Aleutian Islands Campaign]] focused on [[Attu Island|Attu]], [[Agattu]] and [[Kiska Island|Kiska]], all of which were occupied by the [[Empire of Japan]].{{efn|These three Aleutian outer islands are about {{convert|460|mi|km}} away from mainland USSR, {{convert|920|mi|km}} from mainland Alaska, {{convert|950|mi|km}} from Japan.}} During the Japanese occupation, an American civilian and two [[United States Navy]] personnel were killed at Attu and Kiska respectively, and nearly a total of 50 Aleut civilians and eight sailors were interned in Japan. About half of the Aleuts died during the period of internment.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cloe |first1=John Haile |title=Attu: the forgotten battle |date=2017 |publisher=United States National Park Service |isbn=978-0-9965837-3-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-t6J21RGruEC |access-date=November 5, 2019 |archive-date=March 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331025223/https://books.google.com/books?id=-t6J21RGruEC |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Unalaska]]/[[Dutch Harbor]] and [[Adak, Alaska|Adak]] became significant bases for the [[United States Army]], [[United States Army Air Forces]] and United States Navy. The United States [[Lend-Lease]] program involved flying American warplanes through [[Canada]] to [[Fairbanks, Alaska|Fairbanks]] and then [[Nome, Alaska|Nome]]; Soviet pilots took possession of these aircraft, ferrying them to fight the German invasion of the [[Soviet Union]]. The construction of military bases contributed to the population growth of some Alaskan cities.

===Statehood===
{{See also|Alaska Statehood Act|Admission to the Union|List of U.S. states by date of admission to the Union}}
[[File:Alaskan Senators with 49 Star Flag.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Bob Bartlett]] and [[Ernest Gruening]], Alaska's inaugural U.S. Senators, hold the 49 star U.S. Flag after the admission of Alaska as the 49th state.]]

Statehood for Alaska was an important cause of [[James Wickersham]] early in his tenure as a congressional delegate.<ref>{{cite book | last=McBeath | first=G.A. | title=The Alaska State Constitution | publisher=Oxford University Press | series=Oxford commentaries on the state constitutions of the United States | year=2011 | isbn=978-0-19-977829-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NvBMAgAAQBAJ | access-date=November 6, 2024 | page=7}}</ref> Decades later, the statehood movement gained its first real momentum following a territorial referendum in 1946. The Alaska Statehood Committee and Alaska's Constitutional Convention would soon follow. Statehood supporters also found themselves fighting major battles against political foes, mostly in the U.S. Congress but also within Alaska. Statehood was approved by the U.S. Congress on July 7, 1958; Alaska was officially proclaimed a state on January 3, 1959.<ref>{{cite book | last=Whitehead | first=J.S. | title=Completing the Union: Alaska, Hawai'i, and the Battle for Statehood | publisher=University of New Mexico Press | series=Histories of the American frontier | year=2004 | isbn=978-0-8263-3637-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FCHeHe_sIl4C | access-date=November 6, 2024 | pages=273–300 | archive-date=December 8, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241208081049/https://books.google.com/books?id=FCHeHe_sIl4C | url-status=live }}</ref>

===Good Friday earthquake===
{{Main|1964 Alaska earthquake}}
On March 27, 1964, the massive [[1964 Alaska earthquake|Good Friday earthquake]] killed 133 people and destroyed several villages and portions of large coastal communities, mainly by the resultant [[tsunamis]] and landslides. It was the [[Largest earthquakes by magnitude|fourth-most-powerful earthquake]] in recorded history, with a [[moment magnitude scale|moment magnitude]] of 9.2 (more than a thousand times as powerful as the [[1989 Loma Prieta earthquake|1989 San Francisco earthquake]]).<ref>{{Cite news|last=Taylor|first=Alan|title=1964: Alaska's Good Friday Earthquake – The Atlantic|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/05/1964-alaskas-good-friday-earthquake/100746/|access-date=2021-02-04|newspaper=The Atlantic|archive-date=February 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210213045525/https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/05/1964-alaskas-good-friday-earthquake/100746/|url-status=live}}</ref> The time of day (5:36&nbsp;pm), time of year (spring) and location of the [[epicenter]] were all cited as factors in potentially sparing thousands of lives, particularly in Anchorage. Alaska suffered a more severe [[megathrust earthquake]] on July 11, 1585, estimated at magnitude 9.25, which remains the most powerful earthquake recorded in North American history, and the second [[Lists of earthquakes#Strongest earthquakes by magnitude|most powerful earthquake recorded]] in world history.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-05-13 |title=The Biggest Earthquakes In US History |url=https://www.worldatlas.com/natural-disasters/the-biggest-earthquakes-in-us-history.html |access-date=2025-01-03 |website=WorldAtlas |language=en-US |archive-date=January 3, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250103143503/https://www.worldatlas.com/natural-disasters/the-biggest-earthquakes-in-us-history.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Good Friday earthquake lasted 4 minutes and 38 seconds. {{convert|600|mi|spell=In|||}} of fault ruptured at once and moved up to {{cvt|60|ft||||}}, releasing about 500 years of stress buildup. [[Soil liquefaction]], fissures, landslides, and other ground failures caused major structural damage in several communities and much damage to property. [[Anchorage, Alaska|Anchorage]] sustained great destruction or damage to many inadequately [[Earthquake engineering|earthquake-engineered]] houses, buildings, and infrastructure (paved streets, sidewalks, water and sewer mains, electrical systems, and other human-made equipment), particularly in the several landslide zones along [[Knik Arm]]. {{convert|200|mi|spell=In|||}} southwest, some areas near [[Kodiak Island|Kodiak]] were permanently raised by {{convert|30|ft|m|0}}. Southeast of Anchorage, areas around the head of [[Turnagain Arm]] near [[Girdwood, Anchorage|Girdwood]] and [[Portage (Anchorage)|Portage]] dropped as much as {{convert|8|ft|m}}, requiring reconstruction and fill to raise the [[Seward Highway]] above the new high [[tide]] mark.<ref>{{cite web |title=The 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake History |url=https://ready.alaska.gov/64Quake/History |access-date=January 3, 2025 |website=Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management |publisher=State of Alaska |archive-date=January 3, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250103143506/https://ready.alaska.gov/64Quake/History |url-status=live }}</ref>

In [[Prince William Sound]], [[Port of Valdez|Port Valdez]] suffered a massive underwater landslide, resulting in the deaths of 32 people between the collapse of the [[Valdez, Alaska|Valdez]] city harbor and docks, and inside the ship that was docked there at the time. Nearby, a {{convert|27|ft|m|adj=on}} tsunami destroyed the village of [[Chenega, Alaska|Chenega]], killing 23 of the 68 people who lived there; survivors out-ran the wave, climbing to high ground. Post-quake tsunamis severely affected [[Whittier, Alaska|Whittier]], [[Seward, Alaska|Seward]], Kodiak, and other Alaskan communities, as well as people and property in British Columbia, [[Washington (state)|Washington]], [[Oregon]], and California.<ref>{{cite web |title=1964 Alaskan Tsunami|url=http://www.usc.edu/dept/tsunamis/alaska/1964/webpages/|publisher=University of Southern California Tsunami Research Group |access-date=July 18, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150508154813/http://www.usc.edu/dept/tsunamis/alaska/1964/webpages/|archive-date=May 8, 2015}}</ref> Tsunamis also caused damage in Hawaii and Japan. Evidence of motion directly related to the earthquake was also reported from [[Florida]] and [[Texas]].

Alaska had never experienced a major disaster in a highly populated area before and had very limited resources for dealing with the effects of such an event. In Anchorage, at the urging of geologist [[Lidia Selkregg]], the City of Anchorage and the Alaska State Housing Authority appointed a team of 40 scientists, including geologists, soil scientists, and engineers, to assess the damage done by the earthquake to the city.<ref name=":0a">Friedel, Megan K. (2010). Guide to the Anchorage Engineering Geology Evaluation Group papers, 1964. UAA/APU Consortium Library Archives and Special Collections. HMC-0051. https://archives.consortiumlibrary.org/collections/specialcollections/hmc-0051/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328165246/https://archives.consortiumlibrary.org/collections/specialcollections/hmc-0051/ |date=March 28, 2019 }}</ref> The team, called the Engineering and Geological Evaluation Group, was headed by [[Ruth A. M. Schmidt]], a geology professor at the [[University of Alaska Anchorage]]. The team of scientists came into conflict with local developers and downtown business owners who wanted to immediately rebuild; the scientists wanted to identify future dangers to ensure that the rebuilt infrastructure would be safe.<ref>"Ruth Anne Marie Schmidt Ph.D." [[Alaska Women's Hall of Fame]]. 2015. Retrieved November 23, 2015.</ref> The team produced a report on May 8, 1964, just a little more than a month after the earthquake.<ref name=":0a" /><ref>Saucier, Heather (April 2014). "PROWESS Honors Historic Earthquake Survivor". [[American Association of Petroleum Geologists]]. Retrieved July 31, 2018.</ref>

The United States military, which has a large active presence in Alaska, also stepped in to assist within moments of the end of the quake. The U.S. Army rapidly re-established communications with the lower 48 states, deployed troops to assist the citizens of Anchorage, and dispatched a convoy to Valdez.<ref name="Hand">Cloe, John Haile [http://alaskahistoricalsociety.org/helping-hand-military-response-to-good-friday-earthquake/ "Helping Hand" Military response to Good Friday earthquake] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161027054632/http://alaskahistoricalsociety.org/helping-hand-military-response-to-good-friday-earthquake/ |date=2016-10-27 }} Alaska Historical Society, 3/4/2014</ref> On the advice of military and civilian leaders, President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] declared all of Alaska a major disaster area the day after the quake. The U.S. Navy and [[United States Coast Guard|U.S. Coast Guard]] deployed ships to isolated coastal communities to assist with immediate needs. Bad weather and poor visibility hampered air rescue and observation efforts the day after the quake, but on Sunday the 29th the situation improved and rescue helicopters and observation aircraft were deployed.<ref name="Hand" /> A military airlift immediately began shipping relief supplies to Alaska, eventually delivering {{convert|2570000|lbs}} of food and other supplies.<ref name="Galvin" /> Broadcast journalist, [[Genie Chance]], assisted in recovery and relief efforts, staying on the [[KENI]] air waves over Anchorage for more than 24 continuous hours as the voice of calm from her temporary post within the Anchorage Public Safety Building.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=When a Quake Shook Alaska, a Radio Reporter Led the Public Through the Devastating Crisis|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-quake-shook-alaska-radio-reporter-led-public-through-devastating-crisis-180974450/|access-date=2020-12-02|website=Smithsonian Magazine|language=en|archive-date=March 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321054507/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-quake-shook-alaska-radio-reporter-led-public-through-devastating-crisis-180974450/|url-status=live}}</ref> She was effectively designated as the public safety officer by the city's police chief.<ref name=":2" /> Chance provided breaking news of the catastrophic events that continued to develop following the magnitude 9.2 earthquake, and she served as the voice of the public safety office, coordinating response efforts, connecting available resources to needs around the community, disseminating information about shelters and prepared food rations, passing messages of well-being between loved ones, and helping to reunite families.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Barbaro |first=Michael |date=May 22, 2020 |title=Genie Chance and the Great Alaska Earthquake |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/22/podcasts/the-daily/this-is-chance-alaska-earthquake.html?showTranscript=1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210102185032/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/22/podcasts/the-daily/this-is-chance-alaska-earthquake.html?showTranscript=1 |archive-date=January 2, 2021 |access-date=January 23, 2023 |website=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>

In the longer term, the [[U.S. Army Corps of Engineers]] led the effort to rebuild roads, clear debris, and establish new townsites for communities that had been completely destroyed, at a cost of $110&nbsp;million.<ref name=Galvin>Galvin, John [http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a1967/4219868/ Great Alaskan Earthquake and Tsunami: Alaska, March 1964] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161027062138/http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a1967/4219868/ |date=2016-10-27 }} ''[[Popular Mechanics]]'', 6/29/2007</ref> The [[West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center]] was formed as a direct response to the disaster. Federal disaster relief funds paid for reconstruction as well as financially supporting the devastated infrastructure of Alaska's government, spending hundreds of millions of dollars that helped keep Alaska financially solvent until the discovery of massive oil deposits at [[Prudhoe Bay]]. At the order of the [[United States Department of Defense|U.S. Defense Department]], the [[Alaska National Guard]] founded the Alaska Division of Emergency Services to respond to any future disasters.<ref name=Hand/>

=== Oil boom ===
The 1968 discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay and the 1977 completion of the [[Trans-Alaska Pipeline System]] led to an oil boom. Royalty revenues from oil have funded large state budgets from 1980 onward.

[[File:OilPoolFromValdezSpill.jpeg|thumb|right|220px|Oil pooled on rocks on the shore of Prince William Sound after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.]]

Oil production was not the only economic value of Alaska's land. In the second half of the 20th century, Alaska discovered tourism as an important source of revenue. Tourism became popular after World War II when military personnel stationed in the region returned home praising its natural splendor. The [[Alaska Highway|Alcan Highway]], built during the war, and the [[Alaska Marine Highway|Alaska Marine Highway System]], completed in 1963, made the state more accessible than before. Tourism has become increasingly important in Alaska, and today over 1.4&nbsp;million people visit the state each year.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Alaskan Oil Boom |url=https://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre1969111200 |access-date=2022-09-27 |website=CQ Researcher by CQ Press |series=CQ Researcher Online |year=1969 |pages=835–854 |publisher=CQ Press |doi=10.4135/cqresrre1969111200 |language=en |archive-date=July 31, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180731235042/https://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre1969111200 |url-status=live |last1=Phillips |first1=James G. |s2cid=264579055 }}</ref>

With tourism more vital to the economy, environmentalism also rose in importance. The [[Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act]] (ANILCA) of 1980 added 53.7&nbsp;million acres (217,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) to the [[National Wildlife Refuge|National Wildlife Refuge system]], parts of 25 rivers to the [[National Wild and Scenic Rivers System]], 3.3&nbsp;million acres (13,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) to [[National forest (United States)|National Forest lands]], and 43.6&nbsp;million acres (176,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) to [[National Park Service|National Park land]]. Because of the Act, Alaska now contains two-thirds of all American national parklands. Today, more than half of Alaskan land is owned by the [[Federal government of the United States|Federal Government]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wells |first=Bruce |date=2022-07-12 |title=First Alaska Oil Wells |url=https://aoghs.org/petroleum-pioneers/first-alaska-oil-well/ |access-date=2022-09-27 |website=American Oil & Gas Historical Society |language=en-US |archive-date=March 7, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307042212/https://aoghs.org/petroleum-pioneers/first-alaska-oil-well/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1989, the ''[[Exxon Valdez]]'' hit a reef in the Prince William Sound, [[Exxon Valdez oil spill|spilling]] more than 11 million gallons (42 megalitres) of crude oil over {{convert|1100|mi}} of coastline. Today, the battle between philosophies of development and conservation is seen in the contentious debate over oil drilling in the [[Arctic National Wildlife Refuge]] and the proposed [[Pebble Mine]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Fountain |first1=Henry |title=E.P.A. Blocks Long-Disputed Mine Project in Alaska |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/31/climate/pebble-mine-epa-decision.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=January 31, 2023 |archive-date=July 3, 2024 |access-date=December 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240703222905/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/31/climate/pebble-mine-epa-decision.html |url-status=live }}</ref>