Today's Anniversary
PURCHASE OF ALASKA.
On March 30, 1867, the United States purchased Alaska from Russia for some $7,000,000.
Secretary of State Seward persuaded congress to make this purchase in order to extend our power on the Pacific coast. Many congressmen thought it was a waste of money, and one called Alaska "the refrigerator of the United States."
But, as everyone now knows, the purchase of Alaska has proved extremely profitable to the government. Alaska's furs, forests and fish have
yielded us considerable wealth, to speak nothing of the rich deposits of gold found on the Yukon and on the Klondike. The trade in sealskins
alone mounts into millions of dollars a year. Alaska embraces about 550,000 square miles and includes the islands of the Aleutian archipelago, which extend a very long way westward.