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Today marks the 150th day of remembrance of a historical result : On March 30 , 1867 , the United States agreed to pay Russia $ 7.2 million forAlaska . That ’s about 2 cents an acre .
A year after , the substantiation was made out to Edouard de Stoeckl , the Russian rector to the United States , who negotiated the deal with then - Secretary of State William Seward . ( Critics of the deal called it " Seward ’s Folly . " )
Denali in Alaska is the tallest mountain peak in North America.
harmonize to the U.S. Department of State , this leverage " mark the end of Russian endeavor to expand trade and settlements to the Pacific slide of North America . " It also was a step toward America ’s " cost increase as a great power in the Asia - Pacific region , " the department said . [ In paradigm : map of Alaska Help Track Climate Change ]
In a letter about the purchase , released on May 12 , 1968 , Joseph S. Wilson , commissioner of the General Land Office , key out the importance of the leverage , writing :
" The acquisition of this territory is essential to the full success of that career of wonderful progress upon which the United States have lately inscribe . Its continental location commands the navigation and commerce of the North Pacific , placing us almost in contact with the massive and hoary continent of Asia , whose garnered riches , the product of her peculiar industry during the entire period of human story , it has ever been the ambition of Western res publica to soak up by means of a monopoly of her trade . "
Alaska remained the " horrifying stepchild " of variety for three decades , governed by " military , naval , or Treasury rule or , at fourth dimension , no seeable rule at all , " consort to the Department of State . It was n’t until year later that Seward was vindicate : Alaskans struck Au , literally . In 1896 , a major gold deposit was found in the Yukon , leading to the gold rush , when 100,000 people hasten to the Klondike gold fields through southeast Alaska . The neighborhood became the 49th state on Jan. 3 , 1959 .
Today , Alaska is sleep with for its pristine glaciers and mountains — including Denali National Park and Glacier Bay National Park — and its wealth of lifelike resource .
Original article onLive skill .
