History

2024

January 2024

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Visit https://www.census.gov/history every month for the latest Census History Home Page!

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U.S. Census Bureau History: Alaska and Its People

An enumerator (left) travels by dogsled to conduct the 1940 Census in Alaska. His guide (center)
waits to mush the dogs to the next household.

Enumerators still use dogsleds as well as skis, snow mobiles, snowshoes, and airplanes to
conduct the census in remote areas of Alaska.

U.S. Census Bureau History Office.

After nearly a century as a military district and incorporated territory, Alaska became the United States' 49th state on January 3, 1959. Americans initially considered the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867 to be a folly, as Secretary of State William H. Seward paid $7.2 million—approximately 2 cents an acre—for desolate land mockingly referred to as "Seward's icebox" and President Andrew Johnson's "Polar Bear Garden." Ridicule subsided once news of Alaska's natural resources and mineral wealth spread. Today, Alaska is home to a hardy population of 733,391 living in urban cities and remote settlements surrounded by 665,588 square miles of rugged mountains, roaring rivers, ancient glaciers, and flowering grasslands.

Russian explorers and traders were likely the first Europeans to arrive in Alaska as early as the 1640s. Spanish expeditions arrived in the 1770s as the nation sought to assert its claims to the North America's Pacific Northwest. Eighteenth century Spanish expeditions in Alaska led to the naming of present-day Valdez and Cordova, AK. In 1799, Russia sponsored the Russian-American Company to explore and colonize Alaska, trade with the Alaska Natives, and later establish Sitka, AK, as the territory's capital. By the late 1850s, the Russian colony was no longer profitable, it was difficult to defend, and the monarchy was in need of cash following Russia's defeat in the Crimean War (1853–1856). Russia first offered to sell the territoy to the United States in 1859, but the start of the American Civil War in 1861 delayed negotiations. In March 1867, Russian Minister to the United States Edouard de Stoeckl and Secrectary of State William H. Seward renewed negotiations. On March 30, 1867, they drafted a treaty for the sale of Alaska to the United States for $7.2 million (approximately $150 million today), equivalent to 2 cents (42 cents in 2023) per acre. The U.S. Senate approved the treaty on April 9; President Andrew Johnson signed the Alaska Purchase Treaty on October 18; and Alaska was formally transferred to the United States on October 18, 1867. On August 1, 1868, the U.S. Treasury wrote Stoeckl a check for $7.2 million to complete the purchase of Alaska.

Aside from sending troops to Alaska, the United States did little with the territory for decades. Elements of the U.S. Army's 9th Infantry participated in the October 18, 1867, transfer ceremony in Sitka, and later built military installations, including those in Wrangell and Kodiak Island. Under military supervision, the harvest of seals proved profitable in Alaska, but many merchants arriving in Sitka—the only settlement with American residents—soon learned that exploiting the region's other natural resources proved too costly. As a result, many Americans considered "Seward's Folly" a wasteful expenditure for frozen, barren territory with little value.

Interest in Alaska renewed when American George Carmack and First Nation prospectors Keish ("Skookum Jim Mason") and Kaa Goox ("Tagish Charlie") discovered a substantial gold deposit in the Klondike region of Yukon, Canada. The ensuing Klondike Gold Rush from 1896 to 1899—the biggest since the California Gold Rush 50 years earlier—saw 100,000 prospectors begin the arduous trek to the remote Klondike region from ports in Skagway and Dyea, AK. A second rush following a gold strike near Nome, AK in 1899 saw thousands more flood into Alaska. In addition to miners, these gold strikes brought thousands of people to the territory hoping to make their fortune by supporting the prospectors as ldry goods merchants, stablekeepers, barkeepers, grocers, tailors, etc. Between 1890 and 1900, Alaska saw its population nearly double from 32,052 to 63,592. The population was stagnant until the United States recognized the territory's strategic value following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Military personnel and civillians poured into the state as government spending improved roads, military bases and airfields, ports, and utilities, helping Alaska's population grew from 72,524 in 1940 to 128,643 in 1950.

Alaska's population continued to grow with each census after becoming a state on January 3, 1959. Thanks in part to its proximity to the Soviet Union during the Cold War, growth of its oil and mining industry, and wealth of other natural resources, the state's population rose from 226,167 in 1960 to 302,853 in 1970; 401,851 in 1980; and 550,043 in 1990. Since the United States began conducting censuses in Alaska in 1870, enumerators counted villages in Alaska's remote areas months earlier than in the rest of the nation to take advantage of the frozen ground, rivers, and lakes that made transportation easier. Most recently, U.S. Census Bureau director Steven Dillingham braved frigid temperatures to formally begin the 2020 Census in Alaska by enumerating residents in Toksook Bay on January 21, 2020. When census takers were done, Toksook Bay had a population of 658. Residents of Alaska's larger cities, including Anchorage, Fairbanks, Wasilla, Sitka, and Ketchikan responded to the census by mail or online using the questionnaires mailed nationwide in March 2020. When the most recent census concluded Alaska's population grew from 710,231 in 2010 to 733,391 in 2020.

You can learn more about Alaska and its people using census data and records. For example:

• Major General Henry W. Halleck conducted the first American census in the Alaska territory in 1870 using military personnel as enumerators. The data collected for 82,400 inhabitants are considered unreliable. Ten years later, Ivan Petrof and several census agents conducted a more accurate count of the territory's population of 33,426 people beginning in Attu, AK in May 1880. The data Petrof transmitted to the Census Office in Washington, DC, on August 7, 1882, are available in Report on the Population, Industries, and Resources of Alaska. Petrof worked as a customs tax collector in Kodiak, AK, in the 1880s and oversaw the 1890 Census in Alaska. However, his government career ended in disgrace when the U.S. State Department learned that Petrof had included his own opinions and false information in the translated documents connected to the Bering Sea Arbitration of 1893.
• The names of cities and towns throughout Alaska reflect the heritage and languages of the state's Alaska Native population. Examples include: Ketchikan, AK, which was named for Ketchikan Creek, and is translated from the Tlingit language meaning "thundering wings of an eagle"; located on Alaska's Cook Inlet, Wasilla, AK, was named for Denai'ina Athabascan Alaska Native Chief Wasilla; Kenai, AK, located south of Anchorage, AK, and famous for its salmon fishing, is translated from a Tanaina word meaning "flat, open meadow without trees"; Kodiak, AK, located on Kodiak Island, is translated from the Alutiiq word for "island"; and Unalaska, AK—the largest city in the Aleutian Islands—is translated from the Aleut word "Ounalashka," which means "near the peninsula."
• In 1997, the Office of Management and Budget's Statistical Policy Directive, No. 15, Race and Ethnic Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative Reporting permitted all census and survey respondents to identify as one of six races (i.e, White, Black, American Indian and Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, Asian, Some Other Race), or more than one race (i.e., American Indian and Alaska Native and White, or three or more races, such as American Indian and Alaska Native, White, and Asian). As a result of these expanded race reporting options, the American Indian and Alaska Native population grew from 1,959,234 in 1990 to 4,119,301 people identifying as American Indian and Alaska Native alone or in combination with some other race during the 2000 Census—the first to implement Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 guidelines. In 2010, the number grew to 5,220,579. More recently, the American Community Survey reported 8,551,272 American Indians or Alaska Natives alone or in combination with one or more other races in 2021.
• At 96.9 percent, Kusilvak Census Area, AK led the nation with the highest percentage of people identifying as American Indian alone or in combination during the 2020 Census. Other counties with a high percentage of people reporting they were American Indian or Alaska Natives alone or in combination included: Oglala Lakota County, SD (95.6%); Todd County, SD (91.3%); Sioux County, ND (89.4%); Bethel Census Area, AK (88.5%); Northwest Arctic Borough, AK (88.1%); Menominee County, WI (87.6%); Buffalo County, SD (84.8%); Dewey County, SD (82.7%); and Nome Census Area, AK(82.6%).
• Alaska is the largest state in the nation with a land area of nearly 571,000 square miles, but its population of 733,583 made it the third least populous states behind Wyoming (576,851) and Vermont (647,064). With a population of 291,247 Anchorage was by far the largest city in Alaska in 2020. Fairbanks and Juneau were the second and third largest cities with 32,515 and 32,255 people, respectively.
• In 2021, the Construction (NAICS 23) and Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction (NAICS 21) sectors dominated Alaska's economy. That year, the County Business Patterns series identified 2,580 Construction establishments employing 15,750people during the pay period that included March 12, 2021, and having an annual payroll of more more than $1.45 billion. That same year, 161 Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction establishments employed 8,769 and had an annual payroll of nearly $1.22 billion during the same period. Other sectors with substantial employment in the state include Manufacturing (NAICS 31-33) and Wholesale Trade (NAICS 42) which employed 10,728 and 8,169 people, respectively. Alaska's natural beauty draws tourists to the states 281 Hotels (except casino hotels) and Motels that employed 4,150 people during the pay period that included March 12, 2021, and had an annual payroll of nearly $160.6 million. There were 500 establishments benefiting from Alaska's wealth of Forest Products, Fish, and Wildlife (NAICS 11). These establishments employed 563 people during the pay period that included March 12, 2021with annual payroll of nearly $51 million.
• Popular television programs feature the trials of Alaskan fishermen and women and the states fishing industry. In 2021, the County Business Patterns series found there were 447 establishments engaged in Fishing (NAICS 11411) for salmon, crabs, shellfish, and other seafood. These establishments employed 305 workers during the pay period that included March 12, 2021, and had an annual payroll of more than $29.2 million.
• Although portions of Alaska are within 50 miles of Russia and the state had been a Russian colony until the United States purchased the territory in 1867, the American Community Survey estimated that just 6,494 of the state's 733,583 people identified themselves as Russian in 2022. More Alaskans reported they were German (96,340), English (70,661), and Irish (68,792) than any other ancestry.
• Census Bureau enumerators begin conducting the census in remote Alaska months earlier than their counterparts in the contiguos United States. In 1880, Ivan Petrof spent more than 2 years counting the Alaska territory's population beginning in Attu, AK, in May 1880. Alaska's 1900 Census supervisor began the count as early as July 1899—11 months before "Census Day" on June 1, 1900. Enumerators conducted the 1910 Census in Juneau, AK, on December 27, 1909. Although all census takers in the United States began their count at about the same time in 1950, Alaska's count required more time complete. The first Alaskan village to report its data in 1960 was Shungnak, north of the Arctic Circle. Census Day was January 22, 1980, for Point Hope and other vilalges in northern and western Alaska while the rest of the state was enumerated by mail as of April 1. Census Bureau director Kenneth Prewitt began the 2000 count in Unalakleet, AK, on January 20, 2020. Director Robert Groves arrived in Noorvik, AK, by dogsled to begin the 2010 Census. Ten years later, director Steven Dillingham counted the first households in the remote Alaskan village of Toksook Bay on January 21, 2020.
• When thinking of Alaska, the state's rugged mountains, limited daylight, and remote settlements reachable only by dogsled or bush plane often comes to mind. However, despite having some of the most remote populations and the coldest winter temperatures in the United States, the vast majority of the state's population remains remarkable well-connected to the "outside world" when compared to the national averages for Telephone, Computer, and Internet Access. In 2022, the American Community Survey estimated that of Alaska's 274,574 households, 97.3 percent had a computer, 91.6 percent subscribed to broadband Internet, 93.6 percent owned a smartphone, and 63.0 percent owned a tablet or wireless computer.
• Alaska holds the record for the coldest recorded temperature in the United States! On January 23, 1971, the temperature in Prospect Creek, in Alaska's Yukon-Kuyukuk Census Area dropped to a record 80° below zero! In contrast, Fort Yukon, AK, recorded the state's highest temperature when the mercury rose to 100°F on June 27, 1915—a 180° difference between temperature records! A weather reporting station at Rogers Pass, in Montana's Lewis and Clark County, holds the record for lowest temperature in the contiguous United States when the mercury fell to 70° below zero on January 20, 1954. Even states that are famous for their record heat and sunshine have recorded freezing temperatures. Monticello, FL, set the state's record high temperature when the thermometer read 108°F on June 29, 1931, while Tallahassee recorded a record low of 2° below zero on February 13, 1899. In California, the temperature at Greenland Ranch in Death Valley, climbed to 134°F on July 10, 1913, while the the state's record low of 45° below zero was set in Boca, Nevada County, CA, on January 20, 1937. Even the tropical Hawaiian Islands have experienced temperature extremes. On April 27, 1931, Pahala, HI, set a record high temperature of 100°F, while less 50 miles away, the Mauna Kea Observatory (elevation 13,796) witnessed a record low temperature of 15°F on January 5, 1975.
• On August 1, 1958, the USS Nautilus began its history-making submerged transit of the geographic North Pole north of Barrow, AK. Nautilus reached the geographic North Pole at 11:15 p.m. on August 3, 1958. After completing 1,830 mile submerged polar transit, the submarine surfaced near Greenland 2 days later. Learn more about the historic submarine and its North Pole transit at our USS Nautilus webpage.
• North Pole, AK, is southeast of Fairbanks, AK, along the Tanana River, and is actually about 1,700 miles from the geographic North Pole that explorers Robert Peary and Mathew Henson first reached on April 6, 1909. The city is a popular place during the winter holidays. Incorporated in 1953, its population grew from 615 in 1960 to 2,243 in 2020. Every year, thousands of letters addressed to Santa Claus and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer arrive at the North Pole, AK, post office. Tourists enjoy mailing letters with the "North Pole" postmark, watching world-famous sculptors compete in the North Pole Ice Contest, and celebrating the holidays during the city's annual winter festival.

U.S. Census Bureau director Robert Groves arrives at the remote Inupiat Eskimo village of Noorvik, AK, by dogsled to formally begin the 2010 Census.

The census begins earlier in Alaska when the frozen ground, rivers, and lakes make it easier to reach remote areas.

U.S. Census Bureau History Office.

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This Month in Census History

On January 10, 1921, a fire in the basement of the Department of Commerce building in Washington, DC, destroyed the majority of the 1890 Census schedules.

The loss of the original 1890 schedules left an enormous gap in many families' genealogical record. Alternative records may provide some information, but the loss of the 1890 Census schedules is an insurmountable obstacle for many genealogists tracing families between the 1880 and 1900 censuses.

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Alaska Natives

In 1870, Major General Henry W. Halleck directed the first American census in Alaska, but the data are unreliable due duplication and errors.

In 1880, Ivan Petrof supervised Alaska's enumeration beginning in the Aleutian Island town of Attu. The 2-year operation counted 33,426 inhabitants in Alaska, including 430 Whites, 1,756 Creoles, 17,617 Innuit, 2,145 Aleut, 3,927 Tinneh, 6,793 Thlinket, and 788 Hyda. The territory's Kuskokvim Division was most populous with 8,911 inhabitants, followed by the Southeastern Division with 7,748. The U.S. Census Bureau published Petrof's complete report in 1884.

The 1890 Census reported that there were 32,052 people in Alaska, including 23,531 "Indians."

Frigid temperatures greeted 1910 Census enumerators as they counted Alaska's 64,356 inhabitants, including 25,331 "Indians."

Because of Alaska's size and number of remote villages, 1940 census takers began canvassing the territory in October 1939. Over several months, they counted 11,283 "Indians" among the territory's 72,524 inhabitants.

One year after Alaska's statehood, the 1960 Census counted 34,444 "Indians" among Alaska's 226,167 total population.

In 1970, Alaskans could specify if they were American Indian, Aleut, or Eskimo. Americans nationwide could identify as American Indian, Eskimo, or Aleut in 1980. The 2000 Census was first to use the term "Alaska Native."

In 2020, 133,311 Americans identified as Alaska Native alone, including 102,765 people in Alaska.

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Alaska Native Alumni

Since the 19th century, the U.S. Census Bureau has tried to hire census takers with the local knowledge and language skills most prevalent in the areas to be enumerated, including Alaska Natives like Kathryn Dyakanoff Seller.

Seller was born in Unalaska, AK, in 1884. She attended the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, and graduated from the Carlisle, PA, school in 1906. After receiving a teaching degree from the West Chester Normal School in 1909, she returned to her home state to teach in Sitka. She married Harry Seller in 1909 and moved with him to Atka, AK, where they opened the first government-funded school in the Aleutian Islands and helped establish the area's first cooperative store, radio station, and library.

In 1920, the Sellers were living on Kodiak Island, when Harry worked as a census enumerator and Kathryn assisted as his Aleutian translator.

After her husband's death, Kathryn's government and census expertise made her an ideal candidate to work on the 1940 Census. For 6 weeks in November and December 1939, Seller enumerated 82 people in remote Alaska.

After retiring in 1948, Seller continued to educate and share her native culture with others. In 2017, she was posthumously inducted into the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame for her dedication to Alaska Native education and culture.

Learn more about Seller and other American Indian and Alaska Native Census Bureau employees at our Notable Alumni webpage.

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Visit https://www.census.gov/history every month for the latest Census History Home Page!