Alaska The 49th State (1959)

[Music] on July 4th 1959 a new state officially joined the union of the United States Alaska the 49th state the name Alaska is an Indian word meaning big land the name fits well it is a big [Music] land the land area of Alaska is more than 1 16th that of all the other states combined if the map of Alaska is placed over the map of the Southern 48 states it reaches from coast to coast since the state of Alaska is such a big land it is a land of contrasts a land of many different [Music] peoples a land of many different jobs a land of widely varied [Music] climates Alaska is divided by Nature into five areas Southeastern Alaska south central Alaska Southwestern Alaska including the alian islands stretching far to the West interior Alaska and the Northwest and Northern coastal areas of the state only 56 miles distant at the bearing straight from Asia and Russia the principal towns and cities of Alaska are gnome in the Northwest Fairbanks in the interior Anchorage Palmer and Seward in the South Central area and in Southeastern Alaska Sitka ketan and Juno the state capital Southeastern Alaska is a land of mountains rising steeply from Deep bays and inlets towns climb up the sides of mountains flat land is hard to find this is Juno the capital of Alaska the town is named after Joe Juno a prospector who discovered gold here in 1880 the gold is gone now but there is wealth all around on the land timber in the sea fish these fishermen are Indians natives of Alaska their an ancestors lived here when the first Russian explorers came in the 1700s their ship is part of the commercial fishing fleet that takes millions of dollars worth of salmon and other Seafood from Alaska's Waters every [Music] year these alaskans also depend on fish for their livelihood [Music] [Applause] Timber grows thick and tall in Southeastern Alaska where it rains as much as 20 ft a year water is never far away and water is an economical way to transport the timber to the Mills the the lumber Mills operate the year round here is an example too rare in Alaska of a raw material being processed within the borders of the [Music] state a great deal of this Timber is used for construction in Alaska some is shipped to the states to the South some is shipped to Japan Alaska's forests can provide plenty for all there is also plenty of ice in Alaska rivers of ice in Southeastern and South Central Alaska huge glaciers move with infinite slowness and steadiness down from the mountain valleys to the [Music] Sea located in South Central Alaska is Anchorage the state's largest city life here is very much like life anywhere else in the United States of course there are [Applause] [Applause] differences near Anchorage is Elmendorf Air Force Base military bases have contributed greatly to the growth of Anchorage and of all Alaska since the second world [Music] war the strategically located city of Anchorage is becoming one of the air centers of the world a hub for Polar and great circle flights but there are other good reasons why Anchorage has become Alaska's largest city nearby is the Matanuska Valley the leading agricultural region of Alaska the summer days here are warm and very long close to the land of the midnight sun and the crops are rich there are several Rich Farm areas already under cultivation in Alaska but there are nearly a million Acres of potential Farmland not yet in use this unused Farmland is one of Alaska's great resources for the future too much Alaska's food has to be shipped in from outside the state making it expensive and scarce there is a great need for new farms and New farmers in Alaska to produce food to feed this new state before crops can be grown land must be cleared Alaska remains a last American frontier taming the Wilderness is a job for Pioneers but it's a job that can be done stretching far across the Pacific Ocean into the Eastern hemisphere are the eluan islands treeless and fog bound few people live on these Barren Islands there are some fishermen and soldiers because of their location the Illusions are important as military outposts the interior of Alaska is a broad Rolling Valley bordered and broken by mountain ranges the Yukon river flows out of Canada across the interior of Alaska and onto the sea the Yukon is one of the world's longest rivers on its Waters the stern wheeler is still King the interior is the home of many Alaskan Indians although touched more and more by modern civilization the Indians life differs in many ways from that of other alaskans the Indian fishing wheel is an old and effective way to catch [Applause] fish to a large degree the Indians of Alaska live off the natural wealth of their land Fairbanks is the principal city of the Alaskan interior this modern city Alaska's second largest is only 120 Mi south of the Arctic Circle sometimes it's 60 below here but in summertime it's often in the '90s close to Fairbanks is the University of Alaska no University in the world is located farther north Fairbanks began Life as a gold mining camp and Mining is still its principal industry but gold mining today Bears little resemblance to the methods of its romantic past today streams of water pumped at high pressure wash away the Earth that covers the gold bearing gravel water is pumped down to thaw the permanently Frozen subsoil an artificial lake is created and a huge dredge is floated on it as the dredge moves slowly forward an endless chain of buckets Scoops up the thawed gold bearing [Applause] gravel inside the dredge the gold is separated from the gravel by a sifting process similar on a grand scale to the old Prospectors panning for gold the methods of mining have changed but the lure of the gold Remains the Northwest and Northern Coastal area of Alaska is the home of the [Music] eskimos these people live in small settlements on the barren coasts much of their food comes from the sea some clothes are made from seal skins I iory from walrus tusks is carved into tools on the treeless Flats called Tundra the eskimos raise herds of reindeer reindeer are not native to Alaska the first were imported from Siberia in 1891 to provide the eskimos with an additional supply of food and skins the small Eskimo towns are widely scattered with few roads between them transportation is mostly by air the problem of inadequate transportation is faced by all the people of Alaska in all of this huge State there are only 5,000 mil of roads and only 500 mil of railroads Alaska is more dependent on air transportation than is any other state there are more than 500 cities towns and settlements with scheduled Air Service an airplane trip is as common in Alaska as a bus trip in other states many alaskans living in isolated areas depend on the flights of the Bush Pilots for their everyday supplies a phone call or radio message to the bush pilot and he purchases the needed supplies and delivers them by air but shipping Freight by air even in large planes is not economical and the high freight costs of Air transport must be added to Consumer prices helping to make them the highest in the entire United States from Seward through Anchorage and onto Fairbanks runs the Alaska Railroad it's no accident that Alaska's two largest cities lie on its right of way where there is transportation in Alaska there is growth the Alaska railroad was built in 1920 by the United States government the equipment is modern and the right of way spectacular the railroad passes close by Mount McKinley the highest mountain in North America [Music] the railroad runs as far as Fairbanks and [Music] stops Alaska's transportation problems are not only internal ones existing transportation between Alaska and the other states is limited to Ocean shipping through the Inland passage between Seattle and Southeastern Alaska Airline service between Alaska and the Northwest states and the Alaska Highway with connecting highways to the South there are no railroads connecting Alaska with the states to the South shipping costs to Alaska by water have always been extremely high this is due in part to the one-way nature of the shipping Alaska Imports much and exports very little ships must make the return trip empty so Freight rates on the passage up must also pay for the trip back commercial truck traffic moving on the Alaska highway is a bright spot in the Alaska Transportation picture built during the war for defense purposes this all-year highway has proven to be of great importance in peace Time Each mile of new highway points the way to a Alaska's future the wealth of this state has hardly been touched the resources are there how to get them out has always been the problem a producing oil well is of little value without pipelines and Roads to service it Alaska also needs more factories and Mills to process the natural wealth of the state within the state borders new Industries will mean new jobs new products will mean lower prices Alaska is building a permanent population on the promise of the great potential wealth held within its borders the potential of growth for this new state is as unlimited as was the potential of the western territories of the United States when they became state of the Union Alaska will grow as they have grown