Amazing Alaska – Dale’s Daily Data

The state of Alaska has always amazed me – mostly because of its immense size.  Some amazing fact - it’s this country’s most northern, most western and most eastern state.   Most eastern because part of the Aleutian Island chain is west of the International Date Line.

In 1867 United States Secretary of State William Seward offered to buy Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million, or two cents an acre.  Russia accepted and probably thought it got a good deal.  In this country the purchase became known as Seward’s folly.  But 13 years later gold was discovered there.  Alaska today produces 25 percent of this county’s oil.

Alaska is twice the size of Texas.  If you were able to place Alaska over a map of the 48 states, Alaska would
stretch from Jacksonville, Florida all the way to San Diego, California and as far north as Minnesota’s
Canadian border.

The state of Rhode Island could fit into Alaska 425 times.  New York would fit into Alaska 12 times.  You’d have to drive across the length of New York six times to equal the width of Alaska.

Alaska’s ocean shoreline is longer than the entire Atlantic coast.  In fact Alaska has 50% of the country’s ocean shoreline.

Nearly two-thirds of all of the park land in the United States is in Alaska.

17 of the 20 highest mountains in the United States are in Alaska.

Juneau is the only capital city in the United States that can only be reached by boat or plane.

When Sarah Palin said she could Russia from Alaska it’s true.  The westernmost of the Aleutian islands is only two and a half miles from a Russian island.