Alaska

H

2

Railroads

Mining encouraged some railroad development in Alaska, including a line from Skagway to the Canadian Yukon goldfields and a line from the copper mines to Cordova. The Alaska Railroad, the only major line, was begun in 1914 and completed in 1923. It extends 814 km (506 mi), from Seward via Anchorage to Fairbanks. The railroad also operates summer tours. The state of Alaska purchased the Alaska Railroad from the federal government and now operates it as a state-owned corporation. The White Pass and Yukon Railroad, from Skagway to Whitehorse, was built during the Klondike Gold Rush and has been redeveloped as a popular summer tourist attraction.

H

3

Airports

There are more airplanes per person in Alaska than in any other state. The airplane is the cheapest means of long-distance travel and well suited to serve a small population scattered over a large area. The use of small, light aircraft typifies local air travel, but Alaska also has jet service to its principal communities. The airport in Anchorage is the state’s busiest.

H

4

Shipping

Ships carry cargo and passengers between Alaska and the Pacific coast states and Asia. The principal ports along Alaska’s Pacific coast are Anchorage, Ketchikan, Skagway, Wrangell, Sitka, Whittier, Valdez, Kodiak, and Dutch Harbor-Unalaska, which are ice-free throughout the year. Nome is the principal port on the Bering Sea, but is open for only a short period during the ice-free summer weeks. In summer large cargoes are often towed on barges to Prudhoe Bay. A state-operated ferry system connects ports in Alaska with those in Washington State and British Columbia, Canada.

I

Trade

Most of Alaska’s food supply, with the exception of some dairy products, fish, poultry, and vegetables, has to be shipped in from other states. Manufactured foods must also be imported. Alaska has become a major foreign-exporting state primarily because of its fisheries and mining. Alaska imports most of its consumer goods, primarily through the port of Anchorage, and the Alaskan trade has long been important to the economies of the ports of Seattle and Tacoma in Washington state.

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IV

The People of Alaska

According to the 2000 national census, Alaska had a population of 626,932, an increase of 14 percent over the 1990 population of 550,043. In 2000 Alaska ranked 48th among the states in population, ahead of Vermont and Wyoming.

Alaska is still the most sparsely populated state, and had just 0.5 person per sq km (1.2 per sq mi) of land in 2006. Most of the people live along the coasts and the river valleys. Some sections of the Interior and Arctic Slope regions remain uninhabited. In 2000 some 66 percent of all Alaskans lived in areas classified as urban, where the population is increasing much faster than in the rural areas. Since the early days of settlement, the cities and towns of Alaska have attracted comparatively more immigrants than the rural areas.

Whites make up 69.3 percent of the population of Alaska. The largest other group is composed of descendants of the state’s original inhabitants–the Eskimo (also known as the Inuit), the Aleut, and other indigenous peoples–who account for 15.6 percent of the total. The state’s population also includes Asians, who are 4 percent of the total; blacks, with 3.5 percent of the total; Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, with 0.5 percent; and those of mixed heritage or not reporting race, at 7 percent. Hispanics, who may be of any race, are 4.1 percent of the people.

The population of Alaska is relatively young. At the time of the census in 2000, 30 percent of the population was less than 18 years old.

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