Alaska that never was: Seward's Success

Today, in Alaska, there is much debate over building a bridge over Knik Arm from Anchorage to the largely undeveloped Point MacKenzie.  This infamous "Bridge to Nowhere" has garnered national attention for being an example of government waste.  Today, there is very little around Point MacKenzie.  Supporters of the bridge say that this will change with a bridge, which will allow development that will pay for itself.  While the ultimate outcome of the Knik Bridge argument is uncertain, it is interesting to note an idea that sprung from Alaska's early oil days 4 decades ago in the same spot.  This was Seward's Success.

Artist rendering of Seward's Success from Popular Science

Seward's Success was the ultimate futurist idea.  A city of 40,000 located at Point MacKenzie in a glass, climate controlled structure.  Touted as the world's first enclosed city, it was a dream thought up during the rush of money expected from the discovery of oil in Prudhoe Bay in 1968.  The idea was developed by Tandy Industries of Tulsa, with designers from Los Angeles.  Seward's Success would feature offices, shops and restaurants, an indoor sports arena, and housing units.  The temperature would be kept at 68 degrees all year round, with natural gas providing the power supply. 

Artist rendering of the inside of Seward's Success (Popular Science)

Transportation between Seward's Success and Anchorage would initially be a high speed tramway across Knik Arm.  Eventually, a monorail would connect the two cities and provide transportation within Seward's Success (cars were not to be allowed in the city).  Within the city, moving sidewalks would allow residents to move around the city.

Artist rendering of housing units (left) and the monorail (right)

So why is there no futuristic city at Point MacKenzie.  Ultimately, the idea was short lived.  In the early 1970s, the building of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline was held up in court.  With the expected onrush of people and dollars held up, the subcontractor could not make the payment on the lease.  And the dream of a glass city across from Anchorage fell away.  In all likelihood, the city would have been a failure.  Alaskans (or anyone else) would probably not go for living in what would basically be a gigantic shopping mall.  Seward's Success stands out as a social experiment that would have likely failed.  Still, it is fun to sit look northwest from downtown Anchorage across the two mile strait and wonder.

The Port of Anchorage in the foreground, with Point MacKenzie across Knik Arm

Alaska Books: Treadwell Gold

In Juneau, drive across the bridge to Douglas Island.  Turn south down the Gastineau Channel and follow the road through the former town of Douglas.  After passing the Douglas Boat Harbor, you come across a large sand beach that looks completely out of place with the rest of the local area.  Today, it is a popular dog walking spot.  But starting 130 years ago, it was Alaska's first major economic site.  It is the former company town of Treadwell.  Nowadays most of what remains is the pilings of the docks, a shell of an old office building, and various "Mayan-like" ruins gathering moss.  Back then it was a thriving community based around the mining of gold.  A new book out last year has brought this community back to life.  

Cover of the book

Treadwell Gold, by Sheila Kelly, follows the town from creation through its heyday and ultimate demise.  Kelly, whose father was born in Treadwell, crafts her narrative around her family.  She tracks the founding of the town, built by a San Francisco businessmen led by John Treadwell.  In an era where most Alaska mining was placer mining on the surface, Treadwell was the site of capital intensive hard rock mining where workers tunneled deep into the ground.  Rock brought to the surface would be crushed in the giant stamps, and gold extracted from the rubble through chemical processes.  In its time, Treadwell was the largest mining operation of its kind in the world.  But in 1917, sea water from the Gastineau Channel flooded in the mine shaft, effectively destroying the site.  Slowly the towns people, including the Kellys, left Treadwell.  In 1926, what remained of the town was destroyed by the a fire which swept through the town of Douglas.

Treadwell in 1908

Kelly's book brings this lost town back to life.  We see how the people of Treadwell lived, spending their days down in the mines, working in the machine shop on the docks, or spending some leisure time at the Treadwell Club swimming pool.  The book is filled with fantastic photos documenting every aspect of town life.  We get to know the miners and foremen, the issues such union rights, and how Treadwell fits in Alaska history.  I highly recommend this book.

The area of the mine collapse

Presidents Day

Today is Presidents Day, the holiday started originally as George Washington's birthday.  It got me thinking about the role of US Presidents in Alaska history.  In general, Alaska has been a backwater of presidential politics.  Never more than three electoral votes, it has been solidly in the Republican column since statehood in 1959 (the only Democrat to win Alaska was LBJ in 1964).  This has made it so that campaign visits by presidential candidates are almost unheard of.  In 1960, Vice President Richard Nixon had vowed to campaign in all 50 states.  Many historians question his choice of campaigning in Alaska during October during a close campaign, arguing his time would have been better spent in close states like Illinois or Texas.  After that, Alaska did not so much as sniff presidential politics until the selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as VP nominee in 2008.

Though not on the radar for presidential politics, US Presidents have had a role in Alaska history.  After the Alaska Purchase, the new land was largely ignored in Washington and directly administered by the US military.  Future President Benjamin Harrison helped push Alaska into civil administration with the Organic Act of 1884.  The Act termed Alaska a District, not a territory.  The civil laws would be the same as Oregon, the nearest state (Washington was still a territory).  The US President would have great powers in appointing Alaska officials up until Statehood.

It would not be until the 20th century that Alaska really began to garner interest in Washington.  In the early part of the century, interest grew in improving the transportation infrastrucure in Alaska.  After the failure of private attempts to build a railroad from the southern coast to Fairbanks,  congress passed the second Organic Act in 1912.  One provision stated that the president the authority to decide on the railroad routes in Alaska.  It fell to Woodrow Wilson to make the decision.  In the end he decided on the line running from Seward up through Cook Inlet and the MatSu valley to Fairbanks.  An outgrowth of this line was the railroad camp at the Ship Creek anchorage that became the town of Anchorage.  Eventually, President Warren Harding became the first president to visit Alaska when he arrived to drive in the golden spike signifying completion of the railroad.  The federal government would own the Alaska railroad until the 1980s. 

 Harding driving the Golden Spike

During the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Alaska saw great changes.  Farmers from poverty stricken areas were settled in the MatSu valley.  Alaska saw great growth in the military presence in the construction of bases and the highway to quickly move equipment from the lower 48.  In 1944 after the Japanese had been expelled from Alaska territory, FDR toured the Naval bases in the Aleutians.  Harry Truman supported Alaska statehood, but all efforts stalled in the US Senate.  It was during Dwight Eisenhower's term that Alaska achieved the statehood goal.  Ironically, Eisenhower has some reluctance due to the impression that Alaska would become a Democratic State.

Eisenhower parades through Anchorage 1960

Since statehood, the US president has had less opportunity to explicitly dictate terms in Alaska and the action has shifted more to Congress.  Still, there continues to be an uneasy relationship between state and federal rights.  The large amount of Federal land within the State of Alaska gives Presidential cabinet members a large amount of power to set policy in Alaska with regards to oil leases, mining, and fishing.  The changes in policy with each administration lends itself to calls for more state control.  It is a friction that will likely continue for future presidents. 

Reagan met the Pope in Fairbanks in 1984 when both were in the middle of world trips

Alaska at the Movies: The Chechahcos (1924)

Alaska has been the subject of a multitude of movies through the years.  Some of which are good, many that are not.   Often the common link of many of these films is that they are not filmed in Alaska.  Typically British Columbia is the most common faux Alaska, but studios occasionally get creative with filming location.  30 Days of Night substituted New Zealand for Barrow, The Fourth Kind used Bulgaria as a stand in for Nome, and The Proposal attempted to pass coastal Massachusetts for Sitka.  So when so many Alaska films are shot outside, it is a treat to see a picture filmed in Alaska.

Cap Lathrop

The Chechahcos is such a film.   Created in 1924, this silent film is the first feature length film shot entirely in Alaska.  The film was a production of the Alaska Moving Picture Corporation, owned by Cap Lathrop.  Lathrop led an impressive life as "Alaska's first home-grown millionaire."  First arriving in Alaska during the 1890s as a steamship captain, he would go on to build a media empire of movie theaters, radio stations, and the Fairbanks Daily News Miner.  Lathrop also had interests in real estate and mining, and would later be a strong opponent of Alaska Statehood.  The Chechahcos featured Alaskan actors, local jargon in the title (Chechaco or Cheechako is a term for newcomer to Alaska), and the art work in the movie is done by famed Alaskan artist Sydney Laurence.  

The plot of the movie centers around the Klondike Gold Rush.  During the steamer trip north, a young girl is separated from her mother in the confusion of the boat sinking and is taken in by two miners.  One is an old "sourdough", the other is a young newcomer.  They cross the Chilkoot Pass and set up a prosperous gold mine.  10 years later the young girl has become become a woman and has fallen for the young miner.  Gamblers, henchmen, and family reunions provide the drama.  But the best part is the great Alaska scenery.  Included is the first filming of Mount McKinley, as well as glaciers, mountains, and raging rivers.

The Chechahcos was filmed at an interesting time in Alaska history.  The year before its release, President Warren Harding had traveled up to Alaska to drive the golden spike in Nenana celebrating the completion of the Alaska Railroad.  While there, he met the crew of the film.  The Alaska Railroad of the 1920s is not featured in the movie, but has a large role in the production.  The filming locations are along the railroad route, rather than in the historic locations of Skagway and the Klondike.  The Chilkoot Pass scene was filmed on Bartlett Glacier on the Kenai Peninsula, the dog Mushing scene was filmed near Cantwell, and the first camp they come to is filmed around Portage.

Ultimately, the film was not a commercial success.  The Alaska Moving Picture Corporation never made another film.  Still, the film stands as a great look at early Alaska film making and offers a view on transformational Alaskan events that occurred just one generation earlier.

Youtube version from tvdays.com

Was Alaska a good deal?

Every Alaskan student learns the history of the acquisition from the Russians of Alaska by Secretary of State William Seward in 1867.  Bought for the low price of 7.2 million dollars, or two cents an acre, the purchase was derided by many as Seward's Folly.  While it expanded the reach of the United States in an increasingly colonial era, many thought the the land was a worthless frozen wilderness with nothing of value.  The primary critic of the purchase was New York Tribune publisher Horace Greeley, who nicknamed the area "Seward's Icebox."
  

Check with which Alaska was purchased

 Over time though, the purchase was became viewed as the steal of a epic proportions.  7.2 million dollars, in modern terms is about 108 million dollars, less than many pro athletes are paid.  In the view of many at the time, the only thing of value in Alaska was the fur trade. Since 1867, Alaska has been shown to have many commodities of value:  gold, copper, timber, oil.  The value of goods extracted from Alaska dwarfs the purchase.  In 1932, former territorial delegate James Wickersham ran the numbers and calculated the totals expenditures for the United States in Alaska from 1867 to 1932 to be around 150 million dollars, while the total value of money extracted from Alaska to be around 2.5 billion dollars.  This included, by his estimate, around 431 million dollars of gold.  Certainly a 16 fold return on investment is hard to argue with.  And this was before the discovery of oil on the North Slope.

It seems a pretty good deal.  Many Russians are still sore about the deal, claiming that it was actually a 100 year lease on the land that was purchased.  A 2007 article that jokingly advised the sale of Alaska back to Russia was picked up by the Russian media.  Recently though, some have come forward to say that it is actually the United States that got the short end of the deal.  David Barker, an adjunct professor at the University of Iowa college of business, wrote an unpublished article arguing that if the United States had not purchased Alaska, it would likely have been bought by Great Britain and become part of Canada.  Barker notes that this scenario would have allowed many Americans to extract the resources from Alaska without the expense of having to govern.  

Barker's article has generated criticism.  Several Alaska economists and historians responded to the New York Times that Barker only looked at the bottom line in the federal treasury,  and not the net income for Americans through the profits of private business.  

Ultimately, Alaska as a good deal comes down to whether or not the analysis is based only on returns to the federal government.  Like many western states, Alaska has cost the federal government a great deal of money to govern.  But it has been a vehicle for a great amount of wealth creation by Americans. 

Start of Blog

Greetings,

As a lifelong Alaskan, I have always been interested by the history of my state.  From the crossing the Bering Strait during the Pleistocene through the thousands of years of history and culture of Alaska's native peoples; from the days of Russian America and Seward's Folly; from the Territory of Alaska through statehood and oil boom and bust; Alaska has a unique and interesting history.  My purpose in starting this blog is to explore facets of this history and try to create posts that are interesting to read.  If I begin to get feedback and stories, all the better.  But even if no one else reads this blog except me, I will still consider it a fun exercise.  I am neither a professional historian nor a particularly good writer, but I hope to be able to explore and write about many different topics.