Twentieth Century
| 1900 | Stampede of gold-seekers to Nome. Railroad from Skagway to White Horse completed. U.S. Congress grants legal authority to communities in Alaska to incorporate, establish schools, and maintain them through taxation. Three judicial districts are created: Sitka, Eagle, and St. Michael. The capital is moved to Juneau White Pass railroad is completed. Washington-cable is established by Congress, later becomes the Alaska Communication System. |
| 1902 | Gold discovered near Fairbanks, Local school board established at Nome, President Roosevelt establishes the Tongass National Forest. Alaska Central Railway construction begins in Seward. |
| 1904 | Last great Tlingit potlatch held in Sitka. Communication cable laid from Seattle to Sitka to Valdez, linking Alaska to the "outside." Judge Wickersham's decision in U.S. v. Berrigan indicates "an executive determination that the federal government had an obligation to protect Native aboriginal possession from non-native encroachment." In accordance with Article II of the 1867 Treaty of Purchase, the Athabascan Natives in this case were entitled "to the equal protection of the law which the United States affords to similar aboriginal tribes within its borders." |
| 1905 | The Nelson Act provided for establishment of schools outside incorporated towns, and then governor of the Territory is made the ex-officio superintendent of public instruction. The Tanana Railroad is built. Telegraph links Fairbanks and Valdez. The Alaska Road Commission is formed under U.S. Army jurisdiction.1906 Alaska Native Allotment Act authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to allot homesteads to the Alaska Natives (Aleuts were included in 1956). The governor's office is moved from Sitka to Juneau. Alaska is authorized to send a vote-less delegate to Congress. |
| 1907 | The Tongass National Forest is created by presidential proclamation. The Richardson Trail is established between Fairbanks and Valdez. |
| 1908 | The first teachers' conference was held in Juneau. The first Cold storage plant is built in Ketchikan. |
| 1910 | The first cabins are built on the flats of Ship Creek – the beginning of Anchorage. *The estimated Alaska Native population: 25,300 including Aleuts, Alutiiqs, Yupiks, Inupiats, Athabascan, Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian |
| 1911 | The Alaska School Service developed a tentative course of study for the schools of Alaska. Fur seal fishery controls are established between U.S., Great Britain, Canada, Russia, and Japan. The Copper River and Northwestern Railroad begins service to Kennicott Copper Mine. |
| 1912 | Alaska becomes a Territory with its own legislature. Mt. Katmai on Alaskan Peninsula erupts, creating Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. Alaska Native Brotherhood founded the first modern Alaska Native organization. Tanana Chiefs raise land rights issues. |
| 1913 | First Alaska Legislature convenes, passes law giving women the right to vote. |
| 1914 | Surveying begins for the Alaska railroad, Anchorage is born as construction camp site. |
| 1915 | Cornerstone laid for Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines, later to become University of Alaska. The Alaska Native Sisterhood holds first convention in Sitka. Pioneer School established as Anchorage's first school. The territory of Alaska votes approval of the "Bone Dry Law." The territorial Legislature passes a law making it a misdemeanor to sell or give al cohol to a Native. |
| 1916 | The first bill for Alaska statehood introduced in Congress. Alaskans vote in favor of prohibition by a 2 to 1 margin. Railroad workers form the Alaska Labor Union |
| 1917 | Uniform School Act --U.S. Congress creates a Territorial Board of Education and establishes the position of Commissioner of Education. The first boarding schools established by Catholic, Moravian, and Lutheran Churches. Federal boarding school was established at White Mountain. The Treadwell Mine complex near Juneau caves in. |
| 1918 | Congress creates Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines as a land grant college.1919 Congress prohibits the creation of executive order Indian reserves without legislative consent. The National Prohibition Amendment passes, forbidding manufacture, importation, transportation or sale of alcoholic beverages anywhere in the United States. |
| 1920 | Anchorage organizes city government |
| 1922 | Alaska Agricultural School and School of Mines opens. Native voting rights are established through a court case. |
| 1923 | Alaska Railroad from Seward to Fairbanks completed. |
| 1924 | Indian Citizenship Act grants citizenship to Native Americans, including Alaska Natives, without terminating tribal rights and property. William L. Paul, the first Alaska Native to win a seat in the Alaska Territorial Legislature. Start of air mail delivery to Alaska |
| 1925 | Alaska Voters' Literacy Act of 1925 |
| 1926 | A more formal and permanent course of study is established for the first eight grades in Alaska. Boarding school at White Mountain renamed "Industrial School." A policy and programming of industrial training for boarding pupils was initiated. |
| 1928 | Court case resolves the right of Native children to attend public school |
| 1929 | Alaska native Brotherhood convention at Haines resolves to pursue land claims settlement in Southeast Alaska. |
| 1930 | Federal Bureau of Education field administrative headquarters moved from Seattle, Wash. to Juneau, Alaska. Merrill Field airport is opened in Anchorage |
| 1931 | Control of education among the Natives of Alaska was transferred from the Bureau of Education to the Bureau of Indian Affairs creating the Alaska Indian Service. Appropriations are made "under the broad authority of the 1924 Snyder Act", funding programs to include everything from health care and education to economic development and welfare payments. |
| 1932 | Wrangell Institute Boarding School opened - Alaska Indian Service School. Radio-telephone communications established in Juneau, Ketchikan, and Nome. |
| 1933 | National Prohibition is repealed, however the 1915 territorial law forbidding the sale or gift of liquor to Natives remains in effect. |
| 1934 | The Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) enacted by Congress, however does not fully Apply to Alaska. Southeast Alaska Indians granted permission by the U.S. Government to sue the federal government for the failure to protect aboriginal subsistence rights. Johnson-O'Malley Act extension -- U.S. Congress extends provisions of Johnson-O'Malley Act to Alaska by clarifying its intent. |
| 1935 | Territorial Law Chapter 77 – Allows an incorporated city and adjacent settlements to incorporate into an Independent School District not exceeding 250 square miles. The Matanuska Valley Project is established. The Jurisdictional Act of June, 1935 allows the Tlingit and Haida Indians to pursue land claims in U.S. Court of Claims. |
| 1936 | Indian Reorganization Act is expanded to include Alaska Native governments. Over 70 modern IRA councils are established by Alaska Natives while 80 tribal councils continue their traditional governance. Nell Scott of Seldovia becomes the first woman elected to the Territorial Legislature. |
| 1937 | The Reindeer Act of 1937 is enacted as a "means of subsistence for the Eskimos and other Natives of Alaska." |
| 1939 | Providence Hospital opens. Estimated Alaska Native population: 32,500 |
| 1940 | Fort Richardson is established, construction on Elmendorf Air Force Base begins. |
| 1942 | Alaska Military Highway completed. The Whittier Railroad Tunnel is opened. Work started on 1,523-mile Alaska Military Highway from Dawson Creek, Canada, to Fairbanks. Three Eskimo Scout Battalions -- "Soldiers of the Mist"-- formed as a part of the Alaska Territorial Guard. Japanese bomb Dutch Harbor on Unalaska Island. Japanese bomb Dutch Harbor and invade Kiska and Attu Islands of the Aleutians. |
| 1944 | The Alaska-Juneau Gold Mine shuts down. |
| 1945 | An Act establishing February 16 as "Elizabeth Peratrovich Day" Alaska passes the Anti-Discrimination Act, the first such legislation passed in the U.S. and its possessions since post-Civil War. Alaska Indian Service changed to Alaska Native Service. |
| 1946 | Alaska votes to apply for statehood. |
| 1947 | Mt. Edgecumbe, a former military installation is opened as a boarding school for Alaska Natives, operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Anchorage incorporated into Alaska's first Independent School District |
| 1948 | The Venetie and Arctic Village Reservation is formed, the largest in Alaska. Alaskans vote to abolish fish traps in a 10 to 1 margin. |
| 1950 | Johnson O'Malley Act provides for the transfer of schools in Alaska to the administrative control of the Territory. |
| 1951 | Public Law 815-874, U.S. Congress provides federal funding for Territorial operations of schools on military bases. The highway between Anchorage and Seward is completed |
| 1953 | White Mountain Boarding School closed. Oil wells drilled near Eureka on Glenn Highway marks the beginning of Alaska's modern oil history. The first big Alaskan pulp mill opens in Ketchikan. The First Alaskan television broadcast by KENI, Anchorage. Federal laws prohibiting drinking by Indians are abolished. (From the purchase of Alaska by the U.S. in 1867 until 1953, alcoholic beverages were banned in villages; Alaska was treated as an Indian reservation). 1955 Education specialists placed in district Offices to improve consultant services to teachers. Alaskans elect delegates to the constitutional convention. The convention opens at University of Alaska. |
| 1956 | Territorial voters adopt the Alaska Constitution. Two senators and one representative are sent to Washington, D.C. under the Tennessee Plan |
| 1957 | First edition of "We Teach in Alaska" issued to provide a manual for BIA teachers in Alaska's remote schools. |
| 1958 | First area-wide in-service training program for Principal-Teachers emphasizing community relations and development of Native leadership. Statehood measure passes; President Eisenhower signs statehood bill. The Atomic Energy Commission selected a site at the mouth of the Ogotoruk Creek near Cape Thompson, approximately 30 miles southeast of the Inupiat Eskimo village of Point Hope. Shortly thereafter, they developed plans for an experimental harbor excavation to be called Project Chariot. Late in 1962, after extensive scientific studies, the AEC announced that it "would defer further consideration of the proposed Chariot experiment," due in part to public criticism... |
| 1959 | Alaska Statehood Act includes provision to not take lands of Native peoples. S.E. Alaska Indians win aboriginal subsistence court case and awarded $7.5 million - Council of Tlingit and Haida formed to receive benefits. |
| 1960 | First secondary level program in a BIA day school established with opening of 9th grade at Unalakleet. |
| 1960-64 | Several Alaska Native non-profit regional organizations are established to defend rights to land and resources against expropriation without due process. |
| 1961 | Alaska Natives organize to protest "Project Chariot" -- a plan to use nuclear weapons to blast an artificial harbor into existence in Northwest Alaska. |
| 1962 | The Tundra Times established, the first state wide newspaper devoted to representing the views and issues of Alaska Natives. Supplemental nutrition program changed to provide complete school lunch. Agreement that education is a State and local responsibility. Legislative reapportionment shifts the political balance of power to urban areas through Baker v. Carr; 369 U.S. 186. |
| 1963 | Governor's Committee issues first report entitled "An Overall Education Plan for Rural Alaska" as a basis for cooperative relationship of BIA and State of Alaska. Borough Act -- Alaska State Legislature creates nine boroughs and all local school districts within the new boroughs are merged. |
| 1964 | Area-wide workshop for primary teachers with emphasis on teaching English to children as a second language. Good Friday earthquake rocks Southcentral Alaska. Legislative reapportionment continues through Reynolds v. Sims; 377 U.S. 533 |
| 1965 | Division of State-Operated Schools -- Alaska State Department of Education reorganizes and establishes a new Division that is given responsibility for Rural and On-Base (military) schools. 1966 William E. Beltz School opens as first State-operated regional boarding high school. Teacher aides provided in BIA day schools. Special education program introduced at Hooper Bay. Alaska Federation of Natives formed in Anchorage, Alaska Legislative reapportionment continues through Wade v. Nolan; 414 P.2d 689. |
| 1967 | Area-wide workshop for all education personnel emphasizing the linguistic method in teaching English as a Second language. Advisory School Boards established. The Chena River floods Fairbanks. Interior Secretary Udall imposes a "land freeze" to protect Native use and occupancy of Alaska lands. |
| 1968 | Kindergarten program initiated. April 11, Indian Civil Rights Act is passed. Oil is pumped from a well at Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope. Governor Hickel establishes the Alaska land Claims Task Force that recommends a 40 million acre land settlement for Alaska Natives. |
| 1969 | Educational Television available in Barrow Day School. School Boards contract for instruction in cultural and linguistic heritage. North Slope oil lease sale brings in $900 million. The first live satellite telecast is viewed in Alaska. |
| 1970 | Bilingual education inaugurated at primary level. Full high school program at Kotzebue Community School. |
| 1971 | Mt. Edgecumbe -- Wrangell Parent School Board established. BIA's first pre-school programs for 2- and 3-year-olds. Administration of program funding at Agency level established. Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) becomes law. Alaska State-Operated School System -- Alaska State Legislature establishes a new system as an independent agency and transfers operational responsibility form Rural and On-Base schools from the Department of Education to this new entity. |
| 1972 | The Marine Mammal Protection Act becomes law with the important provision that Alaska Native would be able to continue traditional use of marine mammals. The Alaska Constitution is amended to prohibit sexual discrimination. Legislative reapportionment continues through Egan v. Hammond; 502 P.2d 856. |
| 1973 | Congress passes the trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act. Salmon fisheries limited-entry program becomes law. |
| 1974 | Indian Financing Act recognizes Alaska Native villages, groups, regional corporations or village corporations as eligible for their benefits. Indian Self-Determination Act, adopted by Congress. |
| 1975 | Alaska Unorganized Borough School System -- Alaska State Legislature abolishes the Alaska State-Operated School System and establishes the Unorganized Borough School District. Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act is passed providing recognition similar to the Indian Financing Act, extends contracting opportunities to tribal councils and organizations to provide health, education, and welfare services to Alaska Natives, thereby replacing BIA contracting for such services. Alaska Legislature appropriates funds to initiate purchase and installation of 100 satellite earth stations for establishment of statewide communications network. |
| 1976 | The so-called "Molly Hootch" (Tobeluk vs. Lind) case is settled with the commitment by the state to provide local schools for Alaska Native communities as it had in predominately white communities in the state. Rural Education Attendance Areas (REAAs) are created for rural Alaska - modeled in many respects on the urban school districts in state with the allowance of local school boards to set many policies in their schools. The Unorganized Borough School District is abolished. Indian Health Care Improvement Act provides recognition for funding among Native communities. Tobeluk Consent Decree -- The Alaska State Board of Education adopts regulations assuring every child a right to attend high school in his or her community if there is an elementary school there, unless the community ask that there be no school. Voters approve constitutional amendment establishing the Alaska Permanent Fund, it will receive "at least 25 percent" of all state oil revenues from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. |
| 1977 | The Trans-Alaska Pipeline is completed from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. |
| 1978 | Indian Child Welfare Act is passed. |
| 1980 | The Alaska Legislature increases Permanent Fund share of oil reserves from 25 to 50 percent. State income tax is repealed. The Alaska Dividend Fund is created to distribute earnings to Alaska residents. The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) becomes law creating over 80 millions acres of additional parks, preserves and monuments in Alaska. It also contains language supporting continued traditional and customary use on designated Federal lands. The Alaska Legislature passes a local option law that allows villages to prohibit the sale of Alcohol; prohibit the sale and importation of alcohol; limit liquor licenses; or limit sales to community-owned liquor stores. |
| 1981 | Bilingual Conference is held in Anchorage. First Permanent Fund dividends are distributed. |
| 1982 | Time zones shift to include all Alaska, except western-most Aleutian Islands, in one zone: Alaska Standard Time. The drinking age is raised from 18 to 21. Alaska State Boards of Fisheries and Game Jointly adopt a regulation adding the rural residency standard to the state's definition of "subsistence uses" Solomon Gulch hydroelectric project comes on-line in Valdez, the first of four hydroelectric projects later to be known as the "Four Dam Pool." |
| 1984 | Stephen E. Cotton re-caps Molly Hootch Case and Native education programs. Berger Launches ANCSA Hearings. Alaska Legislature sets up the Power Cost Equalization PCE) program, to help fund affordable power to rural Alaska residents. The remaining three hydroelectric projects making up the Four Dam Pool come on-line: Swan Like in Ketchikan, Terror Lake in Kodiak, and Tyee Lake serving Petersburg/Wrangell. |
| 1985 | State purchases Alaska Railroad from the federal government. |
| 1986 | Price of oil drops below $10.00 a barrel. The legislature passes a new bill governing subsistence hunting and fishing, l limiting the definition of "subsistence uses" to residents of "rural areas." |
| 1987 | Alaska starts to feel a recession: many lose their jobs and leave the state, banks foreclose on property and business go bankrupt. A new military build up begins when the troops of the new sixth infantry division arrive in Fairbanks. Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) Amendments, adopted by Congress, provide for the lifting of stock restrictions and the gifting of stock to children, nieces and nephews of Native shareholders. |
| 1988 | Anchorage's population drops by 30,000 due to continued economic woes. |
| 1989 | The oil tanker Exxon Valdez runs aground on Bligh Reef, Prince William Sound spilling an estimated 11 million gallons of oil. The Permanent Fund passes the $10 billion mark. The Alaska Supreme Court throws out Alaska's rural preference subsistence law. |
| 1990 | The Alaska Legislature is unable to resolve the subsistence issue, federal authorities take control of subsistence issues on federal land. Katie John, Doris Charles and the Mentasta Village Council sue the United States in federal court, claiming that the federal government had unlawfully excluded navigable waters and subsistence from the protections of ANILCA. The Tongass Reform Act designates more wilderness land in S.E Alaska. Walter Hickel wins gubernatorial race on the Independence ticket. *The Estimated Alaska Native population: 95,000. Amendments to ANCSA take affect. The State of Alaska, the U.S. Justice Department, and Exxon reach a $1 billion settlement resulting from the Exxon Valdez spill, initially rejected by U.S. District Court -- later accepted when amended to include restorative money. Congress effectively closer the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil development. Bristol Bay fishermen strike over low salmon prices. Hickel Administration and Legislature are unable to resolve the subsistence issue. |
| 1992 | Dan O'Neill, a University of Alaska-Fairbanks researcher, obtained recently declassified documents and letters describing the burial of soil contaminated with radioactive materials near the junction of Snowbank and Ogotoruk Creeks (near Point Hope). These materials were produced by Atomic Energy Commission experiments stemming from the 1958 Project Chariot. Cleanup of the site was completed by the Department of Energy in 1994, however, the health and monitoring of oceans, land, and marine animals issues have yet to be thoroughly addressed. |
| 1993 | Alaska Legislature provides a one-time grant of $67 million to help fund the Power Cost Equalization (PCE) program. At current spending rates the fund will be expended in 1999. |
| 1994 | U.S. District Court rules in favor of the Katie John plaintiffs, reducing the federal government's fishing jurisdiction to those navigable waters "reserved to the United States." |
| 1997 | The Governors Subsistence Task Forces unsuccessfully proposes amendments to ANILCA which would have weakened key definitions and federal powers. |
| 1998 | The Legislature passes a bill requiring all students to pass exit exams to earn high school diplomas, to become effective in 2002. Overturning a Ninth Court Circuit of Appeals decision, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that 1.9 million acres of ancestral land owned by the Venetie Tribe of Neetsaii' Gwich'in Indians are no longer under the governmental jurisdiction of the tribe. An initiative petition making English Alaska's official language was certified by Lieutenant Governor Fran Ulmer. The initiative, placed on the 1998 general election ballot, passed making English the official language in State government. |
| 1999 | The federal government issues final regulations to implement Katie John. The State of Alaska files a notice of appeal indicating it's intent to appeal the reserved-waters judgement to the Ninth Circuit. Governor Knowles also announced his intent to take the appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court thereafter. British Petroleum announces intent to buy ARCO, starting a process involving the state of Alaska and the FTC in a discussion over state revenues and anti-trust. In Kasayulie vs. State of Alaska, the court rules that Alaska has failed to provide adequate school facilities for Bush students, in violation of the Alaska Constitution and federal civil law. Alaska Board of Education adopts standards for what students should know in math, reading and writing. The lawsuit, Alakayak, et al. v. State of Alaska, was brought by the Alaska Civil Liberties Union, the Native American Rights Fund and the North Slope Borough on behalf of 27 individuals whose constitutional rights would be violated if the English-only initiative were allowed to take effect on March 4. The Alaska Legislature changes the Power Cost Equalization (PCE) program formula reducing entitlement. |
|
2000
|
First state educational standards tests for third-, sixth, eighth-graders and sophomores conducted. FTC approved BP Amoco's purchase of the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO). April 26 – Phillips Petroleum buys Arco Alaska, Inc. Federal Subsistence Board designates the Kenai Peninsula as "rural", effectively making Kenai Peninsula residents eligible for subsistence fish & game on federal lands and waters. State of Alaska sells four state-owned hydroelectric plants (the Four Dam Pool) for $73 million and adds the sale money to a $100 million appropriation taken from the Constitutional Budget reserve. An endowment containing nearly $187 million is created to help fund the Power Cost Equalization (PCE) program. |
Timeline: Alaska Before the 20th Century
Commonwealth North Background Speakers Study Groups and Reports Membership Newsletter Program Transcripts Directors