Department of Alaska
Department of Alaska was the official name for Alaska , today's state of the United States, from 1867 to 1884 after Alaska was bought from Russia . During this time Alaska had no government of its own and was under the jurisdiction of the US Army (until 1877), the US Treasury (1877–1879) and the US Navy (1879–1884). The Department became the District of Alaska in 1884 , the Alaska Territory in 1912 and finally the 49th state of the USA in 1959.
On April 9, 1867, the contract of sale was ratified by the United States Senate and on October 6, July. / October 18, 1867 greg. the official handover ceremony took place. In the presence of representatives of the Russian and US government, Alexis Pestchouroff and Lovell Harrison Rousseau , as well as Dmitri Petrovich Maksutov from the Russian-American company , the Russian flag was lowered and the American flag was hoisted in Sitka . October 18 is a public holiday in Alaska to this day as Alaska Day .
With the purchase of Alaska, the date line was moved west to integrate the Aleutian Islands , which belong to Alaska, into the same time zone. In addition, Alaska switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar .
Large areas of Alaska were still unexplored at the time of purchase. The Western Union began building a telegraph line across Alaska to the Bering Strait in 1865 , where it was to be connected to a Russian line. The following year the first transatlantic line was laid and the project was canceled. During the construction work, the team under Robert Kennicott and after his death in 1866 under William H. Dall created the first complete map of the Yukon .
The Alaska Commercial Company was instrumental in the development of inland Alaska through its trading posts during the last decades of the 19th century . Although the federal government provided little financial means for the exploration of Alaska, members of the army such as Frederick Schwatka , who sailed the Yukon from Lake Lindeman in Canada to Saint Michael near the confluence with the Bering Sea , or Henry Tureman Allen , who among other things carried the Copper , the Tanana and drove the Koyukuk River to explore Alaska.
On May 17, 1884, Alaska became a district and, after being under the jurisdiction of various US institutions as a department , got its own government set up by US President Chester A. Arthur .