About Alaska

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Alaska-WhiteBGMany people don't realize what it means to hold the title, "The Last Frontier." Movies, TV shows, documentaries and books have given many Americans an idea of what it means, but the only way to truly comprehend Alaska’s beauty, size and wonder is to see it for yourself.

Alaska is the largest state in the country at 571,951 square miles. Splitting it in half would move Texas from second to third largest state. With a population slightly over 700,000 Alaska is our nation’s largest small community. Proportionally, Alaska’s population per-square mile is the equivalent of 28 people living on Manhattan Island in New York.

Alaska is a land of extremes. Dozens of Alaska communities reside at sea-level and rely on the bounty of the ocean while other Alaskans live in the shadow of Denali, North America’s highest peak at 20,320 feet. Known for freezing winter temperatures, Alaska’s most extreme temperatures can reach -80 degrees Fahrenheit while most Americans would be surprised to learn the state’s summer high is 100 degrees in some parts of the state.

Regardless of the season and temperature, Alaskans make the most of the unmatched beauty and landscape. In summer, Forget-Me-Nots bloom, salmon struggle upstream to spawn, and tourism injects life into every part of the state. In the winter there’s more to do than sit by the fire with a cup of hot chocolate. Alaskans take to the snow by skiing, snowboarding, ice skating, snow-machining, ice fishing, and if they are far enough north, gazing at the northern lights.

Any "Sourdough" will tell you, the beauty and ruggedness of Alaska can be found nowhere else. Also known as "The Land of Opportunity," it serves as an incubator for independent spirit, primed with abundant opportunities for companies seeking growth. Alaska is the place where the individual can truly make a difference.

Dispelling Myths About Alaska


With thousands of miles between Alaska and the rest of the country it’s no surprise there are so many myths and misunderstandings the average Alaskan can set straight during a vacation to the “Lower 48.”

To help, Senator Mark Begich has asked young Alaskans serving in his Senate office as interns to put their thoughts on paper and set the record straight. As Alaskans living away from home while attending college they regularly field questions about penguins and living in igloos. Here’s their take:

Are there penguins in Alaska?

-No. Penguins are certainly associated with cold climates, but all known species of penguins live in the southern hemisphere. They can’t be found outside of zoos in Asia, Europe and North America. Some observers may mistake Alaska’s puffins for penguins. Puffins are known for their agility in the water rather than in the air, but they are not flightless and their delightfully colored beaks certainly set them apart.

Do people live in igloos?

-No. The snow-block houses that people usually think of when we hear igloo are not commonly used by the North Slope’s Inupiaq people or Western Alaska’s Yupik people. The word igloo actually means any type of house, not just a house constructed of snow or ice. The igloo can be quickly built for a temporary trail shelter in the Arctic when hunting trips carry over for more than one day, or when hikers are sometimes stranded in bad weather.

To build a shelter out of snow you start from the bottom and lay blocks of snow in a spiral. You continue up, setting each succeeding spiral a bit inset from the preceding, so that as you go up you create a rounded dome shape. A hole is left in the top of the structure for ventilation. A tunnel of snow makes the entry. A simple source of heat, such as a candle or body heat will be able to keep the structure’s interior temperature comfortable.

When planning your visit to Alaska, schedule a trip to the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage to learn about Alaska’s first people and how they have lived for centuries in the Arctic. The Center has an amazing outdoor exhibit where you are able to walk through models of the most commonly constructed and used Alaska Native structures.

I heard that Alaska never has sun in the winter, is that true?

- Partially. Alaska is a large state that sits right along the Arctic Circle. Due to the angle and rotation of the earth, Alaska’s northernmost points experience continuous daylight for 85 days in the summer and 67 days of darkness in the winter. South of the Arctic Circle, every town has a few hours of darkness in the summer and a few hours of light during the winter.

In addition to the extreme annual shift from day to night, long dawns and dusks can make the day appear longer than it actually is. Even as far south as Anchorage, it's possible to read a newspaper outdoors at 2 a.m., two hours after sunset, in the days around the summer solstice. It’s not unusual to see people enjoying the outdoors, playing sports or even mowing their lawns into the late hours of the night.

Do all Alaskans own a dogsled or travel on dog-pulled sleds?

-No. Dog mushing is very popular in Alaska both as a sport and a mode of transportation and people in some parts of the state rely on pulled dog sleds for daily travel. While sled dog racing is Alaska’s state sport and hundreds of Alaskans compete in races each year, most Alaskans more commonly rely on other modes of transportation. For most Americans, knowledge about mushing is derived from movies which carry their own myths and mischaracterizations. For example, the movie Balto portrays the 1925 Nome Serum Run when a team of sled dogs helped save the people of Nome from a diphtheria epidemic. In the movie the lead dog Balto is shown as the movie’s hero. In actuality, Balto only led the final leg of the relay into Nome. In reality another member of the team, Togo, led the longest number of miles in the relay. A statue of Balto can is proudly displayed in downtown Anchorage, but Togo’s efforts have not been overlooked. The Girl Scouts of Alaska have commemorated Togo’s contribution to the 1925 run by naming one of their camps “Togowoods.”

For more information on dog mushing and the Iditarod website.

Are there ten men for every woman?

- No. In the 1970s, when the Trans-Alaska Pipeline was being constructed, thousands of workers, mainly male, came to Alaska for employment. That is when the population of the state was relatively unbalanced and where the myth of the male/female ratio came from. Today, the state is more evenly split between men and women.