Living & Working in Great Places
Alaska Fifty Facts
I'm practicing my "Alaska Facts" with local friends who happen to be traveling to Alaska this summer.
Looking for every opportunity to pick up new facts -
I'm a beginner - but hoping someone else thinks this would make things a bit easier when we greet our first "tourists" in Alaska -
For instance, I learned last week -from a souvenir Alaskan placemat still pasted into a friend's scrapbook- that the state bird is the Willow Ptarmigan and the state rock is Jade.
That still didn't tell me much so I looked up W. P. and found that it's about the size of a chicken and lives, of course, in willows, primarily.....
AND that there's a 2 ton Jade stone sitting outside a building in Anchorage (Yup - I already forgot which building - anyone know?)
aha - I just copied and pasted the info below - from the internet. I know this is really, really basic stuff -
Do you have info on Alaska that might help me or others learn more ?
THANKS
Barb
One might assume that jade is easily found at Alaska's majestic Jade Mountain, a real mountain made completely of dark green jade. However this Alaskan wonder is inaccessible to visitor, as it is situated on the Seward Peninsula, a remote region unreachable by highway.
Jade in Alaska is generally found in the Dall, Shungnak and Kobuk rivers.
The Kobuk River, a 200-mile stream spanning Brooks Range to Kotzuebue Sound to the Chukchi Sea, has been a historically valuable source of jade. Visitors to Alaska can spend an enjoyable day at the Kobuk Valley National Park, home of the Kobuk River as well as the Kobuk Valley Jade, a unique store where you can actually see jade boulders being sawed and shined, and where many Alaskan handcrafted products, from jade jewelry to Eskimo-carved walrus ivory, are made.
When visitors explore this area, they will know they are following in the footsteps of the ancients. When the original Alaskans found the nuggets of jade that tumbled downstream in the Kobuk River, they used the gem to make tools, weapons, and jewelry. Later anthropologists in the 1940's and the 1960's journeyed across the Kobuk tundra, traveling the Kobuk River by canoe, stopping along the way to dig for jade at the base of the resplendent Jade Mountain.
Looking for every opportunity to pick up new facts -
I'm a beginner - but hoping someone else thinks this would make things a bit easier when we greet our first "tourists" in Alaska -
For instance, I learned last week -from a souvenir Alaskan placemat still pasted into a friend's scrapbook- that the state bird is the Willow Ptarmigan and the state rock is Jade.
That still didn't tell me much so I looked up W. P. and found that it's about the size of a chicken and lives, of course, in willows, primarily.....
AND that there's a 2 ton Jade stone sitting outside a building in Anchorage (Yup - I already forgot which building - anyone know?)
aha - I just copied and pasted the info below - from the internet. I know this is really, really basic stuff -
Do you have info on Alaska that might help me or others learn more ?
THANKS
Barb
One might assume that jade is easily found at Alaska's majestic Jade Mountain, a real mountain made completely of dark green jade. However this Alaskan wonder is inaccessible to visitor, as it is situated on the Seward Peninsula, a remote region unreachable by highway.
Jade in Alaska is generally found in the Dall, Shungnak and Kobuk rivers.
The Kobuk River, a 200-mile stream spanning Brooks Range to Kotzuebue Sound to the Chukchi Sea, has been a historically valuable source of jade. Visitors to Alaska can spend an enjoyable day at the Kobuk Valley National Park, home of the Kobuk River as well as the Kobuk Valley Jade, a unique store where you can actually see jade boulders being sawed and shined, and where many Alaskan handcrafted products, from jade jewelry to Eskimo-carved walrus ivory, are made.
When visitors explore this area, they will know they are following in the footsteps of the ancients. When the original Alaskans found the nuggets of jade that tumbled downstream in the Kobuk River, they used the gem to make tools, weapons, and jewelry. Later anthropologists in the 1940's and the 1960's journeyed across the Kobuk tundra, traveling the Kobuk River by canoe, stopping along the way to dig for jade at the base of the resplendent Jade Mountain.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Silas on -
Here is a little nugget for you. Grand theft auto in the capital of Juneau is considered "Joy Riding" and is only a misdemeanor. The reason for this is because automobiles cannot leave the city limits unless they are transported by either aircraft or ferry. I'm like 99.9% sure this is the only state capital in the United States that has Grand theft auto as a misdemeanor.
Here is another interesting one. Trees in Alaska can only grow to about 15-20 feet (occasionally a little more) because of permafrost. The reason for this is because the trees roots can only grow about 1 foot into the ground. Permafrost keeps the ground frozen bellow 1 foot of soil. A lot of times you will see trees that have literally out grown there roots and toppled over.
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Permalink Reply by Barbara Newton on -
Hey, thanks!
Those are terrific tidbits! So I've gone looking for a few more:
Who designed the state flag of Alaska?
Ans: Bennie Benson from Cognac, Alaska - in 1926 - when he was 13 years old!
What's the official state sport?
Ans: Dog mushing (of course!)
How BIG is Alaska?
Ans: 425 times as big as Rhode Island - 2-1/2 times as big as Texas
Alaska's geographic center is 60 miles northwest of Mt. McKinley.
42% of the population of Alaska - live in Anchorage.
Remember studying about Seward's Folly? In 1867, the US purchased Alaska from Russia (all 14 million acres or so) for $7,200,000 - about 2 cents an acre.
My favorite fact, though, is still the "joy riding" law. I visited my sister on Wrangell Island a few years ago and was astonished to be told it's only polite to leave your keys in the ignition - in case someone needs to move your car - on that island, many people don't bother to own a car. No one would consider not owning a boat, though.
So, got any more facts?
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Permalink Reply by Barbara Newton on
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The four-spot skimmer dragonfly (Libellula quadrimaculata) was designated the official state insect of Alaska in1995.
The four-spot skimmer dragonfly won among 4 insects voted on by Alaskan schoolchildren. The runners up included the Unmarked slender mosquito, the mourning cloak butterfly, and the bumblebee.
Excerpt from Dragonfly Wins State Title; Mosquitoes Miffed by Ned Rozell:
"After an energetic campaign by students from the Auntie Mary Nicoli Elementary School in Aniak, the winner is the four-spot skimmer dragonfly. It mauled the mosquito. It battered the butterfly. And it bested the bumblebee in a tight contest to be the Last Frontier's official insect.
Dragonflies, also known in some parts as mosquito hawks, horse stingers and devil's darning needles, dart through the Alaskan air, tiny helicopters in search of mosquitoes and other prey. Actually, it's an insult to compare the flying ability of dragonflies with any man-made aircraft. Dragonflies can stop on a dime at 35 miles an hour, fly backward, and cut turns that are too abrupt for any human pilot to stomach."
Dragonflies live in many parts of North America around lakes, ponds, and slow-moving or still water. They eat mosquitos, midges and black flies. It has been jokingly said that the children voted for the dragonfly because they prey on Alaska's "unofficial state bird" (the mosquito), but state representative Irene Nicholia said it was because "The dragonfly's ability to hover and fly forward and backward reminds us of the skillful maneuvering of the bush pilots in Alaska."
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