Oil Boom

Alaska’s oil boom changed the economy of Alaska. Thousands of jobs were created in this time period to not only work on the drilling rigs, but also build and maintain the pipeline. This incredible phenomenon began in 1968, when a 9.6 billion barrel oil reserve in Prudhoe Bay. Early explorers and natives had noticed that parts of the shore were soaked by natural oil seeps. Big companies began drilling along the north slope, but weren’t making much progress. However, on their last hole, they found copious amounts of usable commercial oil and thus oil production boomed. Although it took years of deliberation and regulation, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System was final constructed in June of 1977 after struggling with the idea since 1969. Valdez is where the pipeline ends, which impacted it greatly. The population boomed and grew during the building of the pipeline, but after it was finished, Valdez’s jobs and population decreased.

1. Why did you decide to make this book?
2. How do you go about being published?
3. How long did it take you to compile/write these articles?
4. What was Jeff Smith's family like?
5. Does Jeff Smith III's book paint Soapy as a good guy?
6. What are the different "haunted" places in town?
7. Do you believe Soapy was as good of a guy as his family paints him?
8. Did you edit it or have someone edit for you?
9. What was Frank Reid's family like?
10. Which family told a more realistic story?

Native Land Claims

I. The Rush to Exploit Alaska’s Natural Resources

1.     Intense and often wasteful exploitation of the sea mammal, fish, and fur sources of Alaska soon resulted in severe damage to the economic base of the North’s varied Native Cultures

2.     In 1906, the passage of the Native Allotment Act enabled Alaska Natives to obtain legal title to 160-acre homesteads to be selected from the unappropriated and unreserved public domain.

3.     This legislature endeavored to turn hunters and food-gatherers into homesteaders

4.     Only eighty allotments were issued under the act

5.     Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB) was formed in 1912

6.     Alaska Native Sisterhood (ANS) was formed in 1915

II. Natives and Territorial Politics

1.     ANB concerned itself with Indian education and the abandonment of aboriginal customs considered “uncivilized” by white people

2.     Concerns were prompted by the General Allotment Act of 1887 which allowed Natives to become citizens if they “severed tribal relationships and adopted the habits of civilization”

3.     In 1924 congress made all Indians citizens

4.     Indians argued that homesteads were incompatible with their seminomadic lifestyle

5.     In 1926 congress amended the Townsite Act, enabling Alaska Natives to receive restricted deeds to surveyed town lots

6.     Om 1934 the Indian Reorganization Act was passed, intending to improve the lot of Native Americans in keeping with the spirit of the New Deal

7.     In 1936 it was extended to include Alaska, which had the authority to create reservations if approved by a majority vote of not less that 30% of the Natives involved

8.     The act was controversial because of its reservation provisions

9.     The statehood act of 1958 specifically stated that the new state and its people disclaimed all rights or title to lands “the right or title to which may be held by Eskimos, Indians, or Aleuts” or held in trust for them

10. An identity revolution occurred in villages across Alaska during the 1960s

III. New Threats to Native Lands

1.     The first government threat to native lands occurred as early as 1957

2.     The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) established the Plowshare Program for utilizing the peaceful uses of atomic energy

3.     Scientists decided to blast at Cape Thompson

4.     Alaskans demanded it would harm neither human life nor livelihood

5.     AEC stopped due to lack of support

IV. Alternatives for Settling Native Claims

1.     Around 2900 native families lived on native reserves, while 15,600 of their kin lived in urban areas

2.     A lot of governmental stuff happened

V. Alaska Natives Finally Compensated

1.     Senator Jackson gave natives $1 billion but authorized revenue-sharing for only a limited number of years

2.     Natives would receive a little more than 40 million acres of land

3.     Instead of 12 regional corporations, it authorized one for the Arctic Slope and two statewide corporations

4.     AFN received a $100,000 loan from Tyonek

5.     Washington state gave it another $250,000 loan

VI. The Reasons for Claims Settlement

1.     The land claims settlement has ended Native subsistence culture

2.     The claims settlement will make Native transition into the white world a bit easier

3.     A quick settlement of Native claims was essential because they stood in the way of oil extraction

Revenue Notes

You will need to list and discuss Alaska's top five sources of revenue.

Oil

-Mostly on the North Slope

-Declining

-Accounts for about 85% of the unrestricted revenue available to the state for spending for general purposes

-1/3 of Alaskan jobs are attributed to the oil industry

-As of the 2012 Study, it shows that oil prices peaked $104 per barrel in 1980 and 2008

Fishing

- 1.7 billion in 2008

-Annual fishing employment is 9000

-Annual fish processing employment is 7000

-Salmon prices went down in the 90’s when farmed fishing became popular

Mining

-Zinc, gold, silver, and coal are those mostly mined

-Annual value of Alaska mineral production is more than 1 billion

-Direct employment is 1500 jobs

-State revenue from mining is only 1% as high as state revenues from oil

Tourism

-1.7 million tourists in 2008

-Around 25,000 people are employed in some relation to tourism

-Likely to continue to grow

-Creates conflict because it demands new facilities and recreation opportunities for visitors

-Overcrowding and land use

Military

-In 2006, there were 23,000 active duty military

-Represents 7% of jobs

-At statehood, it was around 35% of jobs

-Built the Alaska Highway

List and discuss three environmental battles

Pebble Mine

Open pit mine

In the headwaters of Bristol Bay drainage

Would need the largest dam in the world to hold back mine waste

Copper and gold mine

If waste isn’t managed properly, the wildlife would probably suffer

People think it’s too much of a risk

Frakenfish

-genetically modified fish

-would be labeled the same as normal salmon

-no long term studies done on it or its affect on people

-may mess up the environment enormously because they are basically a new species and would eat a lot

-ANWR

-drill for oil and natural gas

-in a wildlife refuge

-Federal (lot of taxes that the state wouldn’t do)

You need to list and discuss at least three issues that delayed Statehood

-People thought Alaska was underdeveloped

Congress viewed Alaska as having too few people and not enough infrastructures

Tax base was fairly new

-Inclusion of Hawaii as a state

Both states were pushing at the same time and people thought it was too much to include both

Hawaii agreed to let Alaska enter first

-Congress members being difficult

            Didn’t see economic potential in it so they blocked it

            Didn’t see the point of it so they blocked it

            Blocked it because they could block it

-Thought adding Alaska as a state would ruin political stability

            Alaska was more liberal

            Republicans didn’t want to have less power in congress

You need to discuss what World War II and the building of the Alaskan Highway did for Alaska.

World War II created a population boom as well as dramatically increased the military presence in Alaska.

The Alaska Highway allowed easy transportation and opened up large areas of the territory. It created an economical boom.

Reflection Paragraph

Although I knew that a lot of buildings were used, I didn’t realize how many were military related. The Bob Rapuzzi interview was very informative about the toils of building the road. I liked the article on Sam Morgan. Starting a paper was creative and gave people something to do in their free time. Reading Stan Selmer’s account of the day Alaska became a state really put things into perspective. We’ve read about the celebrations of other cities, but until today I had no idea how Skagway reacted.