Alaska

Alaska adopted the flag for official state use in 1959. The blue field represents the sky, the sea, and mountain lakes, as well as Alaska's wildflowers. Emblazoned on the flag are eight gold stars: seven from the constellation Ursa Major, or the Big Dipper. The eighth being the North Star, representing the northernmost state. Alaska's flag was designed in 1926 by a 13-year-old Native American boy, Bennie Benson, from the village of Chignik. Bennie received a 1,000-dollar scholarship and a watch for his winning entry in the flag design contest. 


Alaska's name is based on the Eskimo word Alakshak meaning great lands or peninsula.


With 570,374 square miles, Alaska is twice the size of Texas and 1/5 the size of the rest of the USA.  It stretches 2,400 miles east-to-west and 1,420 miles north-to-south.

Alaska is one of the least populous states, ranking 47th in population (followed by North Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming).  Of the approximately 710,000 Alaska inhabitants, half live in Anchorage and the surrounding areas.

Alaska has 100,000 glaciers covering 28,000 square miles, equal to 5 percent of the state.  

There are 1,800 named islands and 13 major volcanoes, mostly along the Aleutian Chain. (Side note - my Dad worked as a Government contractor, painter, for a year in 1958 in the Aleutian Islands).

Alaska is the northern-most, western-most and eastern-most state in the Union.  The islands on the end of the Aleutian Chain are on the other side of the 180th meridian, putting them in the Eastern Hemisphere, and they are closer to Tokyo than to Anchorage.

Alaska has the largest concentration of bald eagles in the world.  More than 3,500 bald eagles come to the Chilkat River, north of Haines, in the fall and winter to feed on the late salmon runs.

Alaska has the longest salmon run in the world ....2,000 miles up the Yukon River.

Alaska has wildlife species - grizzlies, bald eagles, humpback whales, and wolves -- in abundance that are endangered elsewhere.