This document provides information about Alaska, including its state symbols, geography, cities, and native populations. It notes that Alaska's state capital is Juneau, the largest city is Anchorage, and the population of 671,000 makes it the third least populous state. It also describes the eleven native Alaskan cultures such as Aleut, Inupiaq Eskimos, Athabascan Indians, and Tlingit Indians and their traditions like fishing, hunting, basketry, and woodworking. Additionally, it lists the five types of Pacific salmon found in Alaskan waters: Chinook, Sockeye, Coho, Chum, and Pink salmon.

1. ALASKATHE LAST FRONTIERBy Catherine E. Vascik

2. Alaskan factsThe state mottois: North to the future. The state gemis jade. Alaska has a large deposit of jade, including a big mountain filled with dark green jade on the Seward Peninsula. The state mineralis gold. This mineral plays a large part in Alaska's history, from its discovery in Juneau in 1880 to the great gold rush at Nome in the first part of this century. Gold was named the state mineral in 1968. The state insectis the four-spot skimmer dragonfly. The state bird is the willow ptarmagin. True Alaskans have a joke that the true state bird is the mosquito because of how many there are and the size of the mosquitos.The willow ptarmaginAlaska State Flag

3. Alaska's state capital isJuneau, a southeastern city of 30,000 people.

4. The state's largest cityis Anchorage, a south-central city with a little over 225,000 people.

5. The second largest city is Fairbanks, located in the interior of the state, with just over 32,000 people.

6. The state flower is the forget-me-not

7. Alaska's population of 671,000 + makes it the third least populous state.

8. The state also boasts the lowest population density in the nation. There is 1.0 person per square mile (1991) in Alaska, compared to 71.2 people per square mile for the entire U.S. The forget-me-not

9. Northern Lights or Aurora BorealisThe aurora is the glow of solar particles blown into the earth’s magnetic field. The streams of charged solar particles surge and bulge along bends in the earth’s magnetic field. As they strike atoms in the earth’s atmosphere, they create greenish-yellow, faint blue, or even blood red curtains of color. Some Alaska Native groups believed the lights had serious powers. Some believed the lights were the dancing spirits of children who died at birth. The best months to view the Aurora Borealis is between November and March. The best time to view is 10pm-2am.

10. Alaskan natives

11. Native Alaskan InformationThe term Alaska Native, referring to Alaska's original inhabitants, includes Aleut, Eskimo and Indian groups who differ from each other in ethnic origin, language and culture. The terms “Inuit” and “Native American” are sometimes used in place of “Eskimo” and “Indian”.In 1996, Alaska Natives constituted 16.5% of the state's total population. In 1971 the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was passed by U.S. Congress. Alaska Natives received 44 million acres of land and $962.5 million, in exchange for the extinguishment of their aboriginal land claims. The cash and lands became the property of the 13 regional, 4 urban, and over 200 village Native corporations formed by the Act. Any Native Alaskan born before passage of the Act who could prove one-quarter blood Native ancestry, was eligible to enroll in a local and regional corporation, entitling him or her to 100 shares in both corporations.Three Alaska Native Girls in traditional parkas

12. Eleven Alaskan native culturesInuit Children Playing Alaska WinterSubsistence Whale Hunt"King Island Eskimo Dancers"

13. AleutNativesAleut homelands include the Aleutian Islands, the Pribilof Islands, the Shumagin Islands, and the far western part of the Alaska Peninsula. The Aleut are expert boat builders and sailors and are well known for their kayaks. They are also known for their very fine baskets. Alaska Native Boy Ice FishingAlutiiqEskimosAlutiiq Eskimos, also referred to as Kana, are related to the Yupik, but are geographically located near the Aleut native villages. Yupik Eskimo DanceWalrus Skin TrampolineAthabascanIndiansThe Athabascan people traditionally lived along five Alaskan rivers: the Yukon, the Tanana, the Susitna, the Kuskokwim, and the Copper River. This area, known as the "Interior" of Alaska, runs from south of the Brooks Mountain Range down to the Kenai Peninsula. They speak eleven different languages.

14. CupikEskimosThe people of Hooper Bay and Chevak call themselves Cup'ik (plural Cup'it). The Cup’ik still depend upon subsistence fishing, hunting and gathering for food. The Cu'pik region is treeless tundra that borders the Bering SeaCup’ik are hunters of moose, caribou, whale, walrus, seal and sea lions and harvest salmon and other fish from the Yukon, Kuskokwim and Nushagak rivers. Bull MooseEyak IndiansCupik women filleting salmonThe Eyak Indians are the smallest native group in Alaska. Their traditional village on the Copper River highway on the Malaspina Coastal Plain was absorbed into the town of Cordova, Alaska in 1906, when their numbers had dwindled to only about 60 Eyak remaining.

15. Haida IndiansThe Haida were neighbors of the Eyak, Tlingit, and Tsimshian.The original homeland of the Haida people is the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia, Canada. The Haida are master canoe makers, constructing their canoes from cedar logs up to 60 feet in length.The territory of the Inupiaq Eskimos includes: the North Slope Borough (NSB) consisting of seven villages, served by the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, the Northwest Arctic Borough consisting of eleven villages and the Bering Straits Regional Corporation, which includes 16 villages. Barrow Alaska, the most northern U.S. city, is located within the NSB territory and is situated 700 miles north of Fairbanks and approximately 1000 miles below the north pole.Inupiaq EskimosSubsistence hunting and traditional uses of wild foods such as moose, caribou, whale, duck, fish, and other wildlife continue to provide substantial portions of the Inupiaq diet.

16. St. Lawrence Island YupikSt. Lawrence Island lies in the Bering Sea, 164 miles west of Nome. It is closer to Siberia in Russia, (just 38 miles away) than it is to Alaska. Savoonga on the northern coast and Gambell on the northwest cape contain the island’s Yupik population with 695 residing in Savoonga and 660 in Gambell. St. Lawrence Island has been inhabited intermittently for the past 2,000 year by Yup’ik Eskimos. The economy is largely based on subsistence harvests from the sea including seal, walrus, fish and bowhead and gray whales. Walrus-hide boats are still used to hunt. Savoonga is hailed as the “Walrus Capital of the World” and a Walrus Festival is help each spring. St. Lawrence Island Yupik are famous for their ivory carvings. Walrus

17. Tlingit IndiansTraditional Tlingit territory in Alaska includes the Southeast panhandle between Icy Bay in the north to the Dixon Entrance in the south. Tlingit people have also occupied the area to the east inside the Canadian border. This group is known as the “Inland Tlingit”.Southeast Alaska’s environment is a temperate rain forest. This environment produces many tall and massive trees. Wood was the most important commodity for the people of this region. Communal houses, totem poles, daily utensils, storage and cooking boxes, transportation, ceremonial objects, and clothing were all made of wood and wood products, especially cedar and spruceTlingit ceremonial dance

18. Tsimshian IndiansThe original homeland of the Tsimshian is between the Nass and Skeena Rivers in British Columbia, Canada, though at contact in Southeast Alaska’s Portland Canal area, there were villages at Hyder and Halibut Bay. Presently in Alaska, the Tsimshian live mainly on Annette Island, in (New) Metlakatla, Alaska in addition to settlements in Canada.Scraping the Seal SkinYupik EskimosThe Yup'ik Eskimos of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta area in Western Alaska live in an environment made up of a mostly flat, marshy plain crisscrossed by many waterways, which the Yup'ik use in place of roads. The Yup'ik believe that no one ever truly dies, but that their soul is part of a cycle in which it is reborn in another generation. Children are named after the last person in the community to have passed away, whether that name is a boy or girl name.King Salmon Drying Quinhagak Alaska

19. Types of Alaskan Salmon Chinook salmon (king) This is the largest of the five Pacific salmon species, with mature adults growing to about 40 inches in length and weighing an average of 22 pounds. However, kings may grow as large as 100 pounds or more. In Alaska waters, 40- to 50-pounders are not uncommon."Old Man And The King"

20. Sockeye salmon (red) The sockeye is Alaska's most valuable fish. The Alaskan adult averages 24 inches in length and 6 to 9 pounds. Sockeye account for 25 to 30 percent of Alaska's commercial salmon harvest. They are also called reds because males turn a brilliant red color when spawning."Jumping Sockeye Salmon Brooks Fall Katmai National Park":

21. Coho salmon (silver) Coho salmon is the third most valuable of Alaska's salmon. It is the primary catch of the Alaska troller. Coho, also known as silvers, are often sold whole in seafood markets, but may also be smoked or canned. They average 29 inches in length and 9 pounds in weight, but may reach up to 30-plus pounds. Coho amount to about 5 percent of the total salmon harvest. Coho Salmon Fishing

22. Chum salmon (dog) These fish are of lower value to Alaska fishermen because their meat is a pale, yellowish color which makes them unmarketable as red salmon. Nevertheless, chum meat is widely marketed in stores in the lower forty-eight. They reach an average length of 30 inches and a weight of 8 pounds. The largest chum on record weighed in at around 30 pounds and was caught in Alaska.Chum dog salmon

23. Pink salmon (humpy) These are the smallest and least valuable, per pound, of Alaska salmon. However, these little salmon are the most abundant of them all. They are almost exclusively used for canning and are the main catch of many purse seining boats. At maturity they average 16 to 22 inches and usually reach weights of about 4 pounds. They are most common in Southeast (Region 1). Male pink salmon develop a large hump on their back prior to and during spawning; thus the name humpy.Spawning Pink Salmon

24. Alaska's Scenic WondersAnchorage is a vibrant, eclectic metropolis with a frontier spirit, located in the heart of great Alaska wilderness.