A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day....10-19, 20-05...North to Alaska!

Mama_Bear

[Mama_Bear]

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day

Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world.

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in need; and congratulate those deserving. We strive to keep our threads entertaining, fun, and pleasing to look at, and often have guest writers contribute an essay, or a profile of another FReeper.

On Mondays please visit us to see photos of A FEW OF FR'S VETERANS AND ACTIVE MILITARY

If you have a suggestion, or an idea, or if there's a FReeper you would like to see featured, please drop one of us a note in FR mail.

We're having fun and hope you are!
~ Billie, Dutchess, DollyCali, Mama_Bear ~

We're
"On the Road Again"...

Please join "A Few of FR's Finest" as we make a cyber-visit to another state in this great Union of ours.

Over the past couple years each "Finest" hostess has profiled her home state for the Finest Thread. The remaining states are being presented, about one a month, in random order. We hope you are enjoying these visits to our beautiful United States. Please FReepMail me if you would like to participate in spotlighting your Fine state. I would appreciate your ideas and suggestions on what you would like to see highlighted.

These are the states
we have presented to date:

05-23-03 Alabama 06-27-03 Maryland 07-11-03 Vermont 07-25-03 Utah 08-05-03 Texas 08-22-03 Nevada 08-26-03 Wash DC 09-05-03 Tennessee 09-17-03 Florida 09-19-03 Minnesota 10-03-03 New Mexico 10-14-03 Georgia 10-17-03 Louisiana 10-22-03 Michigan 11-04-03 South Dakota 11-14-03 California 01-09-04 South Carolina

02-06-04 West Virginia 02-20-04 Oregon 03-09-04 Pennsylvania 03-30-04 Wyoming 04-13-04 Mississippi 04-27-04 Missouri 05-25-04 Indiana 07-21-04 Virginia 08-18-04 Colorado 09-29-04 Idaho 10-20-04 New Hampshire 12-07-04 Hawaii 02-09-05 Maine 03-09-05 North Carolina 04-13-05 Arizona 06-15-05 Iowa

Today we are visiting our 49th state ~
The Last Frontier!

Click above to go to the Alaska Message Board.

Alaska's History in Brief

Russian Colonization

The disastrous voyage of Vitus Bering and Aleksey Chirikov in 1741 began the march of Russian traders across Siberia. The survivors who returned with sea otter skins started a rush of fur hunters to the Aleutian Islands. Grigori Shelekhov in 1784 founded the first permanent settlement in Alaska on Kodiak Island and sent (1790) to Alaska the man who was to dominate the period of Russian influence there, Aleksandr Baranov. A monopoly was granted to the Russian American Company in 1799, and it was Baranov who directed its Alaskan activities.

The Russian Orthodox Church and Native Alaskans

The primary goal of the Alaska mission was to convert the Native population to Orthodox Christianity. Conversion was encouraged by the Tsar, as head of the Church, and by the hierarchy. Rules for converting Natives strictly forbade using coercion. Orthodox missionaries were generally successful in their conversions, more so among the Aleuts and Eskimos than the Tlingits. Among the obstacles to conversion were the language barrier, and the shamanistic traditions of the Natives, deeply entrenched in the culture.

Today, Alaskans are proud of their Russian heritage and active Orthodox Churches are to be found in many towns.

Early Years as a U.S. Possession

In 1867, Russia sold Alaska to the United States for $7,200,000. The U.S. purchase was accomplished solely through the determined efforts of Secretary of State William H. Seward, and for many years afterward the land was derisively called Seward's Folly or Seward's Icebox because of its supposed uselessness. Since Alaska appeared to offer no immediate financial return, it was neglected. The U.S. army officially controlled the area until 1876, when scandals caused the withdrawal of the troops. After a brief period, during which government was in the hands of customs officials, the U.S. navy was given charge (1879). It was not until after the discovery of gold in the Juneau region in 1880 that Alaska was given a governor and a feeble local administration.

The Gold Rush

The Klondike strike of 1896 brought a stampede, mainly of Americans, and most of them came through Alaska. The big discoveries in Alaska itself followed—Nome in 1898–99, Fairbanks in 1902. The miners and prospectors (the sourdoughs) took over Alaska.

"North to Alaska,
They're goin' North,
the rush is on!"

The steamship Portland had just pulled into Seattle, returning from the Yukon with over a ton of gold. Her arrival instantly sparked an all-out human stampede for the Yukon.
To seek their fortunes in the Yukon gold fields, prospectors had to make their way along the Inside Passage, cross the Chilkoot Mountains with a ton of supplies, build a raft or boat during the long, hard winter, and then float 550 miles down the Yukon River to Dawson. After reaching Dawson, each prospector had to stake a claim and spend countless weeks, months, or years digging his claim before panning or sluicing the dirt, hoping to strike it rich, but more likely scratching out a meager existence.

While the gold fields lay far to the north, towns like Skagway and Dyea became boomtowns almost overnight. These towns marked the start of the overland portion of the Trail of ‘98 – Alaska’s gateway to the Klondike. With numerous saloons, brothels, and a full complement of gunslingers, con men, drunkards, and outlaws, Skagway was a feral, lawless Wild West of the north.

Most of the would-be prospectors came to Alaska with little or no knowledge of mining or backcountry survival. Many soon found themselves questing no longer merely for fortune, but for their very survival. Not surprisingly, of the 100,000 who set out, only a few thousand ever reached the gold fields – and only a mere handful ever struck it rich.

~ A Historical Vignette ~

Jefferson Randolph “Soapy” Smith was a Western crook with the gift of organization. A southern charmer and a master of the bait and switch, he was a confidence man who dressed like a judge, sat on a horse like a prince, and spoke like a bishop. He honed his skills in Texas and Colorado. Gradually he gathered shills and toughs around him, and commanded his gang of “lambs” as a colonel might command a battalion. When the Klondike Gold Rush began in 1897, he knew that the tenderfeet headed for northern goldfields would be ripe for the picking, and chose raw, lawless Skagway as his headquarters. In this bleak settlement at the head of Alaska’s Lynn Canal, he constructed an empire that any Mafia don might envy. However, less than a year later, the town had had enough of Soapy. He was killed by Frank Reid, in 1898 when he was 38 years old. Soapy's life story is a rip-snorting portrait of the rise to power of a man without a conscience. It reveals the strong-arm robberies, bloody trail murders, illegitimate businesses, rigged card games, and garish, candle-lit honky-tonks of the Gold Rush.


One of Soapy's best cons involved his "telegraph office." Recent arrivals were greeted by men who offered to send telegrams to their families for only $5. Most people did not look behind the "telegraph office" to notice that the wires ended a few yards out.

Territorial Status

Juneau officially replaced Sitka as capital in 1900, but it did not begin to function as such until 1906. In the same year Alaska was finally awarded a territorial representative in Congress. A new era began for Alaska when local government was established in 1912 and it became a U.S. territory.

Statehood

In 1958, Alaskans approved statehood by a 5 to 1 vote, and on Jan. 3, 1959, Alaska was officially admitted into the Union as a state, the first since Arizona in 1912.

• Outsiders first discovered Alaska in 1741 when Danish explorer Vitus Jonassen Bering sighted it on a voyage from Siberia.
   
• In 1867 United States Secretary of State William H. Seward offered Russia $7,200,000, or two cents per acre, for Alaska.
   
• On October 18, 1867 Alaska officially became the property of the United States. Many Americans called the purchase "Seward's Folly."
   
• Joe Juneau's 1880 discovery of gold ushered in the gold rush era.
   
• In 1943 Japan invaded the Aleutian Islands, which started the One Thousand Mile War, the first battle fought on American soil since the Civil War.
   
• Alaska officially became the 49th state on January 3, 1959.
   
• Alaska's most important revenue source is the oil and natural gas industry.
   
• The state of Rhode Island could fit into Alaska 425 times.
   
• Prudhoe Bay, on the northern Alaskan coast, is North America's largest oil field.
   
• The Trans-Alaska Pipeline moves up to 88,000 barrels of oil per hour on its 800 mile journey to Valdez.
   
• Most of America's salmon, crab, halibut, and herring come from Alaska.
   
• The term Alaska native refers to Alaska's original inhabitants including Aleut, Eskimo and Indian groups.
   
• Dog mushing is the official state sport. The Alaska Legislature adopted it in 1972.
   
  Click here to read about
  "The Last Great Race on Earth", the Iditarod!
  
  
• The state motto is North to the Future.
   
• Gold is the official state mineral. It was named the state mineral in 1968.
   
• Alaska has been called America's Last Frontier.
   
• Every four years Alaskans elect a Governor and a Lieutenant Governor to four-year terms.
   
• The Alaska State Legislature is made up of a Senate and a House of Representatives.
   
• Twenty senators are elected to four-year terms; forty representatives serve two-year terms.
   
• Alaska's Constitution was adopted in 1956 and became effective in 1959 making it the 49th state.
   
• Nearly one-third of Alaska lies within the Arctic Circle.
   
• The Alaska Highway was originally built as a military supply road during World War II.
   
• The state boasts the lowest population density in the nation.
   
• The discovery of gold in the Yukon began a gold rush in 1898. Later gold was discovered at Nome and Fairbanks.
   
• Alaska is a geographical marvel. When a scale map of Alaska is superimposed on a map of the 48 lower states, Alaska extends from coast to coast.
   
• The state's coastline extends over 6,600 miles.
   
• Alaska is the United State's largest state and is over twice the size of Texas. Measuring from north to south the state is approximately 1,400 miles long and measuring from east to west it is 2,700 miles wide.
   
• Alaska's geographic center is 60 miles northwest of Mount McKinley.
   
• The Tongass National Forest is the largest national forest in the United States.
   
• 17 of the 20 highest peaks in the United States are located in Alaska.
   
• At 20,320 feet above sea level, Mt. McKinley, located in Alaska's interior, is the highest point in North America.
   
  
• Juneau is the only capital city in the United States accessible only by boat or plane.
   
• The state's largest city is Anchorage; the second largest is Fairbanks.
   
• The Alaska Range is the largest mountain chain in the state. It covers from the Alaska Peninsula to the Yukon Territory.
   
• In 1915 the record high temperature in Alaska was 100 degrees Fahrenheit at Fort Yukon; the record low temperature was -80 degrees Fahrenheit at Prospect Creek Camp in 1971.
   
• The Alaskan malamute sled dog is strong and heavily coated. It was developed as a breed by a group of Eskimos named the Malemiuts.  
• Alaska's name is based on the Eskimo word Alakshak meaning great lands or peninsula.
   
• Agattu, Attu, and Kiska are the only parts of North America occupied by Japanese troops during World War II.
   
• Oil is the state's most valuable natural resource. The area includes what is thought to be the largest oil field in North America.
   
• In 1986 Mount Augustine erupted near Anchorage.
   

The "30-30-30" Rule

Polar and Alaskan explorers cite the "30-30-30" rule,
which states that at -30°F, with winds of 30 MPH,
human flesh will freeze solid in 30 seconds!

Alaska king crab fishing is considered to be one of the most dangerous jobs in North America. Every year, hundreds of fearless crab fishermen endure extreme weather conditions and harsh work environments with assertive hopes of catching excessive amounts of the most desirable seafood in the world- King crab!

Deep in the frigid waters of the Bering Sea lurks the highly lucrative — and yet often elusive — king crab. Each year, approximately 250 boats converge on Dutch Harbor, Alaska, awaiting the official harvesting season. It could be four days in length or as many as 12 — the fishermen won't know until the voice of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game crackles across their radios to announce the beginning and end of the fishing season.

Forty-foot waves, freezing temperatures, swinging 700-pound crab pots, a nearly 100 percent injury rate ... but also the chance to earn enough money for a family to live on for a year or more, for just a few days' work. Welcome to one of the world's deadliest jobs — that of the Alaskan crab fisherman.

So, the next time you order Alaskan King Crab at your favorite restaurant, remember the men who risked life and limb to bring this wonderful (and expensive) delicacy to your table. :-)

Read more HERE about "The Deadliest Catch".

The following websites provided information
and graphics for this presentation...

Scoundrels Gallery
Wild Things Photography
The Russian Church and Native Alaskan Cultures
The 49th State

09-27-05 ~ Hall of Fame #13

THIS WEEK'S THREADS 10-17-05 Military Monday 10-18-05 Poetry and Potpourri at the Finest

Opinions by our own 'King of Ping' Every Thursday at the Finest The guy's good, folks!

[DollyCali]

glad you cleared that one up. sounded like a tropical disease! Just went biking w/dogs. short outing, about 5 miles but they ran thru wooded areas & chased squirrels & swam in river & canal, so they are bushed! I have a rare night home & am looking forward to just chilling out!

[DollyCali]

you truly don't understnad what "clean house" means here.

Finding the coffee table to put a cutsie note on, would be "challenging"...

dusting ? HA! Wish that were the situation.

I really need tonight home. Hopefully I will spend a couple hours doing the necessary shoveling out to find things I have lost & get ready for garbage day tomorrow. I have piles of papers, books, clothes, kitchen things in most rooms of the lower level. I am ocntinually bringin up things that need to be sorted from the wet/moldy/yukky basement. My good /needed stuff often gets underneath the mess. Throwing out the truly ruined & finding places to stack stuff to dry out more & trying to work out a restore system.

Yes, I wish my problem was just a coat of dust.. but when it was, I never worried about it.

[WVNan]

she's the best Sistah in the whole wide world,actually

Aha! I caught you being nice behind my back. Sneaking it in with very small letters of course. Now I have to say something nice back atcha. NICE.

(Don't look now, but you know I luv you)

[Lady Jag]

I love that image, Lady Jag!!

I like your stuff. Ping me when you think of it, so I can see more of it.

[LadyX]

Oh, no!
Just circled back to close down, and there you are,
*knowing& the coast will become clear..:))
(I know you read all the fine print!)

Have to go to the Pharmacy and grocery store,
but will be back for the evening by 7...

[Diver Dave]

Another GREAT travelogue presentation, MB. Awesome Pledge graphic, too.

'puter time is very limited these days, but needed to thank you for the presentation.

[WVNan]

Sistah, I'm predicting that Wilma will wilt before she reaches Fla. When she starts hitting the cool air coming from the north she will begin to break up. If I'm wrong I'll eat a chicken.

[WVNan]

sister (dharam-behn) for life

God-sistahs. I like that. That is what Sistah and I have said for a long time. That we are Spirit Sistahs. Now I have two more to add. Wow! I can add Sistahs any time I want to. "dharam-behn".

[DollyCali]

I think Fla will get hit. If I am wrong I will eat a dozen donuts, a double cheese pizza & have two Margaretta's.

Such a sacrifice

[WVNan]

How did you guess that I want to see my Babychick. I also want to meet my "adopted" son. Seems as if I should know the father of my grandbaby.

Hey, I did stop and smell the roses today. KET and I goofed off. We went to Huntington to Home Depot and Lowes to get gift certificates for son & DIL's anniversary. They bought a house and are basically rebuilding it. They said that all gifts from now til Christmas should be gift certifs. from those two stores. We also went to the Cracker Barrel for lunch and enjoyed the turning leaves on the way home. Got no work done today.

[WVNan]

Ooooooooooh, you're bad. That's a huge challenge. I didn't say she wouldn't hit Fla. I said she will wilt. Will be a Cat 1 or tropical storm.

[DollyCali]

Okay. I'll tell you what my sacrifical "bet" stands for over category 1. Just saw a post that Mrs. Nooseman made on another thread.. a kleenex alert:

@@@

How could you?

When I was a puppy, I entertained you with my antics and made you laugh. You called me your child, and despite a number of chewed shoes and a couple of murdered throw pillows, I became your best friend. Whenever I was "bad," you'd shake your finger at me and ask "How could you?"-but then you'd relent and roll me over for a belly rub.

My housebreaking took a little longer than expected, because you were terribly busy, but we worked on that together. I remember those nights of nuzzling you in bed and listening to your confidences and secret dreams, and I believed that life could not be any more perfect.

We went for long walks and runs in the park, car rides, stops for ice cream (I only got the cone because "ice cream is bad for dogs" you said), and I took long naps in the sun waiting for you to come home at the end of the day.

Gradually, you began spending more time at work and on your career, and more time searching for a human mate. I waited for you patiently, comforted you through heartbreaks and disappointments, never chided you about bad decisions, and romped with glee at your homecomings, and when you fell in love. She, now your wife, is not a "dog person", still I welcomed her into our home, tried to show her affection, and obeyed her. I was happy because you were happy.

Then the human babies came along and I shared your excitement. I was fascinated by their pinkness, how they smelled, and I wanted to mother them, too. Only she and you worried that I might hurt them, and I spent most of my time banished to another room, or to a dog crate. Oh, how I wanted to love them, but I became a "prisoner of love." As they began to grow, I became their friend.

They clung to my fur and pulled themselves up on wobbly legs, poked fingers in my eyes, investigated my ears, and gave me kisses on my nose. I loved everything about them and their touch-because your touch was now so infrequent-and I would've defended them with my life if need be. I would sneak into their beds and listen to their worries and secret dreams, and together we waited for the sound of your car in the driveway.

There had been a time, when others asked you if you had a dog, that you produced a photo of me from your wallet and told them stories about me. These past few years, you just answered "yes" and changed the subject. I had gone from being "your dog" to "just a dog," and you resented every expenditure on my behalf.

Now, you have a new career opportunity in another city, and you and they will be moving to an apartment that does not allow pets. You've made the right decision for your "family," but there was a time when I was your only family. I was excited about the car ride until we arrived at the animal shelter. It smelled of dogs and cats, of fear, of hopelessness.

You filled out the paperwork and said "I know you will find a good home for her." They shrugged and gave you a pained look. They understand the realities facing a middle-aged dog, even one with "papers." You had to pry your son's fingers loose from my collar as he screamed "No, Daddy! Please don'tlet them take my dog!" And I worried for him, and what lessons you had just taught him about friendship and loyalty, about love and responsibility, and about respect for all life.

You gave me a good-bye pat on the head, avoided my eyes, and politely refused to take my collar and leash with you. You had a deadline to meet and now I have one, too. After you left, the two nice ladies said you probably knew about your upcoming move months ago and made no attempt to find me another good home. They shook their heads and asked "How could you?"

They are as attentive to us here in the shelter as their busy schedules allow. They feed us, of course, but I lost my appetite days ago. At first, whenever anyone passed my pen, I rushed to the front, hoping it was you that you had changed your mind-that this was all a bad dream...or I hoped it would at least be someone who cared, anyone who might save me.

When I realized I could not compete with the frolicking for attention of happy puppies, oblivious to their own fate, I retreated to a far corner and waited. I heard her footsteps as she came for me at the end of the day, and I padded along the aisle after her to a separate room. A blissfully quiet room. She placed me on the table and rubbed my ears, and told me not to worry.

My heart pounded in anticipation of what was to come, but there was also a sense of relief. As is my nature, I was more concerned about her. The burden which she bears weighs heavily on her, and I know that, the same way I knew your every mood. She gently placed a tourniquet around my foreleg as a tear ran down her cheek. I licked her hand in the same way I used to comfort you so many years ago

. She expertly slid the hypodermic needle into my vein. As I felt the sting and the cool liquid coursing through my body, I lay down sleepily, looked into her kind eyes and murmured "How could you?" Perhaps because she understood my dogspeak, she said "I'm so sorry." She hugged me, and hurriedly explained it was her job to make sure I went to a better place, where I wouldn't be ignored or abused or abandoned, or have to fend for myself-a place of love and light so very different from this earthly place. .

[lysie]

Oh my. Extra hugs for the pets tonight.

[The Mayor]

We are not much different in temp right now.

[DollyCali]

We are about same temp Rus.. has the rain arrived there? I finished my bike ride as it began as a light drizzle. Still lightly coming down.

Cooked nice meal for mom & me & now feel more like sleeping than cleaning!

[LadyX]

"If I'm wrong I'll eat a chicken."

Hahaha - and since you are bound to lose, I'll be magnanimous and pluck the feathers before I make you eat it..:))

Now you know the cold front is only going to keep it from going due north, and will nudge it to the northeast.

Wilma is too powerful for the front to appreciably defuse it.
Her extremely low barometric pressure makes her rule.

[WVNan]

How kind of you to offer to de-feather the chicken, Sistah. Mama always said that you were the best at de=feathering the chickens. Me, I just loved chopping their heads off. Ahahahahahaha....(evil laugh). It's fun to watch them run around without their heads. Sort of like I do most of the time.

[DollyCali]

ok ladies this one is for you...sorta....

[LadyX]

Take a bow, Dolly, for that priceless laugh!!

(for a real laugh, imagine Nan and me miming and lip syncing to it..:))

[DollyCali]

taking a bow & moving towards dreamland. Quiet night. think everyone is at Dose, Canteen or just busy as we westerners find to be our lifestyle. see you all tomorrow

Lori, thank you for a delightful two day thread of info & fun!