Why Did Russia Sell Us Alaska So Cheap? (less than two cents an acre)

American Heritage ^ | 10/18/07 | John Steele Gordon

[Libloather]

His ship was forced to take refuge on what is now called Bering Island, and there the explorer died of scurvy at the age of 60.

SELL! SELL! SELL!

[SevenofNine]

Kathy I got question Russians got screw on that deal too bad Tomkow wasn’t around wait a minute he was around he is older than dirt maybe not as old as Helen thomas LOL!

[C210N]

So, what kind of deals might there be in the future?

Perhaps the US selling California to Mexico? Or... selling New England to Canada?

... or better yet, the US paying Canada to take New England?

{still can't believe this "state" of Mass I'm living in, after Tuesday's election}

[varyouga]

Why Did Russia Sell Us Alaska So Cheap?

Cause back in the 1860s it was just useless tundra. Nobody predicted the importance of oil. Mining for gold and diamonds that far north was impractical. Also, nobody would have guessed the land would be used for missile defense.

[bill1952]

{still can’t believe this “state” of Mass I’m living in, after Tuesday’s election}

Fill the rest of us in.
I really have no idea what happened there other than to assume that wacko dems won big.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

So, what kind of deals might there be in the future?

None. Any president who doesn't follow Abe Lincoln's lead in preserving the Union isn't worthy of the office.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

At the time it was known as Seward’s Folly.

[robomatik]

i've been to anchorage, fairbanks, gnome, etc. alaska is indeed the edge of the earth.

i spent 16 hours driving toward denali (mt. mckinley) after i first saw its peak. amazing.

flying over the arctic circle in a single prop; watching the polar bears try to run away was classic.

watching the whales play around in some non-descript inlet was priceless.

watching japanese tourists set up a tripod and take pictures of grizzlies barely 50 ft. away was a lesson in stupidity.

having a couple of wild horses stick their heads in my parents car (out of a herd of a couple hundred) was beautiful.

i will never forget alaska.

i hope to go back someday!

it changed my perspective on life as a child

[Publius6961]

Great post!
Interesting and a useful historical reference..
Seward's Folly... I just love that phrase. Plus the clarity with which this subject shows us that the "press" is often monumentally wrong. Not that they would ever express regret at pontificating on everything or, heaven forbid, admit that they were wrong!.

[Libloather]

Horace Greeley, in the New York Tribune, dismissed Alaska as nothing more than a frozen wilderness.

The New York Tribune was established by Horace Greeley in 1841 and was long considered one of the leading newspapers in the United States. In 1924 it was merged with the New York Herald to form the New York Herald Tribune, which ceased publication in 1967.

May the New York Times meet the same fate...

[ari-freedom]

“No one will ever want a computer in their home”

[puppypusher]

It was a Great bargain,but what good is it if the Dummycrats won’t allow us to use the natural resources we find there?

[ClearCase_guy]

It also bears mentioning that President Polk in -- I believe -- 1848, had pushed hard for the Texas territory and for the Oregon Territory. This was the era of manifest destiny, and the US claim to the Oregon Territory, while principally against Great Britain, took us right up to the border of the land controlled by Russia.

We were expanding rapidly -- the Oregon question was settled, but what would come next? Russia probably thought they had two choices: get money by selling, or lose the "worthless" territory in a war. Getting cash on the barrel head, so to speak, probably looked like the best option.

[Graybeard58]

I remember a lot of this from high school history but a lot I had forgotten too. Very interesting. Thanks for posting it.

[Does so]

What Greybeard58 said...

[Does so]

What Graybeard58 said...

[Oshkalaboomboom]

One of the Russian Premieres said that they already had Siberia and they didn’t need Alaska, which is a speck of territory by comparison. In pre-oil times this was probably a sensible idea and the scorn heaped upon Seward seemed to back that logic up.

[Paleo Conservative]

Perhaps the Czar would rather sell Alaska cheap to the US than let the British have it as part of Canada. After all Russia was humiliated by Britain and France in the Crimean war just a little over a decade previously. Alaska was too far away for the Russians to control anyway.

[Professional]

I lived in Alaska for 4 years, spent 8 winters there.

The US got hosed...

[GingisK]

I’m betting that they knew all along that they would stir up sentiment against ANWR drilling.