On October 18, 1867, soldiers gathered in front of the governor's mansion in a tiny fishing town called Sitka, on the rainy southern coast of Alaska. A Russian band played, the Russian flag was slowly lowered, and as the band switched to 'Hail, Columbia,' the American flag climbed up the pole in its place. The huge frozen territory of Alaska - twice the size of Texas - had officially changed hands.
The deal had been signed back in March in Washington, D.C. The Russian Empire, worried about defending Alaska from a possible British attack, agreed to sell the land to the United States for $7.2 million. That came out to about two cents an acre. American newspapers laughed. They called the purchase 'Seward's Folly,' after Secretary of State William Seward who pushed the deal through Congress. 'Why buy a frozen icebox no one wants?' they wrote. Seward bet that one day people would understand.
He was right. Within thirty years gold was discovered in the Klondike, and prospectors stampeded through Alaska by the tens of thousands. Then came massive oil fields, vast salmon fisheries, and a strategic location during World War II and the Cold War. Alaska became the 49th U.S. state in 1959. October 18 is still celebrated there as Alaska Day, with parades through Sitka, costume contests, and a reenactment of the flag ceremony - kids dressed as Russian sailors and American soldiers shaking hands in the same square where, long ago, one empire let go of a continent.
