Alaska Thru My Eyes: The Alaska Railroad

Let me bring you on the most scenic railroad in America! The Alaska Railroad....

Like any other lands owned by native people, early Alaska was exploited by the European explorers and settlers. Russians came first to use the labor of the Aleuts, killing sea otters for their pelts (skin). Later on, Russia, Britain and the United States signed a treaty forming the boundaries of Russian America and British Canada along Alaska’s current boundaries. Alaska then was unwillingly bought by the United States from Tsar Alexander II of Russia (when there was nothing left to cultivate from this land - in the Russian’s minds at that time). The price was unbelievably low, for only 2 cents an acre (1 acre = 4000 sq.m.) in 1867. Read more and view photos here.