Anchorage's roots date back to about 4,000 B.C. when the descendants, of the first people who crossed the land bridge that connected Siberia to Alaska, established fishing & hunting camps in the northeast corner of Anchorage. It has been continually inhabited for 1,000 years.
In the mid-1700s, Russian trappers arrived, followed in 1778 by Capt. James Cook, a British explorer, on his third and final voyage. Cook was seeking a northwest passage. The discovery of gold at Crow Creek, 40 miles south of Anchorage, sparked a rush that lasted into the 20th century.
World War II brought a period of unprecedented growth to Anchorage. The military built two Bases here, Ft. Richardson, (an Army Base) and Elmendorf Air Force Base. In order to link these military installations with the rest of the nation, the Alaska Highway was completed in less than nine months. An engineering feat that ranks as one of this century's greatest. I have met and talked with some of the men who worked on that project, and they have some great tales to recount. Anchorage entered the war with a population of 7,724 and emerged with 43,314. The military remains an important part of life in Anchorage.
On Good friday, 1964, a massive earthquake measuring 9.2 on the Ricter Scale ripped through Southcentral Alaska lasting for more than 5 minutes. It was the largest quake ever recorded in North America. By some miracle only 131 people lost their lives. Thousands of people lost their homes, and entire blocks crumbled and fell into the sea. Residents rebounded and within a year, Anchorage's first high-rise hotel started reshaping the skyline.