The state sport of Alaska is dog mushing, which was once the primary mode of transportation in most of Alaska. The Iditarod dog sledding race is the state’s largest sporting event. The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is a famous 1,000 mile race from Anchorage to Nome each February. The Iditarod record set in 2011 was a time of 8 days, 19 hours, 46 minutes, and 39 seconds.

Alaska is bounded by the Beaufort Sea and the Arctic Ocean to the north; Canada’s Yukon Territory and British Columbia province to the east; the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific Ocean to the south; the Bering Strait and the Bering Sea to the west; and the Chukchi Sea to the northwest. The capital is Juneau.

Juneau, Alaska, with over 3,000 square miles (192,000 acres) within its boundaries, has the largest area of any North American city. Juneau is America’s only state capital that isn’t accessible by road.

The most powerful volcanic explosion of the 20th century occurred in 1912 when Novarupta Volcano erupted, creating the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes in Katmai National Park.

Clancy's Saloon, shown above, in Skagway, Alaska about 1897 was a well know watering hole during the Klondike Gold Rush. Notice the muddy streets which what the trail ahead could be like. Gold was the beginning of a long history of mining in Alaska.

Alaska is the only U.S. state to produce platinum. Half a million ounces have been placer mined from southwestern Alaska since the first platinum nugget was discovered there by an Eskimo named Walter Smith in 1926. The Red Dog zinc mine in northwest Alaska is the world’s largest zinc producer. Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay, on the North Slope of the Brooks Range, is the site of the largest oil U.S. discovery in 1968 (15 billion barrels)