ALASKA

 First, Happy Mother's Day.

I recall growing up in Honolulu that there was some rivalry between Hawaii and Alaska to become the 49th state.

• Alaska was a Russian colony from 1744 until the USA bought it in 1867 for $7.2 million.
• Hawaii was a kingdom until 1893, became a republic in 1894, and through insider links with Congress, was ceded to the USA in 1898.  Much of what happened has continuously till today been contested by the local Hawaiian community for the illegality of it all.

• 
  In 1893, Queen Lili'uokalani was deposed by a group of American sugar growers and missionaries through a coup d'etat, with the support of the U.S. Marines.  She was last in the long line from the Kamehameha dynasty founded in 1795 by King Kamehameha I.
• The sugar industry began to form after the arrival of Captain James Cook in 1778.  
• 
  The first permanent plantation was on Kauai in 1835, in time called Koloa Plantation, where my father grew up.

• 
  Over the next 30 years, the four major islands had plantations, changing the nature and society of the islands.
• Workers were  mostly imported from China, Portugal, Japan, the Philippines, and Korea, providing for the mixed ethnicity which largely continues today.

• 
  As an aside, my father's father, Kenjiro, was unique in that he had the training to be hired to build a hydroelectric plant on Kauai in 1903, resulting in a 3MW electrical facility at Wainiha in 1906.  Today, nearly 120 years later, this same system is still producing around 3MW.  

• 
  Further, my first job after graduating from Stanford in 1962 was to work for the oldest company in Hawaii, C. Brewer, at the Hutchinson Sugar Company on the Big Island of Hawaii. 

• 
  I spent nearly 8 years in sugar as a bioprocessing engineer in various factories.
• In those days, plantation life was definitely paternalistic with ethnic divisions.  Whites ran the show.  I remember my first reception where there was a Filipino union representative and me, Japanese, and a couple dozen white employees, all supervisory.
• 
  It was hinted that I might someday become a plantation manager, so they sent me to Louisiana State University to get a Master's Degree in chemical engineering.  They paid for everything, while LSU provided a full fellowship, while my wife worked as a Registered Nurse.  So for the only time in our 47 years together, we actually put money in the bank, and here I was in graduate school.  I decided to go on for a PhD in biochemical engineering, so C. Brewer stopped payments, and indicated we could work out a settlement when I returned.  They were incredibly generous, for a few laters when I had been working at the University of Hawaii, they asked me to do a summer research program for them, forgiving all they paid me.
• 
  But back to the story of sugar in Hawaii, the internal politics of missionary children who had matured and leaders of the sugar industry connived to overthrow the Hawaiian monarchy.
• For example, physician and missionary Gerrit Judd became an advisor to King Kamehameha III, and concocted the Great Mahele to distribute lands which favored the missionary families.  I lived on Judd Street for 32 years.
• Throw in the USA during those days when Manifest Destiny was the theme, and they wanted a military presence in Hawaii.  

• 
  Foreigner Charles Bishop married Bernice Pauahi Bishop of the Kamehameha family, and attempted to assist the U.S. government.   So close to the monarch William Lunalio, Bishop ran the business, ceding lands away. He ultimately established Bishop Trust, which pretty much today runs all Hawaiian affairs.

• 
  Lunalio passed away in 1874 with no heirs.  The legislature chose David Kalakaua, who was pressured to surrender Pearl Harbor to the U.S. Navy.  Also got Ford Island for a reciprocity treaty.  With this treaty, the sugar industry expanded from 12,000 acres to 125,00 acres in 1891.  This was during the period when those recruited aliens made Hawaii unique.

• 
  There was another rebellion in 1887, where President Grover Cleveland indicated that the country would support commerce and lives as necessary.  The Marines returned.
• The Wilcox rebellion of 1888 eventually replaced King Kalakaua with his sister, Queen Liliuokalani in 1891.  

• 
  The McKinley Act had crippled the sugar industry, so they were behind the effort of newspaper publisher Lorrin Thurston (grandson of missionaries) to overthrow the government in 1893.
• Queen Liliuokalani was deposed, and Hawaii was annexed, leading to Republic of Hawaii in 1894.  Sanford Dole became president.  He was the son of missionaries, and his cousin James founded the Hawaiian Pineapple Company, which became the Dole Food Company.
• There was an uprising in 1895 to restore the monarchy, but that failed, formally ending the Kamehameha family leadership.

• 
  William McKinley succeeded Cleveland as president in 1897, annexing Hawaii in 1898.  Sanford Dole became the territory's first governor.
• In 1846, U.S. Secretary of State John Calhoun, on behalf of President John Tyler, recognized Hawaii's independence under the reign of Kamehameha III.  Ninety legations and consulates were established throughout the world.
• Was led by the Committee of Safety, composed of five Americans, one Scotsman and one German, and six Hawaiian Kingdom subjects of American descent in Honolulu.
• 
  Now the story of Alaska, which with Hawaii, is one of the two non-contiguous states.
• The rivalry was necessary for both to become states within a few months of each other in 1959.  They were both detached, Alaska was Republican, and Hawaii by 1959 Democratic.  Alaska had resources, Hawaii had a strategic position in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

• 
  Alaska is the largest state, 2.5 times bigger than Texas.  In fact, add the land areas of our three largest states, Texas, California and Montana, and Alaska is still ahead.
• Has a current population of 740,133, about half of Hawaii's 1.446 million.

• 
  Has tide just south of Anchorage at Turnagain Arm of 35 feet.
• The Bering Glacier is the largest in North America, covering 2,008 square miles.

• 
  Of the 100 highest major summits in North America, only Denali, now renamed Mount McKinley by Donald Trump, is as high as 19,685 feet.  Four exceed 16,404 feet, 23 more than 12,123 feet, 23 over 13,123, 61 exceed 9843 feet and 92 over 6562 feet.  Louisiana's highest point, Mount Driskill is at 535 feet.  Florida?  Britton Hill goes up to 345 feet.  Now I understand why we kept seeing so much snow in May on all those peaks.
• 
  The history of Alaska is not as dramatic.
• Was purchased from Russia in 1867.
• Loosely governed by the militia, followed by an appointed governor from 1884.
• Capital was Sitka until 1906, but moved to Juneau.
• Organized as a territory in 1912.
• There was a territorial referendum in 1946.
• 
  Admitted as the 49th state on 3 January 1959.  Hawaii?  21 August 1959.
• Abundant natural resources have enabled Alaska to have one of the highest per capita incomes in the USA.  Massachusetts is first with $93,927. Alaska is 13th at $75,247.  Hawaii is 24th at $69,520.

• 
  Devastated by the massive Good Friday earthquake on 27 March 1964.
• Magnitude of 9.2.  
• Had a more powerful one in 1585 of 9.25, the most energetic in the history of North America, and second-most powerful for Planet Earth in recorded history.

• 
  Oil boom came when petroleum was discovered at Prudhoe Bay in 1968, leading to the completion of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System in 1977.  During the past decade, each Alaskan citizen has annually received about $1000 from the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend, and in 2024 was $1580.
• Tourism has also become vital.

• 
  In 1989, the Exxon Valdez hit a reef in the Prince William sound, spilling more than 11 million gallons of crude oil over 1100 miles of coastline.
• One of first states to legalize recreational marijuana.
• Alaska is second in indigenous population proportion of 15%.  Hawaii is #1 at 24%, highest in the nation. 

• 
  Some fun facts of Alaska.
• Of the 20 highest peaks in the U.S., Alaska has 17.  The highest is Mount McKinley at 20,320 feet.

• 
  Yukon River is 2000 miles long, third in the USA.
• There are more than 3,000 rivers and over 3 million lakes.  The largest, Lake Iliamna, is over 1000 square miles.  Rhode Island is 1545 square miles.

• 
  100,000 glaciers.  More active glaciers and ice fields than the rest of the inhabited world.
• Boasts to have the northermost point (Point Barrow) and easternmost (Pochnoi Point in the Aleutians) in the nation.
• 33,904 miles of shoreline.
• Has 70 potentially active volcanos.
• Has 1000 earthquakes above 3.5 Richter scale per year.  Of the ten strongest in world, three have occurred in Alaska.
• During the summer, temperatures during the day can range from the 60s into the 90s.
• Relatively low cost of living.

Hotel/Motel, Standard	$40-90
Hotel/Motel, Deluxe	$90-145
Bed & Breakfast	$45-80
Wilderness Lodge	$150-425
Private Cabins	$20-100

Sightseeing
Half-Day City Tour	From $9/person
Flightseeing	From $90/hour
Whale Watching	From $90/day
3- and 4-Day Cruises	From $300/day

• State nickname:  The Last Frontier.
• State motto:  North to the Future.
• Alaska Flag:  seven stars form the Big Dipper, while the eighth is the North Star.

We were entertained by the Amadeus String Quartet.

Then went to dinner at the Grand Dining Room, where I had a foie gras paté dish plus chicken consomme soup, with Monkey Shoulders on rocks and a Wente Cabernet Sauvignon,  We then shared a prime rib, spaghetti bolognese and baked potato.

A fancy chocolate dessert with Bailey's Cream in coffee to end the dinner.

Went to the Riviera Lounge for the Carson Turner show.

Then to Horizon for the Four Corners' dance fest of Saturday Night Fever.

Even with all that dancing, only walked 2917 steps today.

Tomorrow, we arrive in our final stop before Vancouver, Ketchikan, Alaska.

And, yes, Snoopy had a mom.

-