Russian presence in south central Alaska
was well established in the 19th century. In 1867, U. S. Secretary of State
William H. Seward brokered a deal to purchase Alaska from an Imperial Russia
for $7.2 million (about two cents an acre, had all of Alaska's land mass been
counted; however, the Russians didn't declare all of Alaska as theirs, rather
selling to the U.S. the land upon which they had fortifications.). The deal was
lampooned by political rivals as "Seward's folly", "Seward's
icebox" and "Walrussia". By 1888, gold was discovered along
Turnagain Arm.
