ABSTRACT

A stranger to Alaska and its recent history, with the wisdom of hindsight to point out the full extent of its present problems and costs, might ask why the great desire to be a state arose at this particular time. If the economy based directly or indirectly upon military activities and construction is discounted, Alaska is clearly a huge underdeveloped region boasting only two pulp mills and a few assorted small lumber operations, a mining "industry" consisting of one underground and several strip and placer operations of relatively minor proportions, an ailing and highly seasonal fisheries and fish processing industry, and only the prospects of expanding tourism and oil and gas production to brighten an otherwise gloomy prospect.