1922 - 2022
The new bank shares a building with a furniture store at the corner of Fourth and G streets in Anchorage. It features brass teller cages imported from the States, polished brass spittoons, and teller counters made from the marble slabs Ervin had used to knead confectionery in Idaho. The bank vaults contain varied goods such as gold nuggets and untanned pelts of beaver, wolverine, fox, and mink. The outstanding stock totals 500 shares.
President Harding temporarily establishes the Reserve, which produces an average of 4,800,000 cans of salmon per year throughout the next decade.
On his last major tour before his death, the President, accompanied by Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, visits many Alaska cities. Highlighting the President’s tour is the driving of the golden spike to complete the Alaska Railroad.
The route covers 300 miles from Fairbanks to McGrath.
As part of a school contest, Benny Benson, a 13-year-old Aleut from Chignik, designs the “eight stars of gold on a field of blue” flag that flies over Alaska today. “The blue field is for the Alaska sky and the forget-me-not, an Alaska flower,” writes Benson. “The North Star is for the future of Alaska, the most northerly of the Union. The dipper is for the Great Bear, symbolizing strength.”
As the Great Depression hits, thousands of Americans are reduced to poverty by economic upheaval. Many choose to begin a new life in the territory.
First National is forced to impound all incoming gold coins.
This dividend, the first of many, raises the number of outstanding shares to 750.
Cuddy, a former U.S. district attorney in Valdez, purchases controlling interest.
Accompanied by armed guards, bank representatives deliver payroll to soldiers stationed in Alaska.
