Seward History

Native Peoples of Seward

Alaskan archaeologist Michael R. Yarborough suggests that the area that comprises today's Seward, as well as the territory surrounding Resurrection Bay were once used by a number of Native Alaskan peoples, including the Alutiiqs and the Dena'ina Athabaskans.

At one point, a Native Alaskan settlement was established in what is today's Seward. However, the settlement had been abandoned prior to the arrival of the Russian fur trappers in the 18th century.

Russian Discovery of Resurrection Bay

In 1792, Alexander Baranov arrived in Kodiak, having been appointed head of the Shelikhov-Golikov Company, a fur trading company that was based in Kodiak. As head of the Shelikhov-Golikov Company, Baranov became in essence the governor of the Russian territory of Alaska.

On a voyage from Kodiak to Yakutat in the same year, Baranov's ship encountered bad weather, and was forced to seek shelter in a nearby bay. He rode out the storm in the bay. As this occurred during the Russian Orthodox Easter, Baranov christened it Resurrection Bay in honor of the Russian Sunday of the Resurrection.

In 1799, Baranov assumed the leadership of the Russian-American Company, a joint-stock enterprise chartered by Tsar Paul I, and which assumed the assets of the Shelikhov-Golikov Company. Baranov would continue his leadership of the Russian-American Company until 1818, when he was ousted over concerns of embezzlement, and the company was taken over by the Russian government.

After the 1867 purchase of Alaska by the United States, the San Francisco-based firm of Hutchison, Kohl & Company bought the Russian-American Company. It was subsequently renamed the Alaska Commercial Company. The firm was involved in the trading of general merchandise with the Alaskan natives for furs, gold and fish.

Alexander Baranov

The Purchase of Alaska

In the late 1850s, Russia was in a difficult financial position and feared losing Russian Alaska without compensation in some future conflict, especially to the British, against whom they had fought a decade earlier in the Crimean War. While Alaska attracted little interest at the time, the population of nearby British Columbia began to increase rapidly in the late 1850s.

The Russians feared that in any future conflict with Britain, their hard-to-defend region might become a prime target, and would be easily captured. This Great Powers calculus led Tsar Alexander II to sell the territory. Perhaps in hopes of starting a bidding war, both the British and the Americans were approached. The British, however, expressed little interest in buying Alaska. The Russians then turned their attention to the United States.

Two years after the end of the Civil War, Secretary of State William H. Seward began negotiations with the Russians, and came to an agreement to purchase the Alaskan territory on March 30, 1867 for $7.2 million. While most public opinion was in favor of the purchase, several newspapers editorialized against the extravagant sums paid for the territory. They derided it as "Seward's Folly," "Seward's Icebox," and Andrew Johnson's "polar bear garden."

The United States Senate ratified the treaty on April 9, 1867, by a vote of 37-2. However, the appropriation of money needed to purchase Alaska was delayed by more than a year due to opposition in the House of Representatives. The House finally approved the appropriation in July 1868, by a vote of 113-48.

William Henry Seward

The Founding of Seward

Massachusetts native Frank Lowell and his Russian-Aleut wife Mary moved to the Resurrection Bay area in 1884, and built a home just west of what is today the Alaska SeaLife Center. Lowell was a trader; it is thought that his original intent was to establish a saltery.

Lowell and his wife eked out an existence purchasing supplies from the Alaska Commercial Company store in English Bay (now known as Nanwalek) and trade them with the Alaska Native peoples throughout the region in exchange for furs.

Mary Lowell established a claim to what is now Seward in 1888. After their divorce in 1895, she continued to live in her homestead with her nine children. At this time, the area had become a Gold Rush encampment, as prospectors were lured to the area by tales of a trail that led from Seward inland that held great riches.

In 1900, the Alaska Central Railroad Co. began their efforts to build a rail line from Resurrection Bay to Cook Inlet, the location of Anchorage. In 1903, railroad engineers John and Frank Ballain arrived to begin construction of the rail line. Mary Lowell, who owned nearly all of the land that would comprise Seward, sold her interests for $4,000 and 37 lots in the town.

Seward in the 20th Century

After purchasing the land from Mary Lowell, the site was laid out in a traditional grid of city blocks and streets, and the city was officially founded.

The Alaska Central Railroad built 51 miles of track by 1909 and went into receivership. This route carried passengers, freight and mail to the upper Turnagain Arm. From there, goods were taken by boat at high tide, and by dog team or pack train to Eklutna and the Matanuska-Susitna Valley. In 1909, another company, the Alaska Northern Railroad Company, bought the rail line and extended it another 21 miles northward. From the new end, goods were floated down the Turnagain Arm in small boats. The Alaska Northern Railroad went into receivership in 1914.

Seward was officially incorporated in 1912. In subsequent years, Seward became the main ocean terminus and supply center for Interior Alaska, benefiting from its status as an ice-free port.

By 1960, Seward was the largest community on the peninsula.

On March 27, 1964, the largest earthquake on record--a magnitude 9.2--rocked Alaska. While the earthquake caused relatively minor damage to most Alaskan towns (save for Anchorage), a series of tsunamis was responsible for significant damage to coastal towns. In Seward, the tsunamis destroyed the railroad terminal and killed several residents.

Today's Seward

Into the 21st century, Seward remains a small town. With a population of only 2,700, Seward's economy is based on fishing, commerce and tourism.

Seward is the seventh most lucrative fisheries port in the United States per value. In 2004, $49.7 million worth of fish and shellfish passed through Seward. The town is a popular tourist draw, hosting visitors from Anchorage and other cities in Alaska. In addition, several cruise lines make port in Seward during the summer, bringing in several hundred thousand visitors each year.