Alaska Answers

Q. What was the biggest earthquake in Alaska? -Demi

A. Earthquakes? Oh, yeah we sure have ‘em. Fortunately, most of them just rumble a brief time. I don’t know about times farther back than my lifetime (70 yrs), but during my lifetime, the biggest one came on March 27, 1964. It was a doozie! Had 2 times the energy of the terrible San Francisco earthquake of 1906. 114 dead or missing and parts of Anchorage are now many feet lower than they were. Where the center was is now called Earthquake Park and you can see the upheavals and crazy look of the aftermath. I’m glad I didn’t come until 1971, and sure hope there isn’t another like that! -Bonnie

Q. Is Alaska the widest state and does it have its own time zone? -Ginny

A. Yes, to both. In fact we have two time zones. The main body of the state is one hour earlier than Seattle, for instance. Then, the approximate lower half of the Aleutian chain is two hours earlier than Seattle. At least that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it! =;o) I think years ago it used to be 4 time zones, but some were combined, or so an employee of the telephone company told me.

Wide? We surely are. If superimposed on a map of the lower 48…we would stretch from the Pacific to the Atlantic! (using the Aleutian chain of islands of course.) Hope this answers you. -Bonnie J.

Q. Hey, I don’t really have a question, but wondered if you would like a funny poem about a bear for your website? -Brenda

A. Sure, Brenda, I’m always up for a chuckle. -BJ

In this life I’m a woman. In the next life I’d like to come back as a bear.
When you’re a bear you get to hibernate. You do nothing but sleep for 6 months. I could deal with that.

Before you hibernate you are supposed to eat yourself stupid. I could deal with that too!

If you are a girl bear, you birth your children (who are the size of walnuts) while you are sleeping, and wake to find them partially grown, cute and cuddly.
I could definitely deal with that!

If you are mama bear, everyone knows you mean business. You swat anyone who bothers your cubs. If your cubs get out of line, you swat them too.
I could sure deal with that.

If you’re a bear, your mate EXPECTS you to wake up growling. He EXPECTS you to have hairy legs and excess body fat! Yup! Gonna be a bear.

Q. Are there interstates or freeways in Alaska? What are the roads like in winter? -Matthew

A. Certainly not, like you are thinking, I’m pretty sure. We have no big freeways, with multiple layers like you see in the lower 48. Nothing you could really call an interstate….since we are not next to any other state.

There are basically only about 4 main highways in Alaska. The Seward Highway connects the Kenai Penisula with Anchorage. There, you take the Glenn highway out of town and it goes all the way to Glennallen. About where Wasilla is, you can turn up the Parks Highway to Fairbanks. Going out the Glenn, when you come to Glannallen, it tees with the Richardson Hwy, which stretches from Valdez up to Fairbanks. About halfway to Fairbanks from Glennallen, there is a minor highway connecting the Richardson and the Parks….however, it is not open in the winter. There is also a minor highway south of Anchorage, connecting the Seward Hwy with some small towns. I think it is called the Sterling Hwy. Oh, yeah there is the ‘Tok Cutoff’ which takes you from above Glennallen over to Tok and the Alcan Hwy to the lower 48. That’s about it, far as I know.

I know a funny snowplow story from when we lived out near Copper Center. We had a friend who drove snowplow there. Of course when they would come upon a snowmobiler riding along in the ditch, they were supposed to lift their blade as they came alongside, so as not to spray them with snow. Well, Ed was driving along, daydreaming a bit, I’d guess, and all of a sudden realized he hadn’t lifted his blade. He brought the snowplow to a halt and looked back. Sure enough, there was a big pile of snow in the ditch, and sitting right on top, was the red pom pom of a ladies knit cap! He raced back and dug her out, with many many apologies. Fortunately, for him, she took it well and even laughed.

We have a very nice highway now going from the Wasilla/Palmer area in to Anchorage. It is 6 lane part of the way and 4 lane the rest of the way. I guess you could call it a ‘freeway’, as near the juncture of the Parks and the Glenn, there is an interchange which channels you to either Wasilla or Palmer and the railroad passes beneath. Anyway it makes it just a nice ‘cruise’ into Anchorage now.

Our roads are all very well maintained in the winter. The state highway boys do a fine job and it isn’t as big a deal driving up here in the winter as you might expect. The main thing above all is to remember to slow down in the winter. When the first snowfall hits, there is a few days of record number fender benders. Then people remember, “oh, yeah, it’s winter now” and they level off. Me? I don’r have to remember to slow down since I drive like a snail all year round! ha ha Hope this helps. -BJ

Q. Was my father Andrew Joseph Carrigan the postmaster of Nome, Alaska? He was in Nome from 1900 to 1905, after being in Dawson since the spring of 1898. -Ralph

A. Ralph, I could not find proof that your dad was the postmaster in Nome during that period. With the help of Lloussac Library in Anchorage, I was able to unearth a book called – believe it or not – 120 Years of Alaska Postmasters (1867-1987) by Ora B. Dickerson. I swear, this made me think there is a book for everything!

For Nome, on the page the library faxed me, they list postmasters from 1899 thru 1963. No where is your dad’s name listed. During 1900 – 1905 they say that a man named Joseph Wright was postmaster in 1900 and then someone named Frank W. Stanton served from 1901 to October, 1907.

If you have always believed he was the postmaster, and this info disagrees with that, have you considered the following? Perhaps he was ‘acting postmaster’ for a part of that time due to circumstances of which we dont know. Maybe he was a postal clerk or a 2nd in command? Are you sure it was Nome? Could it have been an outlying village? I’m assuming your father is no longer alive, but is there perhaps another relative who could enlighten you further? Well, whatever he was, he was a tough, courageous and very hardy man to have lived in Nome! -Bonnie J.

Q. What is Alaska’s vegetation? -Sean

A. I think I can answer this one without even much research; although if what I say doesn’t satisfy your enquiring mind, please write me again. As far as trees go, we have tons of black spruce, willow, aspen, alder, birch, mountain ash, and cottonwood. We have a huge cottonwood sitting right on our creek bank. Quite often a bald eagle is perched in the top, gazing down at the trout in the creek. When he gets hungry enough, he divebombs down and picks out a trout and carries the hapless creature off! Rather interesting that he carries the fish beneath him like a torpedo under a plane, rather than crosswise as you would think. Very good reason for this. It is so the fish is rather hidden beneath him and another eagle won’t see the fish sticking out and try and take it away! Smart bird. Yes, Sean, eat your heart out. A trout stream flows 20 feet from my kitchen door! I am a blessed lady, I know. There are always plenty for the eagles as I don’t even fish! I just watch ‘em!

The mountainsides and foothills abound with low vegetation and wild berry bushes. We have current, bearberry, mossberry, blueberries, lowbush and high bush cranberries, salmonberries, watermelon berries (yes, they taste just like watermelon!). God’s gift to Alaska where regular melons won’t grow. (well, except for a few show offs who grow a few in greenhouses.) (I’m jealous of course.)

We also have all kinds of wild grasses, ferns, devil’s club, poppies, daisies, and – well, any flower grows like crazy during our long light summers.

Many beautiful walking sticks and other items are carved from diamond willow and provide a nice income for some artistic folks.

Juneau and the lower panhandle have larger evergreen trees than we do in central Alaska. They have milder winters and more rain.

Of course this is just a small sample, so if you require, I’ll give you more. Are you doing a school report or something? Later, BJ

Q. Is there a museum about settlers, or a reconstructed village in Juneau? Is there a museum about gold mountains – and where? -Brenda

A. Brenda, I think you could find nearly what you want in Juneau. There is a really good museum there called the Alaska State Museum. Their telephone # is (907)465-2901. They do not have an actual reconstructed village though, but do have many dioramas depicting early, and native life, in Alaska.

If you wanted to come up to the Anchorage area, we also have a good museum, as well as a phenomenal place called the Alaska Native Heritage Center. You could spend a whole day there and never get tired or bored; and they do indeed have 3 reconstructed villages on the property, where you can watch natives doing ‘their thing’…tanning hides, smoking fish, making beaded items, etc. They have limited hours in the winter, but I’m thinking you would probably be coming in the summer.

About the museum dealing with gold mountains…do you mean gold AND mountains? Or gold mountains? Wow! I’d like to find one of those. Maybe you need a trip to another museum in Juneau which is called the Last Chance Mining Museum. their # is (907) 586-5338. Good luck! -Bonnie J.

Q. What is the job market like for a person with a bacholor’s degree in Biology? -Ryan

A. Good question, Ryan. I spoke with the biology instructor/counselor at University of Alaska’s Mat-Su College branch. He suggested looking for work with Alaska Department of Fish and Game, or Alaska Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Apart from that, you might want to consider teaching. We always have a need for teachers up here, and aside from public school, there are tons of private small schools. Of course you might have to take a few more credits to get that teaching certificate for public school; but your degree might do for a smaller school.

Also, Alyeska Pipeline uses biologists in different areas such as enviromental protection.

A good source for you might be the state website for available jobs. Look up: www.jobs.state.ak.us I hope that helps. If you have any other questions, just ask me another question. -BJ

Q. Willis would like to know, does Alaska have state income taxes? What about tax on personal property such as automobiles? Does Alaska tax real property? And what about auto insurance…is it cheaper than in Georgia or South Carolina?

A. At present, we do not have a state income tax, but you know that old saying, “the only two sure things are death and taxes!” Well, not for a long time on both, I say! We also have no tax on buying an automobile, as in other states – with this exception. Some communities have a sales tax, but it is very minimal. The local Ford dealer told me that in Anchorage, for instance, there is no sales tax. Here in the Matanuska Valley, we have a sales tax, but it is very minimal. Probably only amounting to $15. bucks or so on a car. I know our town, Wasilla, instituted a small sales tax for the specific purpose of creating a police department, which we were very happy to have, so we don’t mind the tax.

As to property taxes, just depends on where in Alaska you live. Lots of the smaller, outlying areas still have no real property tax. We do here in the Anchorage/Mat Valley area though.

Auto insurance runs a bit higher in Alaska than in the lower 48, especially the southern states, and since it is mandatory, you need to figure on a bit more for that. I know a good agent – State Farm – in Anchorage. Here is their number (907) 561-0000. Sure is an easy # to remember, eh? Take care, Bonnie J.