Challenge: Increase Alaska's Population

Alaska is the largest state in the United States. It is also one of the least populated, beaten out only by the less populated North Dakota, Vermont, Washington D.C., and Wyoming.

The challenge here is to increase Alaska's population in whatever ways, at to whatever level reasonably possible. A simple ground rule is that the United States must still acquire it, and preferably you tweak things after said OTL acquisition.

And I'm putting this in Post-1900 because Alaska has been American for 112 After-1900 years in comparison to only 33 Before-1900 years. However, pre-1900 changes are permitted.
 
Encourage emigres after the Russian Civil War to come to Alaska rather than China. Offer them citizenship if they agree to stay in Alaska for at least ten years and participate in its development. Govt loans to establish businesses or farms there. (It would have to be sold to Congress as a matter of national security, making Alaska a strong outpost against Bolshevism.) Same policy for Jews fleeing Europe in the 1930s and for Chinese fleeing from Japanese invasion. Earlier exploitation of Alaska's mining and oil resources. Tax credits for establishing manufacturing in Alaska. (Transportation of goods southwards would be a problem, this means earlier railways within Alaska and earlier development of a modern port.) I'm not sure what niche industries would be feasible. Alas, the more I think about it, the Great Depression would probably doom the entire scheme.
 

GarethC

Donor
Discover lots more gold and/or oil there, or activate a volcano a bit (which adds a little arable land, and allows for cheap geothermal electricity, and maybe displaces Iceland as a producer of aluminium or something.

Maybe you could get whaling as an industry there at the end of the 19th century? If you had oil and perfume factories there and decent rail links to the continental US?

Most of the state is economically unproductive, with seasonal constraints to transport links.

It's very hard to create additional reasons to be there.
 

BlondieBC

Banned
Temporary or substitute Jewish homeland.

Agreed

Serbians was also discussed. Basically if we get any major refugee flow from 1890 to 1930, it can easily be moved to Alaska. And I don't mean a few refugees, but an exiled people such as Jews, Armenians, etc.

There was also talk about funding a major Railroad/improvement program for Alaska, but fell short on lack of funds. So if a new set of funds appears from some POD, you might get a lot better infrastructure and more people. POD like: High WW1 tariffs, Instead of using interest rates at fed to control economy - we used some type of temp financial tax, high beer taxes instead of prohibition, etc.

Also, a bigger Jap Scare at some point might work, say a near war in the 1920's
 
Wasn't thier some sort of plan to create a massive artificial lake in Alaska and then tap into the massive potential for hydroelectricity to spark new industires like Aluminum manufacturing?
 

BlondieBC

Banned
Wasn't thier some sort of plan to create a massive artificial lake in Alaska and then tap into the massive potential for hydroelectricity to spark new industires like Aluminum manufacturing?

Vast hydroelectic power is ideal for the Aluminum industry and other electricity intensive industries. With no environmental laws, maybe you could end up with Boeing and the aircraft industry based in Alaska.

This also brings up the idea of the military. With the right POD and butterflies, the USA might decide to keep a few extra division up there. Some reason such as cold weather makes tougher soldiers or NIMBY or perceived need to cold weather combat troops. Maybe the ranger units, special forces, and 10th Mountain end up there.

Maybe have Alaska a state by 1910, so the two powerful senators are always looking for more funding.
 
Found it! It was the Rampart Dam project, which ended in real life after PResident Carter made the area where the dam was to be built a wildlife presserve. Had it been built, it would have generated more than 5 gigawats of electric power, and would have created a man-made lake the size if Lake Erie.
 
Found it! It was the Rampart Dam project, which ended in real life after PResident Carter made the area where the dam was to be built a wildlife presserve. Had it been built, it would have generated more than 5 gigawats of electric power, and would have created a man-made lake the size if Lake Erie.
Someone really has to make the patch for that reservoir on the Worlda map. (I tried and failed.)
 

Japhy

Banned
Forced Labor camps and Prisons always work. Alaska is always the perfect dumping ground for Authoritarian US Governments. Works for Walt Disney, Huey Long or Lyndon LaRouche.
 
Forced Labor camps and Prisons always work. Alaska is always the perfect dumping ground for Authoritarian US Governments. Works for Walt Disney, Huey Long or Lyndon LaRouche.

Instead of Silicon Valley, the totalitarian USA could form secret research cities and industrial complexes exactly like the Soviets.

Maybe the PoD would be Iosef Dzhigashvili's parents immigrating to the US and settling in turn-of-the century Chicago...
 

Japhy

Banned
Instead of Silicon Valley, the totalitarian USA could form secret research cities and industrial complexes exactly like the Soviets.

Maybe the PoD would be Iosef Dzhigashvili's parents immigrating to the US and settling in turn-of-the century Chicago...

I could see Closed Cities up there, but of course developing things like that required that Siberia and Canada be at least Finlandized otherwise you're leaving your research base open. Political Prisoners and Convicts though can be dumped as undesirables far away from the circles of power. And the advantage Alaska provides is they can be deployed recovering resources. Otherwise its just easier to stick them in the UP in Michigan or the Nevada deserts, or road camps.
 
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