WI/AHC: Russia partitioned Alaska between Canada and the US

Can anyone imagine how things would be different if Canada was offered, and bought, the portion of Alaska north of the Great Continental divide while the US still purchased the southern portion of the state? Also what scenario could be created to create this event?
continental-divide.png


EDIT:

Lets change that to Canada is offered all the land north of the Yukon river.
 
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I’m trying to think of a situation in which the British Empire would want that portion at all, if not receiving the entire thing…
 
I’m trying to think of a situation in which the British Empire would want that portion at all, if not receiving the entire thing…


I think adding more western sea ports would be to their liking. Especially if British Columbia is annexed by the US instead of Canada which is a situation I'd like to include in a TL.

Gold deposits exist there as well. Perhaps if those deposits where found while still in Russian possession Canada may be interested in purchasing the land from them (which may be possible since mining it would be difficult and the Russians may find selling the land easier than mining it).

Ideas?
 
I think adding more western sea ports would be to their liking. Especially if British Columbia is annexed by the US instead of Canada which is a situation I'd like to include in a TL.

Gold deposits exist there as well. Perhaps if those deposits where found while still in Russian possession Canada may be interested in purchasing the land from them (which may be possible since mining it would be difficult and the Russians may find selling the land easier than mining it).

Ideas?
Any such seaports would be two thousand miles away* from the nearest major city, and wouldn't even be ice-free (AFAIK).

*Edmonton is closer to Ottawa than to Nome, as the crow flies.
 
SPJ;8319194[B said:
]I think adding more western sea ports would be to their liking.[/B] Especially if British Columbia is annexed by the US instead of Canada which is a situation I'd like to include in a TL.

Gold deposits exist there as well. Perhaps if those deposits where found while still in Russian possession Canada may be interested in purchasing the land from them (which may be possible since mining it would be difficult and the Russians may find selling the land easier than mining it).

Ideas?

How would they get there? It'd be super expensive to build a rail making it all but useless.
 
Let me change the situation in my OP. Russia offers Canada all the land north of ht Yukon river instead.
alaska-rivers-map.gif


And here is a map of gold deposits that exist through out Alaska

map2.jpg
 
But gold wasn't found in Alaska until several decades after Russia sold it. And your proposed British Alaskan Wasteland will still be thousands of miles away from ports. IOTL, until WWII, Alaska was almost always accessed from the sea; TTL Canada wouldn't be able to do that if you're giving all Oregon to America.
 
But gold wasn't found in Alaska until several decades after Russia sold it. And your proposed British Alaskan Wasteland will still be thousands of miles away from ports. IOTL, until WWII, Alaska was almost always accessed from the sea; TTL Canada wouldn't be able to do that if you're giving all Oregon to America.

Okay then. Thanks for helping to show me the logistical impracticality of the situation.
 
I'm tempted to say - although I'm not certain - that if the Americans got all of their "54 40 or fight" demands, that Britain then buying northern Alaska (supposing it found a reason to want it) would only be followed by the Americans pursuing a campaign of seeding it with American gold diggers or whoever and then trying to get it annexed in the same way that the Americans took over Texas and California. This would be a USA that was used to getting its own way and only its own way in North America. I don't think it would take lightly to Britain suddenly having another colony nearby.
 
Your right if Wikipedia can be trusted. It says 1903 was the first year navigated. Sorry.

Wrong.

What it says it was navigated 1903-1906. Ie Amundsen took three years to get through it. Similarly, the RCMP ship, the StRoch (the first to go west to east) took over 2 years (28 months or so) to get through, and they were in severe danger of being crushed.

Any shipping in those days would require crews spending at least one winter locked in the ice, often two. Hardly an economical shipping route to get stuff in and out...
 
Great Britain had no incentive for such a purchase during the 19th century. Their interests were in the lucrative Indian markets and trade with China. Alaska offers nothing to them. In fact, such a purchase would hurt Great Britain because it would funnel money to their adversary in the Great Game.

Second, Russia's main incentive for selling Alaska was that they feared Great Britain would simply take it in a future war given the aftermath of the Crimean War. The land was hard for the Russians to defend and Great Britain did have a larger local population thanks to the recent Yukon gold rush. The United States was approached by the Russians for the land sale because the United States already had some interest in the region from seal hunting and it was seen as a regional balance to Great Britain.

Even getting the USA to buy Alaska was a hard sell as the place was viewed as a wasteland in the mid-1800s. Until gold was discovered in the 1890s the purchase was known in America as Stweard's Folly.
 
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