Town of the Week, June 27, 1998
(rebroadcast from November 19, 1994)

Take a visit to Kotlik, Alaska; well, almost. listen in.

Kotlik, Alaska

The whistling wind whisks across the treeless, brushless tundra of northwest Alaska. There where the Yukon delta meets Norton Sound in the Bering Sea, is the nearby native village Kotlik. It gets its name from an Eskimo word for pants, because the Yukon River parts here like legs on a pair of trousers.

Kotlik is home to about 570 people, who subsist on hunting and travel by snowmobile. The weather today is described as warm; just one coat required to be outdoors. School students here are known as Falcons, who enjoy watching Alaska cable TV, or rental videos available from three different locations. It's our little-known Town of the Week, Kotlik, Alaska.

. . . seventeen of the 20 highest peaks in the U.S. are located in Alaska. . . . Outsiders first discovered Alaska in 1741, when Danish explorer Vitus Bering sighted it on a voyage from Siberia. . . . the 3.5 million acres of the Alaska State Park System constitutes the largest park system in the United States. . . . in 1867, U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward offered Russia $7,200,000, or two cents per acre, for Alaska. On October 18, 1867, Alaska officially became the property of the United States, to the chagrin of many Americans, who called the purchase "Seward's Folly." . . . When America declared war on Japan in 1941, Alaska's strategic position became apparent, and Americans once again perceived "Seward's Folly" to be an asset.

Collection of web sites to help you plan your trip to Alaska

Motto: "North to the Future" Statehood: January 3, 1959 Bird: Willow Ptarmigan Fish: King Salmon Flower: Forget-me-not Gem: Jade Song: "Alaska's Flag" Tree: Sitka spruce Insect: Four-spot skimmer dragonfly Sport: Dog mushing

Info for "D'ja Know?" and "Fun Facts" compiled from the Official Alaska web site.