ALASKA. 
I. 
Location, Area, and Population. 
The Territory of Alaska, lying in the extreme northwestern 
corner of the North American Continent, on the Bering Sea and 
North Pacific, comprises an area of about 577,390 statute square 
miles, with a seacoast of 26,000 miles, or nearly two and one-half 
times the seacoast of the balance of the United States. The 
Territory was acquired by purchase by the United States from 
Russia, and the boundaries, as laid down in the treaty of cession 
of March 30, 1867, are: Commencing from the southernmost 
point of the island called Prince of Wales Island, which point 
lies in the parallel of 54 degrees 40 minutes north latitude, and 
between the 131st and the 133d degree of west longitude 
(meridian of Greenwich), the said line shall ascend to the north 
along the channel called Portland Channel as far as the point of 
the continent where it strikes the 56th degree of north latitude; 
from this last*mentioned point, the line of demarcation shall fol¬ 
low the summit of the mountains situated parallel to the coast 
as far as the point of intersection of the 141st degree of west 
longitude (of the same meridian); and finally, from the said [^oint 
of intersection, the said meridian line of the 141st degree, in its 
prolongation as far as the f rozen Ocean. 
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