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The Alaska Purchase from Russia by the United States occurred in 1867 at the behest of Secretary of State William Seward. The Alaska Purchase resulted in what is now the U.S. state of Alaska.
Seward convinced the United States Senate to approve the purchase of about 600,000 square miles (1,600,000 km²) from Russia for US$7,200,000 on April 9, 1867 (the treaty was signed on March 30). The Senate approved the purchase by just one vote. The treaty was negotiated with Baron Eduard de Stoeckl, Russian minister to the United States. For comparison, US$7.2 million in 1867 is equivalent to about US$86.7 million in 2002 dollars.
The purchase was at the time derided as Seward's folly, Seward's icebox, and President Andrew Johnson's polar bear garden, because it was believed foolhardy to spend so much money on the remote outpost. However, Seward's icebox eventually paid off in 1896, when gold was discovered by the Klondike River, setting off the massive Klondike Gold Rush in Juneau, Alaska. Alaska has proven to be abundant with natural resources such as petroleum, natural gas, coal, timber, and salmon. However, an analysis of the cash flow from the investment compared with the net present value of its purchase price suggests the money could have been invested better elsewhere. [1] (http://www.eh.net/lists/archives/abstracts/may-1999/0003.php)
Alaska Day celebrates the formal transfer of Alaska from the ownership of Russia to the United States, which took place on October 18, 1867.
Currently, Alaska celebrates the purchase on Seward's Day, the last Monday of March.
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