Sewards Folly (as the purchase of Alaska was called when the Secretary of State, William Seward, wrote a check to the Russians for $7,200,000, in 1868) eventually proved to be a sound investment. Copper, gold, and oil valued in the billions were soon coming out of the Final Frontier. The federal government’s rectangular survey system now had more work to do, over a vast, rough terrain. Though the whole state was eventually covered by five survey areas anchored by five initial points, survey work was limited to the economically productive areas.
Alaska’s five survey areas and Initial Points.
Copper River Meridian
The first survey was established in the southeast part of the state, in 1905, where copper was discovered, and extended down the length of the panhandle. The Initial Point was located south of the town of Copper Center, near Willow Creek, just three miles west of where the Trans Alaska Pipeline and the Richardson Highway run now. The original Initial Point stone is still on site.
Fairbanks Meridian
The second survey started in 1910 covered a large, central part of the state, around Fairbanks, a gold production center. The Initial Point is on top of Birch Hill, a prominent mound east of town, now used as a ski hill and a communications point on the edge of Fort Wainwright. The Initial Point is marked with the original 1910 brass survey medallion, set into a nine-foot wide slab of concrete.
Seward Meridian
The southern part of the state, including Anchorage and extending out the Aleutian Chain, was surveyed from a point two miles east of the town of Seward, a fishing port named after the purchaser of Alaska. The Initial Point was originally placed in 1911, but was remonumented with a new brass cap in 1995.
Kateel River Principal Meridian
It wasn’t until 1956 that the next initial point was established in the state, to survey the western central part, from the Yukon River to Nome. The Kateel River Meridian and baseline meet at a point next to the Continental Divide, with little else besides the 12-inch post topped with brass cap marking the site.
Umiat Principal Meridian
The last part of Alaska, and the last part of the USA, to be covered by the rectangular survey system is the northern part of the state, including the North Slope with its vast oil fields and reserves. The Initial Point was set in 1956 on Umiat Mountain, a steep bluff above the Colville River, a few miles east of Umiat, a small, remote oil drilling camp. When the surveying historian C. Albert White visited there in 1986 he found the initial point intentionally destroyed, its markers smashed flat and defaced by some kind of tractor. He concludes the entry, and his book on the subject, with “In all probability the Initial Point will slough off into the Colville River within the next 50 years.” No rectangular surveys have been made from either of these last two Initial Points.