This week in Alaska History: Sept. 1-7

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - This week in Alaska history, we go back almost 150 years ago to the beginnings of Alaska’s state capitol in Juneau.

Sept. 5, 1880 — Richard Harris and Joe Juneau arrived in Sitka with ore from Gold Creek in Juneau, but backer George Pilz was upset because they did not find the source of the gold.

Sept. 6, 1939 — The U.S. Coast Guard, on orders from President Franklin Roosevelt, dispatched two cutters from Alaska to the East Coast following Germany’s invasion of Poland.

Sept. 4, 1971 — In the worst single-plane accident in the history of American aviation at that time, an Alaska Airlines 727 jet crashed 1,000 feet below the summit of a 3,500-foot mountain 21 miles west of Juneau. Tragically, 111 people died in the crash.

Sept. 3, 1972 — The 84-room section of the McKinley Park Hotel was destroyed by fire.

Sept. 2, 1994 — Rather than serve prison time, two Alaska Native teens were banished to uninhabited, isolated islands. Simon Roberts and Adrian Guthrie were convicted of robbing and beating a pizza deliveryman. The judge turned Roberts and Guthrie’s fates over to the Tlingit Tribal Council in Klawock. The council decided to banish the teens for one year.

Sept. 4, 1998 — A brand new Fairview Elementary School opened its doors to students. The new school replaced the old school, built back in 1958.

Sept. 6, 1998 — An Anchorage man survived a bear mauling near Monahan Flat while moose hunting. The bear bit him in the leg and grabbed him by the back of the head. A hunting partner shot the bear and administered first aid to the man.

Sept. 7, 2001 — The state agreed to a settlement that would ensure competition, which opened the door for Chevron to buy Texaco for $45 billion. The buyout created the second-largest oil company. The agreement called for the companies to divest interests in the gasoline supply business and aviation gasoline.

September 1991 — A mail bomb killed David Kerr and Eklutna and maimed his wife, Michelle Kerr. The bomb was sent by the family of two men already in prison at Spring Creek Correctional Center in Seward.

September 1998 — A group of scientists and archeologists teamed up with the Coast Guard to search for “the lost fleet,” a group of 32 whaling ships that went down over a century earlier off the northwest coast of Alaska in the Chukchi Sea (Sept. 14, 1871). The whaling fleet from New England was abandoned at Wainwright Inlet when ice cut it off from open water. The 1,200 crew members used whale boats to reach safety at Icy Cape. No lives were lost.

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