06/10/2026
The $7.2 Million Deal That Gave America Alaska
Russia sold Alaska to the United States for just $7.2 million in 1867. At the time, many Americans mocked the deal as “Seward’s Folly.”
But decades later, gold discoveries in the Yukon transformed Alaska’s importance—and suddenly that distant frozen territory looked very different.
Alaska eventually became a U.S. state in 1959.
Would you have called $7.2 million a bargain in 1867? 👀
