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Manuscript DS, one page, 8 x 11, January 19, 1899. From the Executive Mansion, President McKinley addresses "the Senate and House of Representatives." In full: "I transmit herewith a second report on the investigations of the agricultural capabilities of Alaska for the year 1898, in accordance with the acts of Congress making appropriations for the Department of Agriculture for the fiscal years ending June 30, 1898, and June 30, 1899." Affixed to a same-size scrapbook page and in fine condition, with trimmed edges. Accompanied by a Senate memo indicating that the message was referred to "the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry."
In September 1898, gold was discovered at Anvil Creek near Nome, Alaska. Although there were many gold discoveries in Alaska, this one attracted thousands of fortune seekers. Soon thereafter, gold was discovered on the beaches of Nome the gold rush was on.
Alaska's resources had already been a topic of discussion for several prior to the discovery. Here, McKinley transmits a report on investigations into the agricultural capabilities of Alaska for purposes of making appropriations for the Department of Agriculture.
The 1890s had seen Alaska virtually controlled by large rail and coal interests who saw no benefit in self-rule for the state and lobbied against it. Then came the great discovery at Anvil Creek. In 1900, McKinley appointed Judge James Wickersham to look into the situation, and he became alarmed by the potential influence of incorporated interests in the territory and took up the struggle for Alaskan self-government. Wickersham argued that Alaska's resources should be used for the good of the entire country rather than exploited by a select group of large, absentee-controlled interests—home rule, he claimed, would assure more just utilization of the territory's natural wealth. Wickersham would be influential in securing Alaska's territorial status in 1912.
Today, President William McKinley's association with Alaska is immortalized in the name of North America's highest mountain. Known to native peoples as Denali, it had been unofficially named Mount McKinley in 1896 by a gold prospector and officially given the name by the federal government in 1917. Although President Barack Obama officially renamed the mountain Denali in 2015, President Donald Trump has pledged to revert it back to Mount McKinley, signing an executive order to that effect on the first day of his second term in office.
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