Talk:Anchorage, Alaska

message: Please see Talk:Anchorage (disambiguation) for a requested move involving this article. Calidum 20:42, 21 July 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Requested move concerning this page 

message: Can anyone find a source for this name? I ask because someone on Reddit has claimed their child's girlfriend added that line as a prank. It's since been used on a couple websites but I can find no original source. I've marked it "Citation needed". 24.20.100.220 (talk) 17:12, 7 December 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: I removed it. Seems pretty dubious. Beeblebrox (talk) 10:07, 10 December 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Green Apple of the Arctic? 

message: The history section makes no reference to the indigenous people or anything that happened before the arrival of Europeans.
:You know, this has come up before, and personally I would find it more interesting than most of the trivia that fills this article. The problem is, when I went looking for information, there just isn't really anything to be found. Anchorage really sort of begins as this "tent city" in the middle of nowhere, on a sandbar between two river outlets near the railroad tracks. It's amazing that a town ever formed here at all, let alone the largest one in the state, but there were a large number of factors that contributed to that, the largest being WWII and Anchorage's strategic position.
:Keep in mind that Alaska is still pretty sparsely populated, and back then even less so. I know there were a few Native villages along the Knik Arm, but I've never heard of any that were in the area of Anchorage proper. The earliest historical references to the area come from Captain Cook, who was searching for the fabled Northwest Passage. He dropped anchor at Ship Creek (hence the name he used on his mapping of the area), and sent Captain Bligh up the Knik, where he met with the Natives in the Eklutna area and found out it was just a river outlet. Then he was a bit annoyed when Cook sent him south to scout the other arm, which he called Turnagain, because once he got all the way to Portage that's what he had to do. He doesn't report meeting any Natives along that direction, and I think to this day the closest village is Crow Creek. 
:Still I would be interested to know more about the early history of the area, because there may be a lot I just don't know about. The problem is simply one of finding sources. Zaereth (talk) 21:25, 23 June 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: On a side note, Anchorage did eventually become part of that Northwest Passage, it just became an aerial passage rather than a nautical one. (The quickest way to get to Europe from anywhere on the west-coast is right over the top.) Despite its lack of just about any natural resource except sand and gravel, Anchorage is a lot like Rome in that it's a hub of commerce along many trade and supply routes (all roads lead to Anchorage), and we even have our own holiday to celebrate that; Fur Rendezvous. Zaereth (talk) 01:40, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

text: I might also add (for those who don't know) is that Anchorage proper is limited to the north by the military bases, which includes much of the coast of the Knik, up to the Nike silos around Eagle River. The military got much of the good land, but that's considered sovereign territory, and is really its own separate city from Anchorage. If anyone has records of what, if anything, was there when they arrived, it would be them. Zaereth (talk) 19:46, 25 June 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: I think I've managed to cover the major points. Interestingly, I stumbled across this by accident while looking up the etymology of Bootleggers Cove. I think it's good to have some of the very early history. There may have been Thule cultures living here as long as 10,000 years ago, and perhaps even Dorset people going that far back or farther. Not much evidence of the Dorset remain, as they seem to have gone extinct after Inuit expansion during the Viking Age and early Middle Ages. Either way, I don't have any sources that go that far back, and any further detail should go to the History of Anchorage article. Zaereth (talk) 00:03, 5 August 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: Nice work. Arbcom is a harsh mistress and takes up the bulk of my WP time these days, but I have seen your comments here and at the list page, just so you know you aren't just talking to yourself. Beeblebrox (talk) 00:48, 5 August 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks. I'm just glad it answered my own question of why there are no Dena'ina villages all over the place, save Eklutna. They had a very different lifestyle from the Aleut, and lived much more like their Apache cousins. Of course, in the neighborhood where I grew up all my friends were Eskimos from the Nome/Bering Sea area, so I'm more familiar with theirs and the Aleut lifestyle. It turns out that Eklutna only exists because a Russian trading post was placed nearby at Niteh on the Palmer Flats (the delta between the Knik River and the Matanuska) and a church/missionary at nearby Knik. I used to go visit those guys at Eklutna back when they had the couches sitting along the highway. They were a great bunch of guys, and funny as hell (with their sense of humor I don't know why you don't see many Native comedians), but the topic of their history just never came up. Zaereth (talk) 19:30, 5 August 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: I came across another book my mom had stashed away, which gives a very detailed account of the history(not to mention some wonderful photos that I'm guessing are no longer copyrighted), and so I added quite a lot the History of Anchorage, Alaska article. I tried to give a very good overview of how and why Anchorage formed, which had a lot to do with economic resources ad the town of Knik. It still needs a lot more, from 1915 to present, but I've come to a stopping point for myself. It would be good to get quite a bit more detail than we have here. Maybe RadioKAOS has some sources to add? Personally, I think we could use a little on the hydroelectric dam and the formation of Eklutna Lake (now the city's largest water supply), which I personally find fascinating. I couldn't find much more on the early Native history beyond what we have here, because most of what we know is archaeological. However, I did add more details of Cook's voyage and his crew's accounts of Native life. Zaereth (talk) 22:46, 7 November 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  History section incomplete 

message: The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:
* 
Participate in the deletion discussion at the . —Community Tech bot (talk) 00:22, 9 January 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion 

message: This must be a typo. What is meant here by “symmetry”? 69.138.14.233 (talk) 23:57, 16 September 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Symmetry of the US Army 

message: Not clear what residents were contemuous of. Another typo? 69.138.14.233 (talk) 00:02, 17 September 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  became a symbol of residents' contempt 

message: The phrase "and has more people than all of Northern Canada and Greenland combined"  might be interesting, but I don't see why such a comparison is needed in the lede.  The lede is supposed to be a short summary of the most important points.  I'd suggest removing it from there as an inappropriate tangent.  (I have no objection to moving the phrase somewhere down in the article if context is appropriate.) -- Infrogmation (talk) 02:55, 28 May 2024 (UTC)
thread_title: Population comparison in lede