First Alaska Legislature

The Organic Act of 1912, which created the first Alaska-elected legislature, gave the region its first measure of self-government. The law spelled out the powers given to the territorial government and included a long list of prohibitions.

Most notably, the legislature was forbidden to control matters related to fish and game, borrow money, create counties, or manage or dispose of land. This meant that powers dealing with natural resources, land, and money would remain with the federal government—exactly what the large fishing and mining companies wanted. In addition, any action of the legislature could be overridden by Congress or vetoed by the governor, who was still a federal appointee. The legislature had limited powers to tax its citizens.

Given the strong opposition to the legislative bill by the mining and fishing companies, who were worried about high taxes, Wickersham thought the bill was the best compromise possible. He said it was "as good a bill as the people of any territory have had and gave Alaska home rule without the expenditure of a nickel."

The toughest challenge for many members of the first Alaska Legislature was getting to Juneau. In 1913, when no one had even dreamed of a town called Anchorage, lawmakers came from places like Nome, Ruby, Candle, Iditarod, Seward, Valdez, and Fairbanks. There were no airplanes in Alaska (the first flight took place in the summer of 1913 in a Fourth of July exhibition in Fairbanks), and dog teams were the fastest means of winter travel.

The new legislature was permitted to meet only in odd-numbered years and only for 60 days. Three of the legislators-to-be left Nome by dog team in early January. They crossed Norton Sound to Unalakleet and traveled the Yukon River and then the Tanana River to Fairbanks. They covered 700 to 900 miles just to reach Fairbanks. One senator walked from roadhouse to roadhouse along the winter trail to Fairbanks. From there, they went 360 miles by horse-drawn sleigh to Valdez, a journey that took a week, and then caught a steamer to Juneau. They arrived the day before the Legislature began. Gov. Walter Clark estimated that the average lawmaker had to make a round-trip of 2,541 miles to reach the capital.

The Legislature consisted of eleven miners, five lawyers, five businessmen, one fisherman, and one doctor. Their ages ranged from 33 to 63. The pay was $15 a day ( about $275 per day in today's dollars), and the travel allowance was 15 cents per mile (about $2.75 in today's dollars). There was no government building in Juneau, so the legislators met on two floors of the Elks Hall. They began their work on March 3, 1913. 

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