Local Government

The 1884 First Organic Act provided Alaska with the beginnings of civilian government, with a governor and district court in Juneau. But most of Alaska was essentially still left without any official government. Areas such as the Interior had no government officials, and new towns had no legal basis for forming municipal governments. The traditional "miners' meeting" was the only form of local government many of the early gold rush towns knew. In these meetings, whose roots were from the American West, miners would gather together and adopt rules and regulations by a majority vote. 

However, the Gold Rush had put Alaska in the national spotlight and doubled its population, creating pressure on Congress to expand the government system in Alaska. In 1900, Congress adopted a new civil code to improve governance. The number of judicial districts expanded from one to three. In the Southeast, courts were held alternatively at Skagway and Juneau; in western Alaska, they were held in Nome; and in the Interior, they were held first in Eagle and then later at Fairbanks. 

Perhaps the most important part of the new code was allowing communities to form their own local governments. Any community of 300 could incorporate. The local governments consisted of an elected seven-member city council, a mayor, and a three-member school board. Incorporated town governments furnished services such as street improvements, fire and police protection, and schools. To pay for the services, they could tax property up to 1% and impose license fees on businesses. Half of the tax revenue was to be used to support schools. The first incorporated town in Alaska was Ketchikan in 1901. Later that year, Eagle in the Interior became the second.

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