FAST FACTS:
Alaska & Hawaii
news+notes)
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Happy 50th birthday, Alaska and Hawaii! Our
two youngest states offer lots of cool facts:
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ALASKA
• On Jan. 3, 1959, President Dwight Eisenhower signed a bill making Alaska
the 49th state.
• The strongest recorded earthquake in North American history (9.2 on
the Richter scale) hit south-central Alaska on March 27, 1964. Barrow
• Seventeen of the 20 highest peaks in the United States are in Alaska. Prudhoe
Bay
Mount McKinley, the highest in North America, stands 20,320 feet
above sea level.
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Alaska
Nome Fairbanks
• The annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race leads participants on a 10- to
17-day journey over 1,150 miles of harsh terrain, through blizzards and sub-zero Anchorage Valdez