How much can a single check really buy? A new car? Maybe a house? One faded Treasury check from 1867 purchased the vast territory we now know as Alaska. The details aren’t obvious at first glance, and people become confused about why money rather than military force was used in a century often marked by wars over land.
To understand why, we have to look at Russia’s position at the time and the circumstances that led to the sale.
Why Russia Was Ready To Sell
Image via Wikimedia Commons/Emanuel Leutze
By the mid-1800s, Russia’s empire stretched across Siberia and into Alaska, but the colony was more of a burden than a prize. Supplying it was expensive, permanent settlers numbered only a few hundred, and the Crimean War had left the Russian treasury strained.
There was also a looming fear that Britain, with its powerful navy in the Pacific, could easily snatch Alaska in a future conflict. Selling it seemed like a way to cut losses while pocketing some cash for pressing needs at home. That idea wasn’t entirely new. Russia had floated the possibility of selling Alaska as early as the 1850s, but the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War shelved negotiations.
When the war ended, the plan was revived, and the Russian envoy in Washington, Baron Eduard de Stoeckl, began talks with U.S. Secretary of State William Seward.
The Deal On The Table
Image via Wikimedia Commons/Mathew Benjamin Brady
On March 30, 1867, Seward and de Stoeckl finalized the agreement: $7.2 million for nearly 600,000 square miles of land. At the time, that broke down to about two cents an acre, which even critics admitted was a bargain on paper.
Still, not everyone was impressed. Many in Congress and the press mocked the purchase, dubbing it “Seward’s Folly” and sneering at the frozen territory as a useless wasteland.
The Senate approved the treaty in April, President Andrew Johnson signed it in May, and by October, the United States formally took possession of Alaska. What remained was the matter of actually paying for it, and that’s where the check came in.
A Check Worth Its Weight In Gold
In July 1868, the U.S. Treasury issued a check for $7.2 million made payable to de Stoeckl, who accepted it on behalf of Russia. At the time, the amount would have represented over 360,000 troy ounces of gold, or about 11 tons once converted.
Russia didn’t let the fortune sit idle, either. Most of it went straight into buying locomotives, wagons, and equipment for its expanding railways. The check survived and is preserved in archives as one of the more unusual artifacts of U.S. history.
From “Folly” To Fortune
Image via Wikimedia Commons/Ifly6
For years after the purchase, Alaska barely registered in national politics. The U.S. governed it through military and Treasury officials, and critics saw little value in the snowy frontier.
That changed dramatically in the late 1890s, when the Klondike gold rush turned Alaska into the gateway for thousands of prospectors chasing fortunes. By the 20th century, its importance as a strategic and resource-rich region became impossible to ignore.
The same land that once seemed worthless turned out to be one of the smartest bargains the U.S. ever made.
