Changes

The Second Organic Act in 1912 formally made Alaska a territory by this time, with the population then being over 50,000 in the state. The 1930s saw crashes in mining and fishing prices for AlaskanAlaskans, depressing the economy. However, some US settlers came as President Roosevelt saw the region near modern Anchorage, Alaska as being conducive for agriculture and settled some US citizens in the regionto develop agriculture as part of the economy. The 1930s and 1940s saw the airplane becoming the most important vehicle of transport, as the lack of roads and railroads made this the easiest way to move around the state. World War II would make Alaska, once again, an important part of US national defense. First, it was the invasion of Japanese in World War II, with the occupation of Attu and Kiska in the Aleutian islands, during the war increasing US military commitment. Even today, throughout Alaska defensive embankments and fortifications for an anticipated larger invasion can be seen in different parts of the state. The Alaska–Canada Military Highway, used to supply the USSR during the war with US war materials, was built in 1942, connecting Alaska to the mainland US via a highway systemfor the first time. One could now drive from Minnesota to Fairbanks, Alaska, which also helped increase trade and the population of the state. The city of Anchorage in the 1940s became Alaska's largest city as it expanded due to military personnel being based in Alaska and increasing number of bases built. The discovery of oil in the Kenai Peninsula in 1957 and the rise of the Cold War in 1945 led to Alaska being seen as an important US territory for defense and resources. President Eisenhower in 1958 signed the Alaska Statehood Act that would formally bring the territory to statehood in 1959. Many worried Alaska would not be able to support itself financially as a state. The 9.2 1964 Good Friday (March 27) Earthquake, North America's largest ever recorded earthquake, while devastating, did demonstrate the Alaska could quickly recover and its bountiful resources proved a draw for corporations. This helped cement the state's population growthand drive for statehood. Native rights were still discriminatory, by law, until 1945, when until the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945 was signed that banned discrimination in the stateagainst Alaskan Natives. Because the state was admitted relatively late in US history, native Native rights have been better protectedand today much of the state is owed by Native populations. For instance, in the 1958 statehood Act, the provision made it illegal for land to be taken away from Native titleholders, which was a law never the case in the lower 48 states.<ref>For more on the years before statehood and how the push for statehood developed, see: Naske, C.-M., & Slotnick, H. E. (1987). <i>Alaska: a history of the 49th state (2nd ed.)</i>. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.</ref>