Number of Population

643,786 people

Heraldics

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Area

571,951 miles˛

Foundation date

49th on January 3, 1959

History

1916

The Top of the World Highway--the road with breath-taking scenery that stretches west from Dawson along high ridges to meet Alaska's Taylor Highway--originated as a trail from Dawson to the mining camps at Glacier and Miller Creeks in the Yukon and the neighboring mines of the upper Fortymile River on the American side. In the early years of the 20th century the Canadian government rendered the trail into a 55-mile wagon road to Glacier and Miller Creeks.

The first auto drive the length of the wagon road took place in 1916. "Flutey" Renworth employed Clarke Pelkington to drive Pelkington's Ford to Glacier and Miller Creeks. The humorous news accounts of the trip presented below are from the Dawson Daily News.

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Number of Population

19,157,532

Heraldics

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abbreviation

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Area

47,214 miles˛

Foundation date

11^th star on July, 25th, 1788

History

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State

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Number of Population

16,713,149

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abbreviation

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Area

53,927 miles˛

Foundation date

27th star on July 4th, 1845

History

Florida became the twenty-seventh state in the United States on March 3, 1845. William D. Moseley was elected the new state’s first governor, and David Levy Yulee, one of Florida’s leading proponents for statehood, became a U.S. Senator. By 1850 the population had grown to 87,445, including about 39,000 African American slaves and 1,000 free blacks.

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Number of Population

1,801,873 people

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abbreviation

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Area

24,078 miles˛

ethnicity

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Foundation Virginia

10th star on June 25th, 1788

Foundation date West Virginia

35^th star on June 20th, 1863

History

The Civil War started 1861 has often been referred to as a war of brother against brother and father against son. No other state serves as a better example of this than West Virginia, where there was relatively equal support for the northern and southern causes. Often families were split down the middle over their beliefs on the war. There are many instances of divided loyalties and even of individuals fighting for both sides. During the Battle of Scary Creek, a Confederate soldier supposedly saw his brothers fighting on the other battle lines, decided he was in the wrong place, and changed sides on the spot.

While many historians have traditionally placed the number of Union troops enlisted in West Virginia at a much higher figure than Confederates, more recent studies suggest there were almost as many southern troops as northern. Traditional sources have placed Union strength as high as 36,000 compared to only 7,000 to 10,000 Confederates. At least one recent study has raised the southern number to over 20,000 and lowered the Union figure to about the same. Part of the problem with early studies is they ignored numerous southern sympathizers who fought in militias or as irregulars.

The divisions caused by the Civil War lasted long afterward. These were usually fought out in political arenas but occasionally developed into violence. Military service in the Civil War became a badge of honor, as both Union and Confederate veterans attended reunions and participated in parades well into the twentieth century. West Virginia was the only state to send relatively the same number of Union and Confederate veterans to the Battle of Gettysburg reunion, another symbol of the divided state created by the Civil War.

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