Seward was established in 1903 by railroad surveyors as an ocean terminal and supply center. The city was named for US Secretary of State William H Seward, who was a major player in purchasing Alaska from Russia in 1867. Alaska didn’t become a state until 1959! It is our 49th state. Resurrection Bay is a year-round ice-free harbor and Seward is an important cargo and fishing port. Seward’s economy depends on tourism, a coal terminal, a sawmill, fisheries, and government offices.

If you’re in Seward on the 4th of July watch (or join) the annual Mount Marathon Race. This grueling endurance race goes up and then down Mount Marathon (3,022 feet/921 meters). The race is said to have begun in 1909 with a wager between 2 sourdough’s as to how long it would take to run up and down Mt. Marathon. (A sourdough was a prospector or settler of that time who usually lived alone and subsisted on sourdough bread). The fastest recorded time is 43 minutes, 23 seconds set in 1981 by Bill Spencer. The descent is so steep that it’s part run, part jump, part slide, usually in a bloody mess from scrapes and cuts. Competitors come from all over and thousands of spectators line the route each year.