The Bent Page

While knocking around the U.S. National Archives, I found an image of the check the United States paid Russia for Alaska. Have a look.

It was written for $7.2 million, or about 2 cents an acre. What a deal! The US definitely got the whole kit and kaboodle, everything from fishing grounds, to oil, to polar bears, not to mention 600,000 square miles of turf. And there’s a stamp on that check where it was actually paid and I’m wondering how Russia received the money. Was it greenbacks, gold, or something else. I’ll have to keep looking.

And have a look at that handwriting. Whoever wrote this check wanted the world to be able to read it. Great penmanship! Anyway, just goes to show what a little more than seven million bought back in the day.