Anchorage

Anchorage began as a tent city waiting for a railroad. In April 1915, the federal government placed the first spike for the Alaska Railroad, and Anchorage sprang up before the official route was even announced. Within two years, the camp had 1,300 buildings and 162 businesses, including three banks. President Harding drove the golden spike in 1923, and the city had its first economic engine.

World War II provided the second. Alaska's strategic position—closer to Tokyo than to Washington, D.C.—made it a military priority. Anchorage's population exploded from 4,200 in 1939 to over 82,000 by 1960. The Cold War kept the bases open and the money flowing.

But oil transformed everything. When geologists drilled at Prudhoe Bay, they discovered 25 billion barrels—the largest oil field in North American history. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, 800 miles of 48-inch pipe carrying crude from the North Slope to Valdez, began operating in 1977. By 1982, 86.5% of Alaska's revenue came directly from petroleum. The pipeline has now shipped over 19 billion barrels.

The problem is that oil production peaked in 1988 and has declined ever since. Alaska has run budget deficits averaging $1 billion annually since 2012. The Cook Inlet gas reserves that provide 70% of Southcentral Alaska's electricity are dwindling. The Pikka project—expected to begin production by March 2025 with 80,000 barrels daily—may temporarily boost pipeline throughput, but the long-term trajectory is clear.

By 2026, Anchorage tests whether a city built on three consecutive extraction economies—railroad construction, military spending, and petroleum—can develop a fourth act. The ancestral homeland of the Dena'ina Athabascan people faces the question that defines all resource-dependent cities: what comes after the resources?