On August 14th, 1906, the territory of Alaska would conduct their very first official election.

The election was held to elect two delegates to the U.S. Congress.

Frank Waskey, of  Lake City, Minnesota, had moved to Alaska 1898. He settled in Nome as a miner. He was also the director of a bank and a publishing company in Nome. He was elected with 4,4 97 votes and began serving immediately. He would serve a short time to March of 1907 and would not be nominated for a second term.

The second candidate elected was Thomas Cale of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, he too moved to Alaska in 1898. He would settle in Fairbanks and also work as a miner. He won the election with 4,921votes and serve from March 1907 until March of 1909. He too would not be re-elected. After his term ended he moved back to Winconsin and became a farmer.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Alaska’s News Source learned Thursday that the station has won a national Edward R. Murrow award for its “Destination Adak, AK” series.

KTUU traveled nearly 1,200 miles by air from Anchorage to the remote island of Adak, Alaska — a place locally referred to as the “birthplace of the winds” — to tell a comprehensive 12-part series exploring one of America’s most isolated and historically significant locations.

A team of reporters and photographers captured the haunting beauty of Adak, exploring how its deserted World War II ruins leave the island feeling “stuck in time,” while its pristine wilderness welcomes a new wave of outdoor adventurers seeking an unrivaled backdrop for endless exploration.

Find the entire series here:

See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com

A man convicted of killing his North Pole roommate will spend nearly 30 years in prison in a ongoing interstate homicide case that involves accusations of stolen identity and another man’s death in Oregon.

Aaron Mitchell Hague was convicted earlier this year of killing 61-year-old John McClelland in August 2020.

McClelland has never been found. Prosecutors say Hague dumped his body in the woods on a remote road near the Fort Knox Gold Mine.

Soon after McClelland went missing in 2020, Hague left the Fairbanks area — first for Anchorage and then for Oregon, where he stands accused of killing a man he impersonated to evade law enforcement.

The 38-year-old Hague faces first-degree murder and identity theft charges in a March 2021 homicide in Gresham, Oregon. Prosecutors say Hague stole the identity of 28-year-old Anthony Alcorn, a similar-looking Ohio man he met at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, and then lured to Oregon, where he killed him.

On Tuesday, Fairbanks Superior Court Judge Kirk Schwalm sentenced Hague to 26 years in prison for the Fairbanks-area killing. The sentence followed a two-week trial that ended in April with Hague’s conviction on manslaughter, theft and evidence tampering charges but an acquittal on first-degree murder charges.

Hague’s public defender, who didn’t respond to a request for comment Wednesday, had asked for a 10-year sentence with five years of probation.

McClelland’s daughter, who in 2022 made a video asking Hague to tell police her father’s location, did not respond to messages this week.

Hague in September 2022 during a recorded jail call with his mother said that “they better come up with some really good deals if they want any help from me” and later asked her, “How do you prove a dead person without a body?” according to the state’s sentencing memorandum, filed last month.

In mid-July, Hague offered to take law enforcement to McClelland’s remains, according to the state’s 50-page sentencing memo. He took Alaska State Troopers and prosecutors to an area that was inconsistent with his trial testimony and didn’t point out any specific game trail to pinpoint the search, the memo states.

No body was found.

The men had lived together in North Pole in August 2020 when McClelland vanished. Both were being supervised by the Alaska Department of Corrections.

Hague was on probation for a 2018 felony theft conviction. McClelland was on probation and parole after serving nearly 30 years for killing a fishing boat captain he worked for, according to filings in the Alaska case.

Prosecutors say the evening McClelland disappeared, he and Hague drove to an area north of Fairbanks, ostensibly to scout for moose. Once there, they contend, Hague killed McClelland, stole his phone and debit card, concealed the corpse in the woods and then returned to Fairbanks.

Hague’s public defender in his sentencing memo said his client shot McClelland for threatening him and family members after Hague refused to participate in a burglary.

Hague used McClelland’s debit card to buy beer that night, then purchased more than $2,200 worth of items, including new furniture and a gaming setup, as well as fast Wi-Fi, according to the state’s sentencing memo. He took possession of McClelland’s pickup, Jeep, boat and trailer. He filed an unemployment insurance claim under McClelland’s name.

Prosecutors say Hague, using McClelland’s phone, messaged the other man’s brother, employer and probation officer as if McClelland were ill and being medevaced to Anchorage. He told investigators he’d dropped off McClelland at an urgent care and not seen him since.

Hague hitchhiked to Anchorage several days after the other man disappeared. He wound up at Sullivan Arena, where officials stood up a homeless shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hague assumed his younger brother’s identity at that time, according to the state’s sentencing memo.

Hague then traveled to the Northwest, ending up in Portland, where he assumed Alcorn’s name, according to the memo as well as reporting by The Oregonian. In March 2021, Hague convinced Alcorn to fly to Portland for a job. Days later, Alcorn’s body was found in the woods near a paved trail system in Gresham. An autopsy found he had died of blunt force trauma to his head.

Hague was arrested by the Gresham Police Department in March 2021.

In July 2021, a Fairbanks jury found that McClelland was presumed dead and likely died by homicide.

A Fairbanks grand jury indicted Hague in the Alaska homicide case in May 2022.

Prior to sentencing, state prosecutors argued that Hague killed McClelland for financial gain. Hague’s attorneys argued that there wasn’t that much money at stake and the verdict indicated the jury didn’t see the killing as deliberate.

Hague was jailed at Fairbanks Correctional Center as of Wednesday.

Trial in the Oregon case is set for January. If convicted of first-degree murder, Hague faces a mandatory life sentence.