Alaska News

Photos: Vanishing ice opens new paths in Arctic

YAKUTSK, Russia -- In August 1981, our Russian hosts built a campfire on a bluff overlooking the Lena River here, a region most Americans only know from its strategic position in the board game Risk. Under a bright midnight sun, we washed down frozen whitefish, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes and stewed horsemeat with numerous toasts of Soviet champagne, vodka and brandy, and dreamed out loud about what could happen in the Arctic.

A boat steamed by, headed downstream toward the port of Tiksi on the Arctic Ocean.

Wally Hickel, then between his service as U.S. Interior secretary and his second term as Alaska governor, jumped up and waved his arms with excitement, explaining "that ship can turn west and go to Murmansk in Europe, east and go to Vladivostok on the Pacific. These Russians have shown how Arctic shipping can link the continents. The rest of us need to learn there even is an Arctic Ocean!"

READ MORE: Will U.S. let Russia control shipping in the Far North?

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