Forty-nine questions for the 49th state in its 49th year.

• Author: Richesin, L. Dale
• Position: ALASKA FACTS

1. What city has the greatest temperature range in the U.S.?

   Fairbanks with a range of 165 degrees. Fairbanks recorded a high of 99 degrees on July 28, 1919, and a low of 66 below zero on Jan. 14, 1934. Alaska is also the state with the greatest temperature range, 180 degrees. On Jan. 23, 1971, Prospect Camp, Alaska, recorded a temperature of 80 below. On June 27,1915, Fort Yukon, Alaska, recorded a temperature of 100 degrees.

2. Where is the northernmost point in the United States?

   Point Barrow, Alaska, at 71.23 degrees north.

3. Where is the westernmost point in the United States?

   Amatignak Island, Alaska, at 179.06 degrees west.

4. What stale produces the largest cabbage?

   In 1990, Lesley Dinkel in the Matanuska Valley grew a cabbage weighing 98 pounds.

5. Which state in the U.S. has the most active volcanoes?

   Alaska has more than 40, 10 percent of the world's total.

6. Where is the absolute easternmost point in the United States?

   Pochnoi Point of Semisopochnoi Island, Alaska, at 179.46 degrees east.

7. What is the highest mountain in North America?

   Mount McKinley, also called Denali, at 20,320 feet above sea level.

8. Where is the best place to observe the northern lights?

   In Fairbanks, you can view the northern lights for an average of 243 days per year.

9. What is the largest island group, the Hawaiian Islands or the Aleutian Islands?

   The 300 Aleutian Islands cover 6,821 square miles and extend for 1,200 miles. The 137 Hawaiian Islands cover 6,423 square miles and extend for about 1,500 miles.

10. What state has the most lakes in the U.S.?

    Alaska has almost 3 million lakes. Minnesota, "The Land of 10,000 Lakes" actually has 11,842 lakes.

11. What is the second largest island in the U.S.?

    Kodiak Island in Alaska at 3,588 square miles is the 80th largest island in the world. Hawaii Island is the largest U.S. island at 4,029 square miles.

12. What is the longest place name in the U.S. that is a palindrome (a word spelled the same way forwards and backwards)?

    Kanakanak, Alaska.

13. What is the largest state park in the U.S.?

    Wood-Tikchik State Park, with 1.6 million acres in Southwest Alaska.

14. What is the largest National Forest?

    Tongass National Forest, covering over 17 million acres and located in Southeastern Alaska, is larger than West Virginia.

15. What state has the greatest percentage of federal land?

    Over two-thirds of Alaska is owned by the Federal government, with more than a half designated as national parks, wildlife refugees, and national forests.

16. What state has the longest coastline?

    Alaska has 6,660 miles of general coastline and 33,904 miles of tidal coastline, compares to 5,743 miles of general coastline and 54,729 miles of tidal coastline for the rest of the U.S.

17. How many mountains in Alaska are higher than Mount Whitney, which at 14,494 feet is the...