Great Seal of Alaska

The aurora borealis — the northern lights — arcs across the top of the seal above the mountains. It is the only element on the Alaska seal with no economic meaning: it is purely geographic, identifying the region as subarctic. No other American state seal uses the aurora borealis as a primary symbol.

Snow-capped mountains rise across the background of the seal beneath the aurora. They represent the Alaska Range, the dominant mountain chain of the Alaska interior and the location of Denali — the highest peak in North America at 20,310 feet. In 1910, the Alaska Range defined the geography of the territory's interior and separated the coastal settlements from the gold-bearing regions of the interior.

A smelter with a smoking stack appears to the right of center in the seal, representing the mining industry. In 1910, mining was the economic foundation of the Alaska Territory. Gold had been discovered near Juneau in 1880 and at Nome in 1899; copper was being extracted in large quantities from the Kennecott Mine in the Wrangell–St. Elias region, which opened in 1903.

Forests of Sitka spruce and other conifers appear in the middle ground of the seal. Alaska's timber resources were recognized as significant in the territorial period, particularly the rainforests of Southeast Alaska — the Tongass — which is still the largest national forest in the United States.

A railroad train appears on the seal representing transportation infrastructure — a critical and contested issue for the Alaska Territory in 1910. Several private railroads were operating or under construction in Alaska at the time, including the Copper River and Northwestern Railway, which connected the Kennecott copper mines to the port at Cordova.

Ships appear in the seal representing maritime commerce. Alaska's coastal geography made sea transport the primary connection between the territory and the continental United States in 1910. The Inside Passage route — used by the Alaska Marine Highway System today — had been the main supply line for southeastern Alaska since the Russian era.

Fish appear in the seal representing the fishing industry, which was already one of Alaska's most established economic activities in 1910. Salmon canneries had been operating in Alaska since 1878, and by the turn of the century, the Alaska salmon pack was the largest in the world. The fish on the seal are generally understood to represent salmon.

Agricultural fields appear in the seal between the forests and the smelter, representing the territory's farming potential. In 1910, agriculture in Alaska was limited mainly to small subsistence operations and some commercial farming in the Matanuska Valley northeast of Anchorage.