Seward is situated on Resurrection Bay on the southeast coast of the Kenai Peninsula, 126 highway miles south of Anchorage. It lies at the foot of majestic Mount Marathon, and is the gateway to the Kenai Fjords National Park with a population of around 4,000. 15.2% of the population is Alaska Natives with the Mount Marathon Indians being very active in the community. The annual Fourth of July celebration and its challenging Mount Marathon race bring participants and visitors from Southcentral Alaska and beyond. Resurrection Bay was named in 1792 by Russian fur trader and explorer Alexander Baranof. While sailing from Kodiak to Yakutat, he found unexpected shelter in this bay for a storm. He named the Bay Resurrection because it was the Russian Sunday of the Resurrection. The City of Seward was named for U.S. Secretary of State William Seward, 1861-69, who negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia during the Lincoln administration. In 1903, John and Frank Ballaine and a group of settlers arrived to begin construction of a railroad. The Alaska Railroad was constructed between 1915 and 1923, and Seward developed as the ocean terminus and supply center. By 1960, Seward was the largest community on the Peninsula. Tsunamis generated after the 1964 earthquake destroyed the railroad terminal and killed several residents. As the southern terminus for the Alaska Railroad and road link to Anchorage and the Interior, Seward has long been a transportation center. The economy has diversified with tourism, commercial fishing, ship services and repairs, oil and gas development, a coal export facility for Usibelli Mine, a State Prison, and the University of Alaska's Institute of Marine Sciences. The new $52 million Alaska SeaLife Center opened in May 1998. Over 200,000 travelers toured the Kenai Fjords National Park visitor’s center in Seward in 1999. For
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