Famous People from Alaska Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sled dog racing

Susan Butcher was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts but moved to Alaska when she was a young woman to pursue her dream of working with sled dogs. In 1986, she became second woman to win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, something she would accomplish three additional times in the following four years and set record along the way.

She had been on track to become the first female winner in 1985 but her sled dogs were attacked and killed by a moose. The first female winner was Libby Riddles.

Answer: Valerie Plame

Valerie Plame was born in Anchorage in 1963. She is best known as being the CIA agent and spy whose identity was controversially exposed during the administration of George W. Bush. The controversy surrounded the alleged purchase of African uranium by Saddam Hussein. Plame's husband Joseph Wilson wrote an op-ed in which he doubted such an action occurred. In an alleged retaliation against Wilson, Valerie Plame's identity as CIA agent (which was classified) was leaked to the press. Plame had previously stated that she also did not think Hussein purchased uranium from Africa.

Plame's exposure put her in danger as her identity had been revealed to enemies abroad. Plame and Wilson allege the Bush Administration outed her identity as punishment for not continuing the uranium theory which weakened Bush's justification for invading Iraq. Afterward, Plame wrote an autobiography detailing her experience and later wrote a spy novel.

Answer: Governor

Sarah Palin was born in Sandpoint, Idaho in 1964. Her family moved to Alaska when she was a baby. As a young woman, she competed in beauty pageants and studied journalism. She became the Mayor of Wasilla in 1996 and then Chair of the powerful Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in 2003. She challenged incumbent Governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary for Governor in 2006 and won. She won the general election the same year. After the McCain-Palin ticket lost the presidential election in 2008, she resigned as Governor the following year.

Since her exit from politics, Palin became something of a celebrity. She or one of her family members have competed on various reality television shows. Palin competed in season three of "The Masked Singer". She was also a best-selling author and television personality.

Answer: Fantasy

Robin Hobb was born Margaret Astrid Lindholm in California but she moved to Fairbanks as a young girl and later to Kodiak Island. She is best known for her fantasy series "The Farseer Trilogy" that was published in the mid 1990s. Prior to that, she published children's short stories under the name Megan Lindholm.

Answer: Jewel Kilcher

Jewel Kilcher (known better as simply Jewel) was born in Utah but was raised in the Alaskan city of Homer. She is best known for her guitar playing and singing pop, folk and country music. Her debut album was "Pieces of You" was released in 1995 and platinum twelve times. She also acted in the film "Ride with the Devil" alongside Tobey Maguire and Skeet Ulrich.

Answer: The Birdman of Alcatraz

Robert Stroud was born in Seattle in 1890. By the time he was eighteen, Stroud had relocated to Alaska Territory and it was there that he first fell into a life of crime. Stroud worked as a pimp in Alaska and murdered a client who failed to pay a prostitute and then attacked her.

While serving twelve years for that crime, Stroud became increasingly violent in prison and murdered a guard. His death sentence for that crime was commuted to life in prison. Stroud was originally sent to Leavenworth where rescued canaries.

He even wrote a book about caring for canaries and other birds called "Diseases of Canaries". He became known as the Birdman of Leavenworth. After he was transferred to Alcatraz, he no longer had access to the means to study birds so he wrote a history of the American prison system.

Answer: Soapy

Soapy Smith was a notorious conman in the Wild West. He primarily operated originally in Colorado but relocated to Alaska during the gold rush. He earned the nickname Soapy because he would run a racket in which he would sell bars of soap that contained cash prizes. However, the scam was that only his closest associates would actually purchase the soap with the money.

He arrived in Alaska in 1897 but was quickly run out of the territory for running a three card monte scam. He returned shortly afterward and his scams that time included running a fake telegram company and gambling schemes. Soapy Smith was shot and killed at the Shootout on Juneau Wharf after a gambling scheme went awry and after Smith was confronted by vigilantes.

Answer: Gold prospecting

Joe Juneau was a Canadian-born gold prospector who arrived in Alaska in the search for gold. Gold was discovered in and around what is now Juneau in 1880. Joe Juneau and his partner Richard Harris founded the city the following year as an outpost for gold miners. Juneau was one of the most successful gold prospectors in Alaska and he used his wealth to pamper other miners in the hopes they would agree to name the new city (which was then called Harrisburg) after him.

Answer: Aviation

Carl Ben Eielson was a World War I aviation hero. He was amongst the first to establish aviation and flying as a recreational activity when he founded several flying clubs across the U.S.

He moved to Alaska because he realized their was great potential for aviation there. He explored large, previously untraveled, areas of Alaska and was instrumental in establishing a flying postal system in the territory. In 1923, he was the lone pilot for the Farthest North Aviation Company which delivered mail to residents of Alaska. Today, many military bases in Alaska, especially those belonging to the Air Force, are named after Eielson.

Answer: Tlingit

William Paul was born in Tongass, Alaska. He was the first Native Alaskan to become an attorney and to serve in the Alaska House of Representatives. He also became the first Native Alaskan to serve in the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs where he advocated for Native Alaskans to be included as "Indians" for the purposes of federal legislation.

He was particularly concerned about Native Alaskans land rights particularly as the petroleum industry began to boom in the state.