By suzanne downing 
It’s history. The last day of the Julian calendar in Alaska was Friday, Oct. 6, 1867. The very next day was… Friday again — Oct. 18, 1867.
Eleven days vanished into thin air.
That strange skip through time wasn’t a glitch in recordkeeping, but a byproduct of empire, geography, and the math of the cosmos. When the United States purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire in 1867, it inherited not only a vast and rugged wilderness but also a different reckoning of time.
Russia, and by extension, Russian Alaska, used the Julian calendar, introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC. The United States, like most of the Western world, used the Gregorian calendar, a refinement introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 to correct the slow drift of the Julian system.
By the 19th century, the Julian calendar lagged 12 days behind the Gregorian. But Alaska’s transition wasn’t as simple as flipping the page. When sovereignty shifted from Russia to the United States, Alaska also moved across the International Date Line — from the Asian side to the American. That effectively canceled one day of difference, meaning Alaska skipped only 11 days, not 12.
So, after Friday, Oct. 6, 1867 (Julian) came Friday, Oct. 18, 1867 (Gregorian), a temporal sleight of hand that left Alaskans with the rare distinction of living through a year that had only 354 days.
The change was official on Oct. 18, 1867, when the Russian flag was lowered and the Stars and Stripes raised at Sitka in a ceremony marking the transfer of power. That date is still celebrated as Alaska Day, a state holiday commemorating the territory’s entry into the American fold.
The United States never formally codified the Gregorian calendar in law; its use stems from the 1751 Act of Parliament that applied the system to England and its colonies. By the time Alaska joined, adopting the Gregorian was simply a matter of national alignment.
The calendars themselves tell a story of precision and drift. The Julian year, at 365.25 days, gains a day on the tropical year every 128 years. The Gregorian, at 365.2425 days, drifts by a day only every 3,226 years, an astronomical improvement of just 0.002%.
But for Alaskans of 1867, it was more than math. Overnight, they found themselves living on the other side of the world’s dividing line, in both geography and time.
Alaska didn’t just change nations that October. It changed time itself.
Suzanne Downing
I remember the days when Seattle provided an excellent weekend getaway-downtown, Woodenville to go to Chateau Ste. Michelle winery, Pike Street Market, an occasional Seahawks or Mariners game, and more. I won’t go there anymore, especially after taking the new-ish rail to China Town a few years back and witnessing public intoxication, public drug use, public defecation, and generally a lot of very suspicious And scary looking people.
Still, this calendar adjustment was only a one-time thing.
As opposed to the twice-annual insanity of changing the clock by one hour, for what reason I cannot fathom.
Great reporting on the history of this place.
Great Story Suzanne. I will pass it on to friends.