Story Time with Aunt Phil: Alaska crude oil’s explosive discovery

Richfield Oil Corporation found crude on the Kenai Peninsula this week in July 1957. That discovery helped Alaska on its way to statehood two years later, as Congress believed that Alaska would now be able to fund its own government.
But that wasn’t the first time Alaskans had found oil. Alaska Natives used the black wealth oozing out of the hills and beaches long before white men came north. Northern Natives burned the tar-like chips, Southeastern Natives used it for war paint and others