1. On July 26, 1959, Alaska officially became the 49th state of the United States after an announcement by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

2. In 1990, on July 26, the cruise ship Royal Viking Sun ran aground near the Hubbard Glacier in Alaska, causing damage to the ship but no reported injuries to passengers or crew.

3. July 26, 1911, marked the day when the first airplane flight was made over Alaska by aviator Harry Atwood, who flew from Lake Spenard in Anchorage to Knik.

4. On July 26, 2005, the world's largest salmon was caught in the Kenai River section of Soldotna, Alaska, weighing in at 97.4 pounds.

5. In 1956, on July 26, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck the Aleutian Islands in Alaska, causing a tsunami that reached Hawaii and Japan, and resulted in 165 deaths.