He simply made a note there: “? Name.” In 1849 an erring draughtsman labeled the place Cape Nome. In 1898 gulch gold was found on the shores of Anvil Creek, a few miles from Cape Nome.

Little Kiska Island, at the far western end of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska, is a remote speck of land that was heavily contested during World War II. In an attack possibly timed to draw away U ...