In mid-1968, Atlantic Richfield Company announced an oil strike in northern Alaska that triggered off an exploration and development boom such as Alaska never had witnessed, either as a territory or as a state. The excitement still continues. Although the potential implications are still by no means clear, the effect on Alaska is bound to be great and lasting. In terms of persons involved, amount of capital expended, amount of work done, and importance of resources discovered, the current effort far exceeds any of the gold rushes of the early years of the century. This article attempts to weigh some of the implications of Alaska's current strike, to place them in some kind of perspective, and to predict some of the trends that may develop as Alaska struggles to become a major oil state.