30 March 1867: The US agrees to buy Alaska
Secretary of State William Seward agreed to buy Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million, about two cents an acre. Critics mocked it as Seward's Folly and Seward's Icebox. Then came gold rushes in the 1890s and the discovery of vast oil reserves in the 20th century. It became one of the best real estate deals in history. Sometimes the folly is in the eye of the beholder.
The lesson: A purchase that looks foolish today can look brilliant once the hidden value is discovered.
Could you have called it at the time? The wheel picks the year, you pick the position, ten seconds a pick.
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