Years later him and George Steller, led a Russian expedition and made the first documented discovery of Alaska. By the late 1700s the first Russian Settlement was established in Alaska on Kodiak Island. Eventually it was discovered that Alaska was rich in natural resources ranging from oil to coal and even gold. In the mid 1800s oil and coal mining began to increase and in 1867, Alaska was purchased from Russia for $7.2 million dollars in gold. Gold was discovered in several locations in Alaska, including Sitka, Klondike and Juneau, this gave way to several gold rushes bringing hundreds of thousands new people to Alaska in search of