Question

why did journalists call the alaska purchase of 1867 "seward's folly"?

Answer 1

No one really saw the worth of Alaska at the time. To those who criticized the purchase, it didn't make much sense to buy a chunk of frozen land nearly twice the size of Texas. It gave the US more territory, but what use was it if there wasn't anything worthwhile to find there?

Of course, that was then. Several years later, gold was discovered leading to the Klondike gold rush. Later, when oil became important and it was found that Alaska was sitting on huge reserves, Seward's gamble on Alaska proved its worth many, many times over.