The founding took a guide. In 1880, Chief Kowee of the A'akw Kwáan led prospectors Joe Juneau and Richard Harris up Gold Creek to the color they had failed to find on their own, and the camp that sprang up that October is often called the first new town founded in Alaska after the purchase. It nearly carried a different name — Harrisburg, then Rockwell — before the miners voted in 1881 to call it Juneau. Kowee's reward was smaller than his part deserved, and the town has spent a century restoring his name to the story.
The land was never empty. The A'akw Kwáan — the "Small Lake People" of the Tlingit — and the T'aaḵu Kwáan of the Taku have lived along this channel for millennia, fishing Auke Bay and the salmon streams, naming every water: the flats at Gold Creek were Dzántik'i Héeni, "river where the flounders gather." Captain George Vancouver charted Gastineau Channel in 1794 and sailed on; for most of another century the channel stayed Tlingit water under a thin Russian claim, sold unseen to the United States in 1867.
Why People Visit Juneau Alaska
- Walk to the ice at Mendenhall Glacier — visitor center, Nugget Falls trail, and berg-dotted Mendenhall Lake, with guided treks and the ever-shifting ice caves for the ambitious.
- Ride the Mount Roberts Tramway from the cruise docks to the alpine, then hike higher.
- Cruise Tracy Arm Fjord's tidewater glaciers, or go whale watching on Stephens Passage and Auke Bay — summer humpbacks are close to a guarantee.
- Tour the Alaska State Capitol, pass the 1912 Governor's Mansion, and visit the Alaska State Museum and the 1894 St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church.
- Hike Perseverance Trail up Gold Creek past the mining ruins, or cross to Douglas Island for the Treadwell remains and Eaglecrest.
- See the salmon run at Macaulay Salmon Hatchery, find quiet at the Shrine of St. Thérèse, and end at the Red Dog Saloon.
- Fly the Juneau Icefield — flightseeing over 1,500 square miles of ice.
