Juneau was founded in 1880 after gold was discovered in the Gastineau Channel, though Tlingit people had lived in the area for centuries. Miners Richard Harris and Joe Juneau led the rush that created the settlement. Its founding identity reflects Indigenous continuity and frontier ambition, where survival meant resilience against storms, mountains, and isolation. Juneau's roots highlight Alaska's dual heritage: Native pride and mining ambition. Its story emphasizes toughness, adaptability, and cultural strength, anchoring Juneau as a community of survival and ambition, deeply tied to Alaska's frontier and Indigenous resilience.
Juneau is the capital of Alaska — and the only U.S. state capital with no road access to the rest of the continent. You arrive by floatplane, ferry, or cruise ship; you leave the same way. The Auk Tlingit (the A'akw Kwáan, the "Small Lake People") and the Taku Tlingit have lived along Gastineau Channel for thousands of years; the Tlingit name for the downtown stream that runs through Silver Bow Basin and out to the sea is Dzánti K'ihéeni. Captain George Vancouver charted the channel in 1794, and John Muir visited the region in 1879. In 1880 Chief Kowee of the Auk Tlingit carried ore samples to the Sitka mining engineer George Pilz, and on October 18, 1880, Chief Kowee guided the prospectors Joseph Juneau and Richard T. Harris to the head of Gold Creek at Snow Slide Gulch in Silver Bow Basin — the mother lode. They staked a 160-acre town site on the beach the same day, and the camp called Harrisburg was renamed Juneau by miner vote in 1881. It was the first town the United States founded in Alaska after the 1867 Purchase from Russia, and the first Alaska town founded directly from a gold strike. John Treadwell opened his mine on Douglas Island across Gastineau Channel in 1882, and for thirty-five years the Treadwell complex was one of the largest gold operations in the world before the 1917 cave-in and flooding closed it. The Alaska Civil Code signed by President William McKinley on June 6, 1900, designated Juneau the capital; the seat of government completed its transfer from Sitka on September 8, 1906, under Governor Wilford Hoggatt, and Juneau has been Alaska's capital ever since. The 1931 Federal and Territorial Building — six exterior columns of Tokeen Alaska marble — stands today as the State Capitol. The A-J Mine on Mount Roberts closed in 1944, and Alaska entered the Union as the 49th state on January 3, 1959. On July 1, 1970, Juneau, Douglas, and the surrounding borough consolidated into the City and Borough of Juneau — 3,255 square miles, the second-largest U.S. city by area, larger than Rhode Island or Delaware. The town runs eleven miles along Gastineau Channel beneath the 3,576-foot summit of Mount Juneau, with the 1,500-square-mile Juneau Icefield behind it and Mendenhall Glacier twelve miles north. There is no other capital in America like it.
Why People Visit Juneau Alaska
- Tour the Alaska State Capitol on Fourth Street — the 1931 Federal and Territorial Building, with six exterior columns of Tokeen Alaska marble. Free guided tours available during legislative session and summer months.
- Walk past the Alaska Governor's Mansion on Calhoun Avenue — the 1912 Colonial Revival home with the white columned porch, one of Juneau's most distinctive silhouettes.
- Visit Mendenhall Glacier and the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center — twelve miles north of downtown, the 1962 visitor center is the oldest U.S. Forest Service visitor center in the country, with viewing decks, the Photo Point Trail, and Nugget Falls a short walk along the lake shore.
- Ride the Mt. Roberts Tramway (Goldbelt Tram) — 1,800 vertical feet from the cruise dock to a station near the summit of Mount Roberts, with alpine trails, a nature center, and views down Gastineau Channel.
- Walk Franklin and Front Streets in historic downtown Juneau — clapboard storefronts on the steep hillside grid built against the side of Mount Juneau.
- Visit St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church on Fifth Street — the 1894 octagonal log church, the oldest original Russian Orthodox church in Southeast Alaska.
- Stop at the Juneau-Douglas City Museum downtown for the city's history collection, and the Alaska State Museum at the Father Andrew P. Kashevaroff State Library, Archives and Museum building for the broader statewide collection.
- Tour the Wickersham House State Historical Site on Chicken Ridge — the 1898 home of territorial judge James Wickersham, now a museum.
- Hike to the Last Chance Mining Museum at the end of Basin Road — the preserved compressor building of the A-J (Alaska-Juneau) Mine that operated through 1944.
- Cross the Juneau-Douglas Bridge to Douglas Island and walk the Treadwell Historic Trail through the industrial ruins of the 1882-1917 Treadwell Mine.
- Hike the Perseverance Trail up Gold Creek into Silver Bow Basin — the cirque where Joseph Juneau, Richard Harris, and Chief Kowee struck the mother lode on October 18, 1880.
- Take a whale-watching charter from Auke Bay — humpback whales reliable June through August in Stephens Passage and the Inside Passage waters around Juneau.
- Walk Auke Bay or take the Alaska Marine Highway ferry to other Inside Passage communities — Haines, Skagway, Sitka, Petersburg, Wrangell, and Ketchikan.
