In the 1800s this area was used by the Tlingit Indians as a summer fishing camp. During the 1870s, prospectors combed Alaska, panning the creeks for gold and looking for the motherload. Motivated by a reward from Sitka mining engineer, George Pilz, Chief Kowee of the Auk Tlingit tribe, led two drunken miners, Richard Harris and Joe Juneau, to what was later named Gold Creek, Quartz Gulch and Silver Bow Basin. It was one of the largest gold finds in Alaska's gold rush era. On Oct 4, 1880, Juneau and Harris laid their claims. On Oct 18 they staked the 160 acre town site on the shores of Gastineau Channel, the first town in Alaska, founded because of gold discovery.
Soon prospectors flocked to the area and the tiny fishing village grew in leaps and bounds. This gave way to large scale hard rock mining. in the surrounding hills. The largest of these mines was the Alaska Juneau, the Alaska Gastineau and on Douglas Island, Treadwell Gold Mining Co. mills. One hundred fifty eight million dollars worth of gold was mined between 1880 and 1944. Rising costs,floods and shortages of manpower and supplies during World War 11, led to the closing of the last of the mines in 1944. As the mines closed tourism began to grow and is now the largest private employer. The business of Government, Commercial fishing, retail, services and mining are now mainstays of the economy. Thirty thousand people live in this community. These inhabitants can honestly say they live in one of the last frontiers.
. We leave the ship and before we board the air-conditioned buses and head out through town, we notice a small bronze statue of a dog. This is ***Patsy Ann, a special dog, who became the official greeter of Alaska Steamship and Juneau visitors. The town is very clean and well kept, the stores are varied and interesting and most buildings look as if they have been freshly painted.
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