Juneau Gold Rush History

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Juneau wasn’t always Juneau. In fact, the miners met in 1881 to change it from Rockwell to Juneau. Before Rockwell, it was called Harrisburg, until the people of the area got sick of Richard Harris who the town had been named after. The people decided to lean towards the co-founder Joe Juneau and the name of the town stuck.

Richard Harris and Joe Juneau were sent to find gold and followed the guidance of Tlingit Chief Kowee to the head of Gold Creek where they found gold nuggets the “size of peas and beans,” according to Harris. This brought a rush of miners to the area that set up a tent town. The rush also brought missionaries, bars, and trading outposts. It was becoming quite the little settlement and within a year became an actual town. Juneau was one of the first towns founded after Russia bought Alaska.

In 1916, the Alaska-Juneau gold mine was built and opened near Juneau and became the largest mine of its kind in the world. Juneau felt it’s growth strengthen by other resources as well. Fishing was a big industry and with it came canneries. Being a rain forest, you can image that a sawmill opened up after to help boost the growth in the area.

You can still see quite a bit about the gold rush history of Juneau today. There are mine tours that will take you around to the different buildings necessary for the mining operations. The buildings downtown are reminiscent of a rapid growth gold town. The best part for us is the normal commute to work is through one of the most beautiful former mines in the area. It is like a history gallery all the way up to the camp. The camp itself is like an early gold rush tent camp complete with canvas wooden buildings and canvass tops.

Photo credit to old-picture.com