Juneau, Alaska

Juneau, the capital city of Alaska, was the first town to be founded after the remote territory of Alaska was purchased by the United States from Russia. The city is located in the Southeast Alaska Panhandle and is nestled at the foot of Mount Juneau. First settled by Native Americans and Russian fur traders and bolstered by the Alaskan gold rush, the city evolved from a rugged mining town to the seat of the state government. Juneau's proximity to the Gastineau Channel, which bounds the city to the west, makes it a prime destination for cruise ships traveling through Alaska's Inside Passage.

Landscape

Juneau is located in Southeast Alaska and is bordered by Canada to the east, Haines Borough to the north, Lynn Canal to the northwest, Stephen's Passage to the southwest, and the Skagway-Hoonah-Angoon Census Area to southeast. Its southernmost boundary is Point Coke. The City of Juneau, the Greater Juneau Borough, and the City of Douglas unified in 1970 to form the City and Borough of Juneau, which has a total area of just under 2,702 square miles, which is greater than the states of Delaware or Rhode Island.

Much of Juneau's land area is covered by inhospitable waterways, mountainous terrain, and ice fields. As a result, the population resides in only a small portion of the entire region. Juneau is comprised of three urban communities: its downtown and city center; Douglas, a suburb on Douglas Island across the Gastineau Channel; and Mendenhall Valley, a suburb located twelve miles north of downtown.

Downtown Juneau is divided into historic neighborhoods. It sits at sea level on the eastern bank of the Gastineau Channel, the waterway separating it from Douglas Island. Mount Juneau and Mount Roberts lie immediately to the northeast and east, respectively, rising sharply to elevations of over 3,500 feet. Gold Creek, the site of Alaska's first huge gold strike, runs through downtown and empties into the Gastineau Channel.

The suburb of Mendenhall Valley is located just south of Mendenhall Lake, the terminus of the Mendenhall Glacier in central Juneau. The Mendenhall River flows from Mendenhall Lake through the suburb to the Gastineau Channel. The Mendenhall Glacier originates in the Juneau Icefield, a 1,500-square-mile ice cap that spreads out across northeastern Juneau and feeds more than thirty-six large glaciers, of which the Mendenhall Glacier is the most accessible.

Due to its geography, Juneau can only be reached by boat or air. The Inside Passage, a system of branching waterways off the Gulf of Alaska, extends along Juneau's western and southwestern borders. Inside Passage waterways within Juneau's boundaries include the Gastineau Channel, Stephen's Passage, and Lynn Canal. Inside Passage islands within Juneau's boundaries include Douglas Island, Lincoln Island, Shelter Island, and part of Admiralty Island. The three inlets that extend into Juneau are Berners Bay, Taku Inlet, and Port Snettisham.

People

Juneau had a US Census Bureau estimated 2022 population of 31,685. The city has long had a relatively young population, with a median age of thirty-nine.

As of 2022, according to the US Census Bureau, 61.8 percent of the population was White and not Hispanic or Latino. American Indian or Alaska Native people represented an estimated 10.1 percent of the population, followed by Asians at 9.4 percent. Those of Hispanic or Latino descent of any race made up 7.2 percent of the population. Black or African Americans accounted for 1.1 percent of the population, while Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders constituted a 1.4 percent minority. From 2018 to 2022, languages other than English were spoken in an estimated 11.1 percent of homes.

Out of the three Alaska Native tribes in Juneau—Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimpsiam—the Tlingit are by far the most numerous. According to Tlingit oral history, they have occupied the Juneau area for about ten thousand years. When European settlers arrived in Southeast Alaska in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, some Tlingit adopted Western religion, particularly Russian Orthodoxy, because it allowed them to retain their language and customs. To this day, Russian Orthodox services in Juneau are performed in the Tlingit language.

Juneau embraces its Alaska Native heritage, as evidenced by the Alaskan Native art and architecture present throughout the city. Every two years, Juneau hosts Celebration, a festival of Alaska Native culture and one of the largest Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian gatherings in the world. However, inequality between white Alaskans and Alaska Natives exists in educational settings and the workforce. Attempts are being made to bridge the educational gap between the two cultures by offering Tlingit-oriented education to elementary school students.

Economy

The government is the main industry and employer in Juneau, and about 40 percent of the entire labor force works for the public sector. As the state capital, Juneau houses offices for all of the state departments, and serves as the regional headquarters for numerous federal agencies. Despite the recession caused by the 2008–09 global financial crisis, Alaska's southeastern economic region saw job growth in the private sector return by 2013.

Historically, mining was the largest private-sector industry, but it has been replaced by tourism. Juneau is the top destination for cruise ships in Alaska. In 2020, a record high of 1.65 million cruise passengers visited southeast Alaska, bringing with them an influx of revenue. Since tourists prefer to visit during the warmer months, the tourism industry experiences seasonal variation. Other industries in Juneau include commercial fishing and fish processing, mining, forestry, trade, and transportation.

The expenditure associated with shipping goods solely by boat or plane has substantially raised Juneau's cost of living. In the 2010s, the cost of living was more than 30 percent higher in Juneau than the average US city. However, employers compensate through above-average salaries. There is no state income tax, which also helps offset the elevated cost of living. From 2018 to 2022, the median household income was $95,711.

Landmarks

Downtown Juneau is filled with historic structures that date back to the city's early days as a gold-mining boomtown. The Alaskan Hotel, the Valentine Building, the Kennedy Street Mine Workers' Houses, and the Bergman Hotel, all built in 1913, and the Governor's Mansion, the Frances House, and the Alaska Steam Laundry, built in 1912, 1898, and 1901, respectively, are just some of the buildings in downtown Juneau that are on the National Register of Historic Places.

The tiny St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in downtown Juneau, also on the National Register of Historic Places, was built in 1894 and is the oldest continuously used Russian Orthodox church in Southeast Alaska. Local legend contends that it was originally constructed in Siberia, disassembled, and then reassembled in Juneau later that year. Church services are conducted in English, Slavonic, and Tlingit.

The Alaska State Museum and the Juneau-Douglas Museum in downtown Juneau offer exhibits on Native culture and Juneau's history. The Alaska State Museum has a natural history display, Native Alaskan artifacts, and exhibits on Alaska's Russian past. The Juneau-Douglas Museum has a large relief map of the city, a seven-hundred-year-old Native basketry fish trap, photographs chronicling Juneau's mining days, and Native Alaskan and mining artifacts.

A favorite tourist destination is the Mendenhall Glacier, located thirteen miles northeast of downtown. The Mendenhall Glacier is perpetually receding as chunks of ice break off to form small icebergs in the lake at its foot. The Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center has panoramic views and maps of hiking trails that allow people to get close to the ice.

History

Following the United States acquisition of Alaska from Russia in 1867, prospectors who worked their way up from California discovered gold in Southeast Alaska. In 1880, Sitka mining engineer George Pilz enlisted the help of two prospectors, Joseph Juneau and Richard Harris, to search for gold in the region that is now present-day Juneau after receiving evidence of its existence there. It took Juneau and Harris two trips with the assistance of a local Tlingit guide named Cowee, but eventually they found placer gold (loose gold) in Gold Creek and lode (gold ore) in Silver Bow Basin.

In 1880, after staking nineteen placer claims and sixteen lode claims of their own, Juneau and Harris established the Harris Mining District and set aside a 160-acre town site around Gold Creek. As news spread, prospectors flocked to the Harris Mining District. By 1881, the town site had become a full-fledged town, complete with a church, saloons, trading companies, and a military post, as well as a post office and a code of laws. Initially called Harrisburg, then Rockwell, and finally Juneau, the settlement had a population of over 150 miners by 1881. By 1890, the number of Juneau residents had reached 1,251, about half of whom were Alaska Natives.

Juneau's mining-based economy boomed thanks to two of the most productive low-grade ore gold mines in the world: the Treadwell Mine on Douglas Island, which produced $66 million of gold between its launch in 1882 and closing in 1917, and the Alaska Gastineau Gold Mine in Juneau, which ceased operations in 1921. Sufficient funds were generated to build a school, a hospital, new neighborhoods, and infrastructure. The tremendous growth Juneau experienced spurred Congress to move the capital of Alaska from Sitka to Juneau in 1900. That same year, Juneau was incorporated and permitted by the federal government to elect a city council and mayor.

In 1916, four years after Alaska was granted territorial status, the Alaska-Juneau Gold Mine commenced operations in Juneau. The mine produced more than $80 million worth of gold during its lifetime. However, the mining industry that had sustained Juneau's economy, save for small timber, cannery, and fishing enterprises, came to an end in 1944 when World War II forced the closing of the Alaska-Juneau Gold Mine.

The population of Juneau continued to rise even though the mining industry was no longer viable; government had replaced it as the major economic draw. Juneau, the capital of the Alaska Territory, became the state capital in 1959 when Alaska joined the union, and though several attempts to move the capital elsewhere have occurred in the past fifty years, it has remained the seat of government ever since.

The population increase necessitated the building of suburbs in Mendenhall Valley and Douglas. In 1963, the Greater Juneau Borough, encompassing a vast amount of land that extended all the way to the Canadian border in the east, was incorporated. On July 1, 1970, the Greater Juneau Borough, the City of Juneau, and the City of Douglas on Douglas Island unified to form the City and Borough of Juneau, an incorporated home-rule municipality.

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