| Summary: | On verso of image: Gastineau Channel from Mt. Roberts. Two jumps over the bluff to Juneau. Filed in Alaska--Cities/Locations--Juneau Tlingit and Haida Indians were the sole human residents in what is now the Juneau area until 1880, when two vagabond prospectors named Joe Juneau and Dick Harris hacked their way through the thick rain forest around Gastineau Channel to Snow Slide Gulch, at the head of Gold Creek. Their efforts, aided by a Sitka mining engineer who received tips from Chief Kowee of a Tlingit tribe, were well-rewarded: at journey's end were 'little lumps as large as peas and beans.' There was gold in thar pots. The dynamic duo staked out a site and almost instantly a mining camp appeared. Within a year the camp became a small town, the first to be founded after Alaska's purchase from the Russians. The town was first called Harrisburg and then Rockwell, then in 1881 the miners officially decided on Juneau.After Sitka lost some importance with the lagging whaling and fur trade, Juneau became Alaska's new capital in 1906.[Source: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/north_america/juneau/history.htm]
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