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Before the European settlers came the Gastineau Channel was a favorite fishing pond for the Tlingit Indians aka Auke, aka Tau who had been there for thousands of years. They had a rich culture of carving, weaving, orating, singing and dancing and now Juneau has become a major center for the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian of Southeast Alaska.

In 1880 Sitka mining engineer George Pilz offered a reward to any local chief who could him to gold. Chief Kowee gave that ore and prospectors were sent to investigate at Gold Creek. Pilz sent Joe Juneau and Richard Harris back to the Gastineau Channel directing them to Snow Slide Gulch (head of Gold Creek.) They found nuggests as large as beans. On Oct. 18, 1880 the two men marked 160 acres town site and created a mining camp. Within a year the campsite was a mining town, the first to be founded after Alaska's purchase by the U.S.

Originally the town was called Harrisburg, after Richard Harris, but late its name was changed to Rockwell. In 1881 the miners met and renamed the town Juneau, after Joe Juneau. In 1906 after the diminution of the whaling and fur trade, Sitka, the original capital of Alaska, declined and the seat of government was moved to Juneau.

In 1954 Alaskans passed a vote to move the capital north. Robert Atwood of the Anchorage Daily News was an early leader in capital move efforts which many in Juneau and Fairbanks resisted. One requirement was the new capital was to be 30 miles from Anchorage and Fairbanks to prevent either city from having undue influence. Juneau remained the capital. In the 1970s voters passed a plan to move the capital to Willow a town 70 miles north of Anchorage. Juneau and Fairbanks got voter to also approve a measure (the 'FRANK' Initiative) requiring voter approval of all bondable construction costs before building could begin Alaskans later voted against spending the $900 million. A 1984 ultimate capital move vote also failed as did in 1996.

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12y ago

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