Juneau – the Capital City of the US State of Alaska
Saturday 18 May
Juneau, nestled at the base of Mt Juneau, was named the capital city of the State of Alaska in 1906 and has a population of around 33,000 people. It is the only capital of the continental US that is not connected by road to the rest of North America, this is due to the extremely rugged terrain surrounding the city making it hard to put in a road network – boat and plane are your only options to visit here! The city is named after a gold prospector from Quebec, Joe Juneau. It sits at sea level with tides averaging 5 metres, and below steep mountains of up to 4,000 feet. At the top of which is the Juneau Icefield, a large ice mass from which about 30 glaciers flow. Like Ketchikan and Sitka, descendants of the indigenous cultures include the Tlingit people live here, but the Russians did not settle here. After the California gold rush, miners migrated up the Pacific coast to try their luck seeking gold deposits. A local native arrived with some ore and several prospectors were sent to investigate. On their first trip to Gold Creek, they found very small deposits, George Pilz an engineer from Sitka offered a reward to any local Alaskan native who could lead him to gold-bearing ore and Joe Juneau and Richard Harris came back to Juneau’s Gastineau Channel, to Snow Slide Gulch, and found nuggets as large as peas and beans (in Harris’ words). In October 1880 the two men marked a 160-acre town site and a mining camp sprang up, the first European American settlement founded in the territory after the USA purchased Alaska. Originally named Rockwell after Lt. Com. Charles Rockwell, it was later known as Harrisburg after Richard Harris, and in 1881 it was decided at a miners’ meeting to name the settlement Juneau, after Joe.
We pulled into port around 8.00am and prepared for our day here. Once again, we had split tours – Geoff “In search of Pacific Halibut” and Jo, Earl and me on a trip to Eaglecrest ski area on Douglas Island, which is just a 15-minute drive from downtown Juneau. Geoff was off early, and you’ll hear from him later, meanwhile us three got on the bus, drove over the bridge spanning the Gastineau channel and up to the mountain. Juneau averages 222 rainy days a year and the snowfall average is 93.2 inches, once again we have been lucky and have another dry day. Picturesque scenery and a lovely walk along the trail followed, not quite the brisk hike we were hoping for but interesting, nevertheless. Some more pretty fauna and flora including the skunk cabbage flower, which is peculiar to Southeast Alaska and Kodiak Island, and despite its name is really pretty, the ground was full of pops of yellow from their pretty leaf-like petals. Like the devil’s claw, these flowers were also used medicinally by Native Americans, this time for the treatment of respiratory diseases and nervous disorders. There was morning tea provided in the lodge, but the three of us took the opportunity to walk up the ski track and get in a bit more exercise (we need it after all the delicious food on the ship!) and some scenic photos! Back in the coach we spotted a porcupine scurrying along the road – but still no bears!!
We stopped at the Juneau Hotel to have a look at the life-sized 25-foot-tall, 6.5 tons, sculpture of a breaching humpback whale which was the inspiration of Bill Overstreet and Bruce Botelho, two former Juneau Mayors. This iconic symbol is based on the mammals that feed themselves in the local waters in the Gastineau Channel which are rich with whale delicacies of herring, plankton, and krill. Cast in bronze it was sculpted by nature expert and artist R. T “Skip” Wallen and rises from an infinity pool, it is named Tahku, and was unveiled in 2016 as a symbol of Alaska’s heritage and bond with marine life.
Jo and I then walked into town to have a look around, but it was a little disappointing and the only two things worth looking at were the Alaska State Capitol Building and its statue of William Henry Seward, and the Red Dog Saloon which harks back to the mining era when it provided hospitality to the local patrons. Apparently “Ragtime Hattie” played the piano in her white gloves and silver dollar halter top. In the early 1970’s, the Harris family bought the saloon and continued to protect its priceless collection of furs, guns and antiques. It is still very authentic and when we popped in, it was very lively with an old guy singing at the piano, plenty of punters drinking, sawdust covering the floor and a great atmosphere. The Saloon claims it has a pistol that belonged to one of history’s most notorious gunslingers, Wyatt Earp – see the photo below!!! However, it appears that this is questionable as there’s doubt that he was ever in Juneau. Good claim though!
And now let’s hear it from Fisherman Geoff…”we took the bus for our drive to the marina and boarded a 30-foot fishing boat which travelled at 30 knots on a calm day to the fishing grounds,15 miles down the Sound from the marina. It was 250 to 300 feet deep, and we lowered our lines. Only 6 of us were aboard with 6 rods (maximum allowed) and we all had to have a fishing licence. We drift-fished and over a period of a couple of hours and two different locations, we pulled up 4 halibut. Luckily, none were longer than 40 inches because here 40 – 80 inches (being the reproduction-sized fish) must be returned to the sea. My fellow fishermen were from California and Toronto and the skipper was from Florida. There is fresh freeze packaging and transport available to North American addresses, but sadly not international. It’s US$5 a pound for filleting, the fish were between 25Ib and 30lb each and the freight was US$150 (which would make the cost of a fish around US$ 300 – sounds a lot, but to buy Halibut in the shop here is the equivalent of US$ 100 per kilogram). Sadly, the Viking ship would not prepare it for us, neither was there a restaurant in the town willing to cook it either, so the 4 halibut were taken by the North Americans meaning that the Canadian and the Kiwi missed out!”.
And we’re off – Juneau done and dusted!