The
Gastineau Channel was a fishing place for the
Auke (''A'akw Kwáan
) and Taku tribes, who had inhabited the surrounding area for thousands of years. The A'akw Kwáan'' had a village and a burying ground here. In the 21st century, it is known as Indian Point. They annually harvested herring during the spawning season. Since the late 20th century, the A'akw Kwáan, together with the
Sealaska Heritage Institute, have resisted European-American development of Indian Point, including proposals by the
National Park Service and the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). They consider it to be sacred territory, both because of the burying ground and the importance of the point in their traditions of gathering sustenance from the sea. They continue to gather
clams,
gumboot chitons, grass, and
sea urchins, as well as tree bark for medicinal uses. Descendants of the indigenous people include the
Tlingit. Native cultures have rich artistic traditions expressed in carving, weaving, singing, dancing, and through oral lore. Juneau is a social center for the Tlingit,
Haida, and
Tsimshian of Southeast Alaska.
European encounters Although the
Russians had
a colony in the Alaska territory from 1784 to 1867, they did not settle in Juneau. They conducted extensive fur trading with Alaskan Natives of the
Aleutian Islands and
Kodiak. The first European to see the Juneau area was
Joseph Whidbey, master of the
Discovery during
George Vancouver's
1791–95 expedition. He and his party explored the region in July–August 1794. Early in August he viewed the length of Gastineau Channel from the south, noting a small island in mid-channel. He later recorded seeing the channel again, this time from the west. He said it was unnavigable, being filled with ice.
Mining era and naming After the California gold rush, miners migrated up the
Pacific Coast and explored the West, seeking other gold deposits. In 1880,
Sitka mining engineer George Pilz offered a reward to any local native in Alaska who could lead him to gold-bearing ore. A local native arrived with some ore, and several prospectors were sent to investigate. On their first trip to Gold Creek, they found deposits of little interest. However, Pilz sent
Joe Juneau (the cousin of
Milwaukee co-founder
Solomon Juneau) and
Richard Harris back to the Gastineau Channel, directing them to go to Snow Slide Gulch (the head of Gold Creek). According to the Rev. Samuel Young, in his book
Alaska Days with John Muir, Juneau and Harris decided to explore their party's campsite at the creek head in the summer of 1879. They found nuggets "as large as peas and beans" there, in Harris' words. On October 18, 1880, the two men marked a town site and soon a mining camp sprang up. Many miners arrived within a year and the camp became a village, albeit made up mostly of tents and shacks rather than buildings. It was the first
European American settlement founded in the territory after the United States
purchased Alaska. By the autumn of 1881, the village had a population of over 100 and was known as Rockwell, after Lt. Com. Charles Rockwell; later it was known as Harrisburg after prospector Richard Harris. On December 14, 1881, it was decided at a miners' meeting of 72 persons to name the settlement Juneau, after
prospector Joe Juneau.
Establishment of Russian Orthodox Church , built in 1894 by Tlingit and
Serbians in Juneau Likely due to the pressure of European encroachment, some Tlingit appealed to the
Russian Orthodox Church. It held services in northern Tlingit settlements in local languages as early as 1800 and 1824.
One of its priests translated scripture and liturgy into the
Tlingit language during the 1830s and 1840s. The Tlingit arranged for an Orthodox priest to come to their Juneau settlement. In 1890, about 700 people converted after chief Yees Gaanaalx and his wife of
Auke Bay joined the church. The Orthodox Church Missionary Society supported the Tlingit in furnishing and constructing a church for the large congregation.
Development of mining Prospector and
placer miner
John Lemon operated at the time in what is today the
Lemon Creek area. The neighborhood which developed there was given his name by early settlers, several other landmarks in Juneau have also been named for him. Major mining operations in the
Juneau mining district prior to World War II included the
Treadwell Mine, the
Alaska-Juneau Mine, and the
Alaska-Gastineau Mine. By 1906, after the decline of whaling and the fur trade,
Sitka which was the original capital of Alaska, had become less important and the territorial legislature moved the seat of government to Juneau in accordance with a 1900 federal law.
Robert Atwood, who was then the publisher of the
Anchorage Times and an Anchorage "booster", was an early leader in efforts to move the capital to Fairbanks, which many in both cities resisted. Some supporters of a move wanted a new capital to be at least away from Anchorage and Fairbanks, to prevent either city from having undue influence. Juneau has continued as the capital. In the 1970s, voters passed a plan to move the capital to
Willow, a town north of Anchorage. But pro-Juneau people there and in Fairbanks persuaded voters also to approve a measure (the FRANK Initiative) requiring voter approval of all bondable construction costs before building could begin. Alaskans later voted against spending the estimated $900 million. A 1984 "ultimate" capital-move vote also failed, as did a 1996 vote. After Alaska achieved
statehood in 1959, Juneau's population increased as well as the growth of state government. After construction of the
Alaska Pipeline in 1977, the state budget was flush with oil revenues, and it expanded state spending programs. The population growth in Juneau slowed considerably after 1990. File:Alaska-Harris-Juneau memorial.tif|Memorial to the founders of the city,
Richard Harris and
Joe Juneau File:Alaska - Juneau - NARA - 23939711.jpg|View of Juneau, 1940s
21st century In 2005, the state demographer projected slow growth in the borough for the next twenty years. Cruise ship tourism has expanded rapidly, from approximately 230,000 passengers in 1990 to nearly 1,700,000 in 2025, as cruise lines have built more and larger ships. They sail to Juneau seven days a week over a longer season than before, but the cruising tourism is still primarily a summer industry. It provides few year-round jobs but stimulates summer employment in the city. In 2010, the city was recognized as part of the "Playful City USA" initiative by
KaBOOM!, created to honor cities that ensure their children have great places to play. Juneau is larger in area than the state of
Delaware and was for several decades, the country's largest city by area. (Sitka surpassed it in 2000 when it incorporated.) Juneau is the only U.S. state capital on an international border; it is bordered on the east by Canada. It is the U.S. state capital whose namesake was most recently alive:
Joe Juneau died in 1899. The city was temporarily renamed UNO, after
the card game, on April 1, 2016 (April Fool's Day). The event was a promotion with
Mattel to draw "attention to new wild cards in [the] game". For Juneau's cooperation, Mattel donated $15,000 "to the Juneau Community Foundation in honor of the late Mayor
Greg Fisk." ==Geography==