Two regional airlines founded here in the mid-1930's, eventually merged with Alaska Airlines. In that sense, they still serve Juneau today. Each began as a one-plane flying company.
Sheldon “Shell” Simmons' Alaska Air Transport Company was . . . — — Map (db m181843) HM
A sum of $40,000 was authorized under the Public Building Act of 1910 and construction began in 1912. Governor Walter D. Clark held the first open house January 1, 1913.
State of Alaska
Governor Walter J. Hickel
Alaska Centennial . . . — — Map (db m181739) HM
At the Alaska Juneau mill from 1917-1944, ore was sorted, crushed, and treated to extract gold. Electric-powered engines hauled trains of 40 ore cars along the main haulage route form the mine two miles away in Silver Bow Basin to the AJ mill, . . . — — Map (db m42823) HM
Monument against east wall of house off Whittier Way:
This memorial is dedicated to all
Alaska Native Veterans,
Southeast who served in the
United States Armed Forces. Let us not dwell on their passing
but remember their . . . — — Map (db m69127) WM
built September 16, 1913
has been placed on the
National Register
of Historic Places
by the United States
Department of the Interior — — Map (db m181762) HM
Born: 17 March 1925 Juneau, Alaska. Died: 22 May 1986 Ketchikan, Alaska
Sudong, Korea 2 November 1950-For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a platoon sergeant in Company B-1-7, 1st . . . — — Map (db m61871) WM
Because Juneau cannot be reached by road, the waterfront has always been Juneau's doorway to the outside world. Today travelers and freight continue to arrive at this waterfront by sea and air.
The first vessels on the Gastineau Channel were the . . . — — Map (db m181775) HM
"I love this country and the ideals upon which it was founded…More than anything else, I care about the men and women who make up our military forces…I do not want to see them either kill or be killed in a war that is not moral or . . . — — Map (db m181757) HM
Built by the Civilian Conservation Corps — 1935
Olaf Torkelson, Juneau Street Commissioner from 1924-1936, was instrumental in the success of this project. The overpass was built to provide safe access for children who attended Capital School . . . — — Map (db m181738) HM
The Cape Decision lighthouse was the last one built in Alaska. Need for it grew as ship traffic and the size of the ships increased. Southeast Alaska was booming with many salmon canneries, herring salteries and whale oil reduction plants. Large . . . — — Map (db m181646) HM
Perched high on a cliff, Cape Hinchinbrook lighthouse marks the entrance to the sheltered waters of Prince William Sound. The wreck of the steamer Oregon on Hinchinbrook Island in 1906 prompted the light's installation. Foul weather during . . . — — Map (db m181634) HM
Facing the open Gulf of Alaska, Cape Saint Elias lighthouse stands on Kayak Island, where in 1741, Russian voyagers first set foot on North American soil. The Cape's bald pinnacle serves as a key landmark in daylight. The light provides guidance at . . . — — Map (db m181632) HM
Scotch Cap and Cape Sarichef lighthouses mark the north and south entrances to Unimak Pass in the Aleutian Islands. Both sites were declared to be too isolated for family life.
Scotch Cap was the first light on Alaska's outside coast and is the . . . — — Map (db m181636) HM
Cape Spencer lighthouse stands on a barren, isolated rock at the entrance to Cross Sound, where the sheltered Inside Passage meets the open Gulf of Alaska. The original lighthouse still stands. It is a single-story, reinforced concrete building that . . . — — Map (db m181631) HM
Eldred Rock is the oldest original lighthouse still standing in Alaska. It is a two-story building topped by a light tower. The ground floor was built of reinforced concrete, the first time that material was used for a lighthouse facing Alaska's . . . — — Map (db m181635) HM
Southeast Five Finger was the first name given this lighthouse site due to its location on the southeastern-most island of the Five Finger Islands group. The original, wood boathouse and carpenter shop remain.
A keeper thawing frozen water pipes . . . — — Map (db m181645) HM
The waterfront was the center of regional air transportation because float-planes were so well-suited for reaching the outlying places they served. There is little flat terrain in Southeast Alaska, and it was hard to find a place for a wheeled . . . — — Map (db m181803) HM
Although most materials needed by the historic mining industry came in downtown, one important commodity was off-loaded at the Dupont Dock, about 5 miles south of town. Dynamite was considered too much of a threat to deliver to the town's commercial . . . — — Map (db m181783) HM
A square, white wooden tower housed the Guard Islands light, with a separate keeper's house nearby. When a reinforced concrete building replaced the old light tower in 1922, a second house was built so two keepers could live there with their . . . — — Map (db m181640) HM
This bronze sculpture was commissioned by the city and borough of Juneau during its centennial anniversary year, and is dedicated to the mine whose work provided the lifeblood of Juneau during it first six decades.
In the late 1800’s, compressed . . . — — Map (db m42809) HM
This totem pole tells the story of the harnessing of the atom. The pole was carved in 1967 by Tlingit carver Amos Wallace of Juneau. His Tlingit name was Jeet Yaaw Dustaa of the T'akdeintaan Clan of the X'áakw Hít Tlingit (Freshwater-marked Coho . . . — — Map (db m181737) HM
Will Rogers & Wiley Post. Wiley Post was a famed aviator who, in 1935, flew into Juneau with Will Rogers, a humorist much loved by the American public. The two friends were on a private adventure trip in Post's plane. After spending several days in . . . — — Map (db m181846) HM
This reproduction of the Liberty Bell was placed on permanent display at the Treasury by direction of Secretary of the Treasury John W. Snyder. It is a duplicate of the original Liberty Bell in tone as well as in structural details and . . . — — Map (db m70759) HM
For more than 100 years, lighthouses have guided mariners through Alaskan waters.
Lighthouses capture our imagination as lonely sentinels of the sea. They played a vital role in Alaska's development because for more than 70 years, ships . . . — — Map (db m181647) HM
Widely spaced along Alaska's Inside Passage, these three lighthouses were among the first built, and the first discontinued.
The lighthouse on Lincoln Rock, near Ketchikan, was unusually difficult to build. The small, rocky pinnacle on which it . . . — — Map (db m181637) HM
Between 1929 and 1932, passengers could fly between Juneau's waterfront and downtown Seattle on scheduled weekly flights of Alaska-Washington Consolidated Airways. The fare was $105.
Juneau's harbor was home to three pioneer flying companies that . . . — — Map (db m181821) HM
Panel 1:
The City and Borough of Juneau Assembly Honors the Contributions of Filipinos in Juneau by naming this downtown location MANILA SQUARE
Juneau Assembly Members: Dale Anderson - Don Etheridge, Jr. - Jeannie Johnson - Ken . . . — — Map (db m68849) HM
Local ferries once plied a triangular route linking Juneau, Douglas, and Thane. These three communities, each centered on a major mine, eventually merged into one. In 1935, a bridge was constructed linking Douglas Island with the mainland.
In . . . — — Map (db m181794) HM
The lighthouse on Mary Island is the second one seen by ships heading up Alaska's Inside Passage. The beacon guides mariners into Revillagigedo Channel leading to Ketchikan. Like most of Alaska's lighthouses, it was built soon after the Klondike . . . — — Map (db m181642) HM
Steamships brought passengers as well as goods. During the heyday of steam travel, there was a ship at the dock almost every day. In 1918, the Canadian Pacific Line's Princess Sophia was bound for this harbor when the ship foundered on a reef . . . — — Map (db m181792) HM
Ships arriving in Juneau in the 1930's could count on being met at the dock by a small, white dog named Patsy Ann. A local dentist, Dr. E.H. Kaser, brought the English bull terrier as a puppy from Portland, Oregon in 1929. Although loved and . . . — — Map (db m181734) HM
Fifty years after Patsy Ann met her last ship, admirers led by June Dawson organized the Friends of Patsy Ann. The group raised funds and commissioned a statue so Patsy Ann could once again greet visitors on the dock.
Sculpted by Ann Burke . . . — — Map (db m69663) HM
Pelton wheels are among the most efficient types of water wheels. It was invented by Lester Allan Pelton (1829-1908) in the 1870s, and is an impulse machine, meaning that it uses Newton’s second law to extract energy from a jet of fluid. It . . . — — Map (db m70762) HM
The red-roofed, white buildings at Point Retreat are a familiar sight to local boaters and passengers on cruise ships sailing between Juneau and Glacier Bay. The original, wooden light tower at Point Retreat was only 6 feet tall, but it stood 19 . . . — — Map (db m181638) HM
Sentinel Island Lighthouse guards the entrance to Favorite Channel, linking Lynn Canal to Juneau's Auke Bay. The original, wood frame structures included a keeper's house with an attached light tower and out-buildings, including a wharf and . . . — — Map (db m181644) HM
Visionary
An ardent expansionist, Seward pursued his vision of “Manifest Destiny” to expand the borders of the United States through peaceful means. Some of his interests included a port in the Caribbean, Hawaii, Guam, British Columbia, and . . . — — Map (db m181745) HM
A building rich with history
Juneau’s gold rush in the 1880s initiated efforts by various missionaries to convert the Native peoples to their faith. American missionaries were instructed to suppress the use of native languages and as a . . . — — Map (db m70758) HM
The Alaska Juneau (AJ) mine operated from 1917 to 1944, producing 90 million tons of gold bearing ore, and was one of the largest mines in the world at the time. In the 1930's the AJ mine employed around 1000 people, produced 12,000 tons of ore per . . . — — Map (db m181772) HM
Carved by Tlingit carvers:
Charlic Tagook — Klukwan
William Brown — Saxman
Carving began in 1939 / Carving was completed in 1940
Featured on this totem pole, from top to bottom, are Raven, a man, a giant cannibal (Guteel), . . . — — Map (db m181740) HM
has been placed on the
National Register
of Historic Places
by the United States
Department of the Interior
built • restored
1925 • 2000 — — Map (db m181759) HM
Tree Point is Alaska's most southerly of the Southeast lighthouses. It marks the first landfall for northbound ships crossing Queen Charlotte Sound, 30 miles of coastal water open to the Pacific. Mariners used Tree Point Lighthouse to guide them . . . — — Map (db m181641) HM
The U.S. Navy's arrival in Juneau quickly followed the discovery of gold. Upon receiving word of the 1880 strike, the navy dispatched a steam launch, which anchored in the harbor. Disembarking here was a naval detachment under the command of Lt. . . . — — Map (db m181802) HM
Center Marker Panel: [Rendering of the cruiser USS Juneau(CL-52)]
'Lest We Forget'
The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal was as ferocious and decisive as any battle of World War II. It was not won cheaply. The night action of Friday . . . — — Map (db m77160) WM
In 1880 a local inhabitant, Chief Kowee, revealed to prospectors Joe Juneau and Richard Harris the presence of gold in what is now named Gold Creek in Silver Bow Basin. The city of Juneau was founded there that year. The strike sparked the Juneau . . . — — Map (db m70765) HM
Waterfront cold storage buildings supported the fishing industry while warehouses stored the freight that came and went. All goods coming into town — from the nuts and bolts of industry to walnuts and bolts of calico — were offloaded here. Outbound . . . — — Map (db m181784) HM
This statue was erected in 2017 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Treaty of Cession that was negotiated with Russia by Seward, resulting in the transfer of Alaska to the United States.
Seward is considered to be among the most important . . . — — Map (db m181743) HM
Family and Early Political Life
William Henry Seward was born in Florida, New York, on May 16, 1801. His father, a wealthy landowner, was a slaveholder prior to New York abolishing slavery in 1827. Seward would later become instrumental in . . . — — Map (db m181752) HM
Natives of Southeast Alaska have made totem poles such as this one for thousands of years.
This pole depicts four Haida clan stories. It was carved in 1940 by master carver John Wallace of Hydaburg. Described as "the last of the professional . . . — — Map (db m181736) HM