Historic Building Survey - City and Borough of Juneau

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Harris and Juneau reached Gastineau Channel in August 1880 and sampled the gravel of Gold Creek. They found plenty of color, but did not follow the gold to its source. At Cowee's urging, Pilz sent the pair back again. This time Harris and Juneau climbed Snow Slide Gulch at the head of Gold Creek and located the mother lode of Quartz Gulch and Silver Bow Basin. Their discovery led to the settling ofJuneau, the first town founded in Alaska following the 1867 purchase from Russia. On October 18, they staked a 160-acre town site. Their claim was entered into the record by Harris: "This is to certify that R.T. Harris, Joseph Juneau, and N.A. Fuller have this date recorded 160·acres for purposes of erecting a town site, commencing at a point one mile above the mouth of Gold Creek and running up the coast one-half mile and along the bay and anchorage right opposite Douglas Island, to be surveyed into 59 foot lots running back 200 feet, Said town site named and styled Harrisburg. October 18, 1880. R.T. Harris, Recorder." Harrisburg, Rockwell, or Juneau as it eventually came to be known, was situated on the shore of Gastineau Channel under the shadows of Mount Roberts and Mount Juneau. A mining camp located on the beach, Juneau was composed ·of tents and cabins constructed of trees which grew through the town site, and supplies and materials brought from Sitka. Juneau Downtown with Chicken Ridge at Top Trevor Davis Collection; PCA·97-166 Courtesy ofthe Alaska State Historical Library. 13
Development in the fledgling town continued with the construction of the Log Cabin Church in 1881, the Northwest Trading Company which was thefirst retail store in Harrisburgh, and the military post Rockwell. George Pilz shipped a pre-framed building from Sitka which became the first structure in town. In March 1881, Master Gustave Carl Hanus, a Navy officer from Sitka, ran lines to formally survey the new town which extended from the waterfront to a prominent ridge less than a mile away. The ridge area was later called Chicken Ridge. By the end of 1881, the town had a code of local laws, a Board of Public Safety to enforce them, and a post office. Construction proceeded at a steady pace and soon the town began to take shape. The downtown business district developed almost immediately. Court House Hill, later known as Telephone Hill, and nearby sections were quickly settled and as the population grew additional land was staked and cleared. Scattered houses were constructed on the wooded hillsides northeast of the business district. A Native village was established on the waterfront on the current site of Willoughby Avenue. Cabins for miners began. to appear on Starr Hill, a working class residential area and by 1893,. the area of Chicken Ridge was being settled. In the nine years following the discovery of gold, Juneau's population grew 800 percent from 150 to more than 1,200. Gold mining was the driving force behind this growth. At first the land was placer mined; then prospectors attempted towork the larger, higher grade quartz veins they encountered by drilling and blasting to break the gold-bearing quartz from the surrounding waste rock. Eventually, the prospectors began to consolidate adjoining properties and attack the deposit of quartz veins on a larger .scale. By the 1890's, several of the small mining companies consolidated on a large scale and out ·of this came the Treadwell, Alaska Gastineau, and the Alaska Juneau mining companies. As mining grew and large companies expanded the workings, it became apparent that Juneau would not be just another "boom and bust" gold camp. Rather, it enjoyed a growing prosperity built in the mines, with their great mechanized mills, and large payroll. The three large mines, the Alaska Gastineau, the Alaska Juneau, and the Treadwell drove the economy..The latter two became the largest gold producers of low grade ore in the world, recovering more than $130 million from the mountain rock stamped to dust in the huge mills. The Treadwell closed in 1917 when three of its four operating mines collapsed in a saltwater cave-in andthe Alaska Gastineau closed in 1921. The Alaska Juneau closed in 1944 due to the fixed price of gold, high ·operating costs, and a war-related labor shortage. For more than 60 years gold mining dominated the identity of Juneau and influenced its growth but the growth of government kept Juneau's economy thriving after the decline of the gold mines. The business of government had come about in 1900 when the town had been .incorporated and Juneau was designated the temporary seat of government of the territory. At this time, Juneau had the appearance of a thriving city and wooden buildings lined the streets. Residential areas had developed to house both miners and a growing number of white collar workers which comprised part of the nearly 2,000 people in the town.' 14
Page 1: CHICKEN RIDGE NEIGHBORHOOD Historic
Page 5: TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements
Page 9 and 10: INTRODUCTION Historic Preservation
Page 11 and 12: Description of Survey Area In order
Page 13 and 14: City ofJuneau Historic Neighborhood
Page 15 and 16: cmCKEN RIDGE NEIGHBORHOOD INITIAL D
Page 17 and 18: CHICKEN RIDGE NEIGHBORHOOD TERRITOR
Page 19: CHICKEN RIDGE NEIGHBORHOOD PEAK GOL
Page 24 and 25: In 1900, the District Court movedfr
Page 26 and 27: Style Classifications Properties we
Page 28 and 29: CLASSICAL REVIVAL JUN-595 E-88 Brit
Page 30 and 31: MODERNE JUN-569 E-62 Krause Apartme
Page 32 and 33: Chicken Ridge ffistoric Buildings S
Page 34 and 35: Chicken Ridge Historic Buildings Su
Page 54 and 55: Chicken Ridge Historic Buildings.Su
Page 62 and 63: Chicken Ridge. Historic Buildings S
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Chicken Ridge Historic Buildings Su
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Chicken Ridge ffistoric Buildings S
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STATEl\1ENT OF SIGNIFICANCE Evaluat
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some of the mining growth took plac
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C. 1978-80 D. 1987-89 E. 1980 F. 19
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Sealaska Corporation, Department of
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Historic Building Survey - City and Borough of Juneau

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