The capital of Alaska, Juneau is the state’s second largest city and one of America’s most beautiful. Geographically secluded in the far south west of the state, it has a population of 31,000 and yet no roads reach it. Instead the city looks to the skies and the waters; vessels sail close to steep mountain walls through a waterway that shelters the city from the Pacific Ocean. Cruise ships and light aircraft leave the city for Glacier Bay National Park, a maze of floating icebergs.
the gold rush
In 1880, after coming across nuggets “the size of peas and beans” in the area, the explorers Joe Juneau and Richard Harris returned to the then-Russian owned capital of Alaska, Sitka, with half a ton of gold.
Prospectors rushed in and a settlement quickly sprang up. Stores, livestock markets, boarding houses, pawn shops, banks, gambling halls, bars, theaters and brothels catered to prospectors’ tastes. Juneau became one of the liveliest and richest cities in North America. A new wave of fortune-seekers arrived in 1897 when gold was discovered in the Klondike, a tributary of the Yukon. Among them was a young Jack London, the writer known for novels White Fang and The Call of the Wild.
In more recent history, oil has become Alaska’s vital, if controversial, lifeline. Since the construction of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline in 1974 the state has produced 20 per cent of the oil used in the US.
a mighty icefield
Juneau is surrounded by stunning scenery. The city is set amidst the 17 million acres of the Tongass National Forest, the largest forest reserve in the US, with its giant conifers and red cedars. Alaskan wildlife is no less spectacular: whales and orcas swim between hundreds of forested islands, and gulls and cormorants coexist on vast beaches. Sea otters play in waters that the Haida, Tlingit and Tsimshian Indians have traveled for centuries in their cedar canoes.
High above the city, in the vast Juneau icefield of the interior mountains, 40 large glaciers forge through the valleys. Among them is the Mendenhall, a major landmark of Juneau.
highest peak
Denali National Park in central Alaska celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. The Park is home to Denali (formerly Mount McKinley), the name the Atacama Indians gave to the highest peakin North America (6,194 metres). In the surrounding forests, spot caribou, deer, golden eagles and even bears the size of two men. Kayak on the crystal clear waters around Kodiak Island among sea lions that sunbathe on the rocks. The breathtaking beauty of Alaska is almost overwhelming. This is a place worth protecting.