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More About Ketchikan

A white man living in the area in 1885 named Mike Martin bought 160 acres of land near Ketchikan Creek from Chief Kyan and this later became the township of Ketchikan.

It is said that a small cannery that operated on the site where the present day Stedman Hotel sits, began the written history of Ketchikan in 1887. In 1888 the cannery burned down and it was 1892 before the population increased enough and industry warranted the building and establishment of a Post Office. There was already a Post Office in Loring, North of Ketchikan, on the Behm Canal, since 1885, which was the center of business for the District at that time.

Gold seekers on their way to the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897 and 1898 in the Yukon passed through Ketchikan without so much as a second thought. But some of them liked the area and returned and along with local fisherman built up the little settlement. Ketchikan's real date of birth can be dated about 1899, after the Klondike Gold Rush, and it has continued to grow ever since.

Fishing was the major industry since the founding of the city, with salmon being the leading fish processed and canned, Halibut running a close second.

Unquestionably Ketchikan's phenomenal and rapid growth is due largely in part to these fishermen. They have built their homes, raised their families, and supported the many businesses of the city. But fishing is not now as lucrative or profitable as it used to be, and there have been other major industries come and go.

Most recently the Ketchikan Pulp Mill Closure. This put many long time residents out of work. At one time "The Mill" was "The" place to work. Before that was the Spruce Mill. A lumber cutting sawmill that was located where the present Salmon Landing tourist shops are located. Now the largest industry in Ketchikan is Tourism.

Tourist arrive by daily flights of Alaska Airlines, Tour Ships, or by the Alaska Marine Highway System, a State owned and operated passenger and vehicle ferry System, that traverses the Inside Passage from Bellingham, Washington to Skagway, Alaska.

Passengers travel through Dixon Entrance, which is the boundary line that separates Alaska from Canada. It was known as Entrada de Perez two years before the Declaration of Independence. The history of this area and these waters was being written when the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes districts of the United States were still known as Indian Territories.

Clarence Straits, just North of Ketchikan, was named after the Duke of Clarence, and a vessel, the Felice Strait, which explored here in 1788. The island Ketchikan is located on Revillagigedo (Ree-villa-gig-gay-do) Island, and was named by Capt. Vancouver in 1793 for the Viceroy of Mexico (1789-1794), Don Juan Vincente de Guemes Pacheco de Pedilla, Count of Revilla Gigedo.

Dall Island was named for Dr. William H. Dall, who headed a scientific corps in the latter part of the Civil War, which essayed an overland telegraph line via the Yukon, Bering Straits, and Asia to the capitol cities of Europe for the Western Union Telegraph Co. Annette Island, which is home of the Metlakatla Indian Reservation, was named in honor of Dall's wife, Annette Whitney Dall.

About the time of the writing of the United States Constitution, a Spanish Don, Jacinto Caamano, sailed from Mexico and explored Southeast Alaska. He named Gravina Island, which is directly across Tongass Narrows from Ketchikan, and Caamano Point, just North of Ketchikan. The majority of the information on Spanish names and exploration in Southeast Alaska comes to us indirectly through English, Russian, and French documents, as there has not been many Spanish manuscripts of their exploration found.

The popular meaning of how Ketchikan got it's name is from the Tlingit Indians who lived around Ketchikan Creek and used it as a fish camp. They called their camp site "Kitschk-hin" which referred to the creek as the sounds of "thundering wings of an eagle".


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