BITS OF ALASKAN HISTORY:
"How Juneau Gone To Be*n
\7hile Captain L.A.Beardslee of the United States Navy was sta
tioned at Sitka,during the year 1880,some roving Indians gave him sever
al pieces of rich quartz ores. 'When questioned as to where they had got
ten these specimens,they replied that they had taken them from the lar
gest stream between Auk Inlet and the Taku. Years before this,Joseph
Juneau,a halfbreed Frenchman,and a certain Richard Harris,had camped
along this channel,and as they were familiar,more or less,with the vi
cinity, these two were grubstaked by ltfr.A.N.Fuller,a merchant of Sitka,
and sent out in small boats to prospect the spot spoken of by the Ind
ians*
In October of that same year,1880,they found Gold Creek,and
followed it inland for three miles,where they found the large basin
which it drained* Here,on the western wall of the basin,they found the
'original out-cropping of the claim later known as the Campbell,or Ful
ler, claim* This was the original mine at Juneau.
On the fourth of October the two men held an election on the
beach, and chose Mr.Harris Recorder of Claims, On the 12th they returned
to the out-cropping,and staked their claims*
When the miners wintering at Sitka and Wrangell heard of this
new strike,they rushed to the site of the new Taku mines,as they were
called,and soon the present location of Juneau was lined with the tents
of the miners, On their heels came the Auk tribe of Indians,from their
permanent settlement 10 miles to the north, flocking to the new diggings
to profit by the new opportunity to make money, and the Auks were soon f
followed by the Taku tribe from down the channel, The combined odor of
these two tribes,who had settled their tents side by side with the min
ers, proved too much for even these not-too-sensitive sourdoughs,so the
Indians were subsidized by gifts of many blankets to not>e their habita
tions to the outskirts of the camp,-the Auks on one side, and the Takus
on the other.
nougn eiemenxs ox xne xernxory gaxnerea xo worK xne new
mines, and others came to live on the profits cf those who labored.Ihe
law was unrepresented,and as the wealth of individuals grew,the aggres
iveness of the stronger became unbearable, unti!. on May 2d, 1881, the Com
mander of the U.S.S."Jamestown" declared martial law,and landed a few
marines to preserve order* The officers of the whip surveyed the town
site, and made a map of the locality,which then bore the name of"lliners‘
Cove*"
The naming of the town seems to have been by a process of el
imination, in which the title which .should ha^re been thought of at the
first finally surviving. The little settlement was c.alled successively
Pilzburg,Eliptown, Rockwell,and Harrisburg. On May 2d,1832,a town meet
ing was held,and the name of "Juneau" formally adopted* About this time
the marine guard was withdrawn,and the lawless element became so arro
gant, in consequence, that a Vigilance Committee ms formed* This kept
control until the Territorial Government was established in 1884*
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