Gold Creek (Juneau, Alaska) subsequently the properties of the Ebner Gold Mining Company and the Alaska-Juneau Gold Mining Company. By 1 Jan. 1881, 71 placer claims had been registered in the area. Arrastras were in operation by 1881 with a 5-stamp mill in operation by 1882 to work the Humboldt claim. In 1898 the Last Chance Hydraulic Mining Company was formed to develop the placer by the same name. By 1903, sixty miners were working the three mines in Gold Creek. The mines are located on the "main lode system of the Juneau gold belt." The "principal rock of the mineral zone is black
Joe Juneau (prospector) exploring much of the area later named for Juneau. Harris and Juneau were sent with Kowee by George Pilz, an entrepreneur and mining engineer from Sitka. After trading much of their grubstake for hoochinoo, or home brew, they returned to Pilz empty-handed, but were promptly sent back to the Juneau area. There, Kowee took them beyond Gold Creek (near what is now the site of the city's Federal Building) to Silver Bow Basin. Today, a creek on Douglas Island is named Kowee Creek. After the discovery of gold in the area, Harris and Juneau carried approximately 1,000 pounds of gold