Juneau mining district Juneau mining district The Juneau mining district is a gold mining area in the U.S. state of Alaska. In 1880 a local inhabitant, Chief Kowee, revealed to prospectors Joe Juneau and Richard Harris the presence of gold in what is now named Gold Creek in Silver Bow Basin. The city of Juneau was founded there that year. The strike sparked the Juneau gold rush which resulted in the development of many placer and lode mines including the largest, in their time, gold mines in the world: the Treadwell complex of lode mines on Douglas Island (across a narrow sea channel
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