Mendenhall Valley, Juneau Mendenhall Valley, Juneau The Mendenhall Valley (historically Mendenhall, colloquially The Valley) is the drainage area of the Mendenhall River in the U.S. state of Alaska. The valley contains a series of neighborhoods, comprising the largest populated place within the corporate limits of the City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska's capital. The valley was formed by Mendenhall Glacier over the course of roughly three thousand years. It was named for physicist and meteorologist Thomas Corwin Mendenhall. The Mendenhall Valley begins ten miles from the downtown area, at the intersection of Egan Drive and Glacier Highway, and ends ten miles farther west
Joe Juneau (prospector) ore back to Sitka. The settlement founded by Juneau and Harris was originally called Harrisburg or Harrisburgh, and then Rockwell. Miners often used both names in their records. There was also a proposal to name the town Pilzburg in honor of Pilz. The town received its current name at a miners' meeting on December 14, 1881, at which the name Juneau received 47 of the 72 votes cast, while Harrisburg received 21 votes and Rockwell only four. Joe Juneau reportedly bought drinks for fellow miners to persuade them to name the city in his honor. Joe Juneau traveled to Dawson