Juneau Downtown Historic District Juneau Downtown Historic District The Juneau Downtown Historic District encompasses the historic commercial heart of the city of Juneau, Alaska. It extends along South Franklin Street, from the cruise terminal in the south to Second Street in the north, and westward along Second and Front Streets to Main Street. This area was the center of Juneau's economic activity from its founding in 1880 as a gold mining camp, through its growth into an urbanized area in the early 20th century, including its eventual designation as the territorial capital in 1906. In the early days of the gold mining camp business
Gold mining in Alaska 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 from Juneau) and the AJ lode mine, in Juneau itself. Over 7 million ounces of lode gold and of placer gold have been recovered from the Juneau district. Most of the