Shrine of St. Therese, Juneau 1941. Shrine of St. Therese, Juneau Shrine of St. Therese of Lisieux overlooks the Lynn Canal in Juneau, Alaska, US. Situated on 46 acres, the site contains a stone chapel, crypt, labyrinth, columbarium, lodge, cabin, and retreat. In 1925, St. Therese was named the patroness of Alaska. In the 1930s, the Jesuit priest, Father William LeVasseur came up with the idea of a retreat center in her name. Bishop Joseph Raphael John Crimont provided support for its establishment. Thousands of stones were used to construct the chapel and other structures, which were gathered by volunteers. The first mass was held
Juneau gold belt fissure fillings of the area are comparable with the California "mother lode" deposits. Most of the gold mines in the Juneau belt occur in the band of black slate which lies between the schists to the northeast and the greenstones to the southwest. "The complex of veins which follow this black slate is described as the main lode system of the Juneau belt." "Parallelism of vein systems and ore deposits with the outcrops of bed-rock formations...is one of the noteworthy characteristics of the district." This results in a "linear distribution of the mines." Most of the gold deposits are found