Richard Harris (prospector) Richard Harris (prospector) Richard Tighe Harris (October 31, 1833 – October 11, 1907) was a Canadian miner and prospector. Richard Harris was born in Drumadonald, County Down, Ireland. He then attended Girard College, a private boarding school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is most famous for co-founding, with Joe Juneau, the city of Juneau, Alaska. The first major gold discovery in Juneau or Douglas Island (across from Juneau) was around 1880. It has been the political capital of Alaska since 1906. His Native American guide in southeastern Alaska was Chief Kowee. Kowee is credited with discovering much of the Juneau area.
Juneau, Alaska Harrisburg after prospector Richard Harris. On 14 Dec. 1881, a miners' meeting of 72 persons decided to name the settlement Juneau, after prospector Joe Juneau. Perhaps they changed the name to be more distinctive, as another Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania. Perhaps because of the pressure of this European encroachment, some Tlingit appealed to the Russian Orthodox Church. It had given services in northern Tlingit settlements in local languages since 1800 and 1824. One of its priests had translated scripture and liturgy into the Tlingit language in the 1830s–1840s. The Tlingit arranged for an Orthodox priest to come to