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 state legislature and the offices of the governor and lieutenant governor. Some other executive branch offices have moved elsewhere in the state. Recent discussion has been focused between relocating the seat of state government outside Juneau and building a new capitol building in Juneau; neither position has led efforts to keep the capital in Juneau. Long before European settlement in the Americas, the Gastineau Channel was a favorite fishing ground for the Auke ("A'akw Kwáan") and Taku tribes, who had inhabited the surrounding area for thousands of years. The "A'akw Kwáan" had a village and burying ground here. In the