The story of Joe Juneau, Richard Harris, and Chief Kowee
Chief
Kowee, an Auk Indian who lived on Admiralty Island, should receive much
of the credit for the discovery of gold in the Juneau area. With hopes
of bringing prosperity to his people, he brought ore samples to Sitka
where an entrepreneur named George Pilz offered to reward Indians who
could lead his mining teams to gold. Pilz grubstaked Joe Juneau and Richard
Harris, two veteran prospectors, whom he sent with Kowee to locate the
source of the gold. The pair traded their rations with the Indians for
large quantities of Hoochinoo (home brew) and never got far from the beach.
They returned to Pilz empty handed. Kowee followed them back to Sitka
with more ore and told Pilz how the miners had spent their grubstake.
Pilz sent them back with Kowee, who literally dragged the reluctant prospectors
up Gold Creek to what is now Silver Bow Basin.
Accounts
are conflicting at this point, but it appears that Juneau and Harris loaded
1000 Ibs. of gold ore in their canoe and headed south to Canada instead
of returning to Pilz in Sitka. Another of Pilz's prospectors encountered
them en route and brought them back to Sitka at gunpoint. Thus began Alaska's
first big gold rush, 16 years before the Klondike. The new town was first
called Harrisburg, then Pilzburg, then Rockwell, but the final name was
chosen when Joe Juneau used his first summer's earnings to buy the votes
of his fellow miners.
Used with permission.
Gold Rush Centennial Task Force, State of Alaska.
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