Joseph Juneau (; May 28, 1836 – March 1, 1899) was a

French Canadian French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French people, French colonists first arriving in Canada (New France), France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of ...

miner and

prospector Prospector may refer to: Space exploration * Prospector (spacecraft), a planned lunar probe, canceled in 1962 * ''Lunar Prospector'', a NASA spacecraft Trains * Prospector (train), a passenger train operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Western ra ...

known for co-founding, with

Richard Harris Richard St John Francis Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor and singer. Having studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, he rose to prominence as an icon of the British New Wave. He received numerous a ...

, the city of

Juneau, Alaska Juneau ( ; ), officially the City and Borough of Juneau, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Alaska, located along the Gastineau Channel and the Southeast Alaska, Alaskan panhandle. Juneau was named the ...

, United States. The city has been the political capital of Alaska since 1900.

Biography

Joseph Juneau was born in the

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada () was a British colonization of the Americas, British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence established in 1791 and abolished in 1841. It covered the southern portion o ...

town of Saint-Paul-l'Ermite (later renamed Le Gardeur and now incorporated into the city of

Repentigny Repentigny () is an off-island suburbs, off-island suburb of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located North Shore (Laval), north of the city on the lower end of the L'Assomption River, and on the Saint Lawrence River. Repentigny and Ch ...

) to François Xavier Juneau dit Latulippe and Marguerite Thiffault Juneau. Juneau's Native American guide in southeastern Alaska was

Chief Kowee Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boat ...

, who is credited with exploring much of the area later named for Juneau. Harris and Juneau were sent with Kowee by George Pilz, an entrepreneur and mining engineer from Sitka. After trading much of their grubstake for

hoochinoo Moonshine is high-proof liquor, traditionally made or distributed illegally. The name was derived from a tradition of distilling the alcohol at night to avoid detection. In the first decades of the 21st century, commercial distilleries hav ...

, or homebrew, they returned to Pilz empty-handed but were promptly sent back to the Juneau area. There, Kowee took them beyond Gold Creek (near what is now the site of the city's Federal Building) to

Silver Bow Basin The Silver Bow Basin, often written as Silverbow Basin, is a valley located northeast of Juneau, Alaska, United States. It is situated on Gold Creek in an area north of Icy Gulch, and approximately north of Gastineau Peak. A trail from Juneau ...

. Today, a creek on Douglas Island is named

Kowee Creek Kowee Creek (also spelled as Cowee, Kow-eeh, or Kowie) is a river on Douglas Island in the Juneau, Alaska, City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska, United States. Its origin is southeast of Mount Troy and it flows north-northeast to Gastineau Channel ...

. After the discovery of gold in the area, Harris and Juneau carried approximately 1,000 pounds of gold ore back to Sitka. The settlement founded by Juneau and Harris was originally called Harrisburg or Harrisburgh, and later Rockwell. Miners often used both names in their records. There was also a proposal to name the town Pilzburg in honor of Pilz. The town received its current name at a miners' meeting on December 14, 1881, at which the name Juneau received 47 of the 72 votes cast, while Harrisburg received 21 votes and Rockwell only four. Joe Juneau reportedly bought drinks for fellow miners to persuade them to name the city in his honor. Juneau traveled to

Dawson City, Yukon Dawson City is a town in the Canadian territory of Yukon. It is inseparably linked to the Klondike Gold Rush (1896–1899). Its population was 1,577 as of the 2021 census, making it the second-largest municipality in Yukon. History Prior t ...

during the Klondike Gold Rush of the 1890s. He usually spent his gold as fast as he mined it, but at the end of his life he owned a small restaurant in Dawson. Juneau died of pneumonia in March 1899 in Dawson. His body was brought back to the town that bears his name and was buried in the city's Evergreen Cemetery on August 16, 1903. His cousin

Solomon Juneau Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Milwaukee) Solomon Laurent Juneau, or Laurent-Salomon Juneau (August 9, 1793 – November 14, 1856) was a French Canadian fur trader, land speculator, and politician who helped found the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. ...

founded the city of

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

.Alaska Mining Hall of Fame
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References

External links

Gold Rush StoriesJoe Juneau at Find-A-Grave
{{DEFAULTSORT:Juneau, Joe 1836 births 1899 deaths People from Repentigny, Quebec People from Dawson City People of the Klondike Gold Rush Canadian gold prospectors American gold prospectors Canadian miners Franco-Yukonnais people Deaths from pneumonia in Yukon Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Joe Burials at Evergreen Cemetery (Juneau, Alaska)

Biography

See also

References

External links