Crossing of Gold Creek

This is “Alaska’s First Road,” and was a critical link between Juneau and the mining communities that popped up in the Silver Bow Basin in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. There were at least five gold-mining operations along the Gold Creek Valley.

The Juneau Mining Record wrote in 1889:

This is the first road of any great extent and cost we know of in Alaska … The Canyon to the Basin is steep and confined by precipitous bluffs, in many places requiring considerable skill and practical knowledge to overcome the difficulties met with its construction. This is the longest and best road and will ever stand as a monument to the enterprise of the company.

Today, the mining in the Silver Bow Basin that put Juneau on the map is gone but the route to the Silver Bow Basin is popular with Juneauites for its hiking opportunities due to its proximity to downtown—granted, the ascent is more than 1,000 feet, so it's not necessarily an easy stroll.

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Gold Creek (Lingít: Dzantikʼihéeni) is a waterway in the southeastern section of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located in the Silver Bow Basin at the edge of Juneau. In 1880, Chief Kowee revealed to prospectors Joe Juneau and Richard Harris the presence of gold in Gold Creek; the city of Juneau was founded in the same year. Named by miners, the name was first published in 1883.


1906 map of the creek
The first gold placer claims of 4 Oct 1880 by Harris and Juneau were followed by quartz claims in the name of their employers Pilz and Fuller. These sixteen claims were subsequently the properties of the Ebner Gold Mining Company and the Alaska-Juneau Gold Mining Company. By 1 Jan 1881, 71 placer claims had been registered in the area.

Arrastras were in operation by 1881, with a five-stamp mill in operation by 1882 to work the Humboldt claim. In 1898, the Last Chance Hydraulic Mining Company was formed to develop the placer by the same name. By 1903, sixty miners were working the three mines in Gold Creek.

The mines are located on the "main lode system of the Juneau gold belt." The "principal rock of the mineral zone is black graphite and calcareous slate with quartz veining. The gold ore comes the quartz veins containing pyrrhotite, pyrite, galena, and zinc blende. Ore is also found in pyrrhotite within diorite dikes.

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