Page 130 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide 2017 - Alaska

128  ALASK A AREA B Y AREA

E Southeast Alaska
Discovery Center
50 Main St. Tel 228-6220. @
Ketchikan city bus. Open May–
Sep: 8am–5pm daily; Oct–Apr:
10am–3pm Mon–Fri. & 7 =
∑ alaskacenters.gov/ketchikan.
cfm
Both a museum and a visitors’
center for the 26,000-sq mile
(68,000-sq km) Tongass National
Forest, the lush tem perate
rainforest which covers the
region, the Southeast Alaska
Discovery Center is a mine of
information. Totem poles from
the region’s three main Native
cultures, Tlingit, Haida, and
Tsimshian are dis played, and the
histori cal, cul tural, natural, and
Cruise ship anchored at Ketchikan, a popular stop on cruise routes economic story of Southeast
Alaska is told through exhibits.
1 Ketchikan E Great Alaskan Other displays feature traditional
Lumberjack Show Tlingit salmon-drying, forest
235 miles (378 km) S of Juneau. 420 Spruce Mill Way. Tel 225-9050. ecosystems, and local fishing
Transport map F5. * 8,000. ~ @ Ketchikan city bus. Open May–
g Bellingham–Skagway. n 50 Front techniques such as purse sein-
St and Cruise Ship berths, 225-6166, Sep: four shows daily when cruise ing, gillnetting, and trawling.
ships are in port. & 7 =
(800) 770-3300. _ Blueberry Arts ∑ alaskanlumberjackshow.com
Festival (1st weekend in Aug).
∑ visit-ketchikan.com Held in an amphitheater on
the site of the old Ketchikan
Situated on the southwestern Spruce Mill, this lively show
end of Revillagigedo Island, displays hand-sawing, tree-
Ketchikan likes to call itself climbing, and log-rolling. It
Alaska’s First City, because it is is all done in a spirit of fun,
the first Alaskan city that visitors and the actors and lumberjack
see when arriving on a cruise competitors are so engaging Silver salmon sculptures at the Southeast
ship or ferry. that much of the audience Alaska Discovery Center
Originally a Tlingit fish camp seems happy to participate.
called Kitschk-Hin (meaning The original 1898 mill was P Creek Street
“thundering eagle wings creek”), the world’s largest spruce @ Ketchikan city bus. 0 - =
the town’s growth started in 1885 mill and provided work for Dolly’s House Open May–Sep: 8am–
when Irishman Mike Martin lum berjacks who prepared 5pm daily when cruise ships are in port.
staked a claim near Ketchikan timber to be used during the & ∑ creekstreetketchikan.com
Creek and set up a fish cannery. Gold Rush, for build ing aircraft A pedestrian boardwalk built
By the 1930s, the town’s dozen during World War II, and for on pilings over Ketchikan Creek,
canneries had earned it the title local canner ies. The mill finally Creek Street was the town’s red-
Salmon Capital of the World. closed in 1993. light district for half a century.
Its other big economic resource,
the Ketchikan Pulp Company’s
paper mill at Ward Cove,
operated for over 40 years
until it shut down in 1997.
Despite that major loss,
Ketchikan bounced back.
Today, Alaska’s sixth largest city
thrives as a major stop for cruise
ships and as a regional ser vice
center. Built on pilings, the city
center lies along the waterfront,
while older neigh borhoods
climb the slopes of nearby
hills accessible by steep
streets and wooden staircases. Dolly’s House built on the pilings of Creek Street
For hotels and restaurants in this area see pp243–4 and pp253–54

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