Ketchikan

Ketchikan, city, port of entry, southeastern Alaska, U.S. Situated on southwestern Revillagigedo Island and part of the Alexander Archipelago, it lies 235 miles (380 km) south of Juneau.

The site was originally a fishing settlement for the Tongass and Cape Fox Tlingit Indians, who named a creek in the area Kitschk-hin, meaning “Thundering Wings of an Eagle.” In the 1880s a cannery was built, and the area became a supply centre for miners during the gold rush of the 1890s. The canning of fish (particularly salmon) subsequently became the city’s chief economic activity. Logging and lumbering also developed, especially during World War II, though Ketchikan’s pulp mill closed in 1997.

The city now has a diversified economy, with fishing (salmon, trout, cod, halibut, and snapper), fish processing, and timber as leading industries. Tourism is also important, as the city is served by air transport and by cruise ships along the Inside Passage (Alaska Marine Highway). The city is centred on its waterfront, with many buildings constructed above the water on pilings. Its setting makes an ideal location for several annual fishing derbies. The Ketchikan campus of the University of Alaska Southeast was opened as a community college in 1954. Deer Mountain Hatchery, which releases tens of thousands of salmon annually, is a popular tourist site. Tongass Historical Museum features exhibits on the history of Ketchikan and southeastern Alaska.

More than a sixth of the city’s population is Alaskan native or American Indian, and artifacts from these cultures can be seen in Ketchikan’s Totem Heritage Center, which displays a number of 19th-century totem poles gathered from uninhabited Tlingit and Haida villages in the area. Nearby Saxman Totem Park and Totem Bight State Historical Park also have large collections of totem poles. Misty Fjords National Monument, part of the extensive Tongass National Forest, is east of Ketchikan. Inc. 1900. Pop. (2000) 7,922; (2010) 8,050.