As the gateway to northbound travelers, Ketchikan is real Alaska.
It has worn the vestments of the state's largest city, a logging and gold boomtown and the "salmon capital of the world."
In 1936, seven canneries put up the catch: 1.5 million cases of salmon. The need for lumber to make those cases and for construction -- and then to supply the high need for spruce during World War II -- led to a strong logging and pulp industry.
But the gold and copper lodes played out, logging fizzled recently and the salmon harvest has settled down a bit.
Still, Ketchikan was the hot spot in Southeast Alaska. It wore a bright red dress -- it still does, sort of, with its Creek Street row of shoppes and boutiques in stilt houses where women of the night no longer work, but where tourists shop and wink and nudge one another.
Early days
Ketchikan Creek was originally the site of a fish camp used by the Tongass and Cape Fox Tlingits. They called it "kitschk-hin," meaning creek of the "thundering wings of an eagle."
Native heritage plays a large role in Ketchikan's culture. For example, the largest collection of totem poles in the world is found in Ketchikan at Totem Bight State Historical Park, Saxman Native Village and the Totem Heritage Center Museum.
Despite Ketchikan's financial hard luck, there's still the Tongass National Forest and its southern jewel, Misty Fjords National Monument. Cruise ships deliver 500,000 visitors to Ketchikan, population 7,922, each summer. Kayaking provides easy access to the coves and bays in the rain forest. And mining may return to the area; a molybdenum lode has been found at Quartz Hill, east of Ketchikan. The Alaska Marine Highway System's ferries also bring steady traffic.
Climate
Ketchikan brags darkly about its precipitation, which annually averages 162 inches, or 13 feet 6 inches. But that includes the moisture from 32 inches of snowfall. Summer temperatures range from 51 to 65 degrees. In the winter, the temps average 29 to 39.
Prince of Wales Island
West of Ketchikan and Gravina Island, Prince of Wales Island -- the state's second largest, after Kodiak -- holds a half-dozen towns and villages that historically have depended on salmon and logging. Among them are Craig, Hollis, Klawock, Thorne Bay and Coffman Cove.
Logging roads and highways provide access to the mountains and forests. The Inter-Island ferry docks at Hollis (service to Ketchikan only), and some air service is available.
Metlakatla
South of Ketchikan, the Indian town of Metlakatla sits on Annette Island's federal Indian reservation, the only one in Alaska. Ferry service is available, and there's a museum on the island.
