Ketchikan

After a day at sea, we arrived in Alaska’s First City, the Salmon Capital of the World at 8 a.m. in beautiful sunshine. Ketchikan’s name is an adaptation of the native name of the local creek. This island community, accessible only by sea or air, is located on Revillagegedo Island on the famed Alaska Inside Passage. As we had breakfast we were amazed by the amount of activity, boats and seaplanes in this very busy place. You land at the dock on Front St. which is lined with all the tourist specialty shops and about 30 jewelery stores, most which were giving away free charms. Walking around town, I toured the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center which was incredible. The entry has 3 exquisitely carved totem poles soaring to the ceiling, next to a stuffed brown bear. Next you walk through a rainforest with animals and birds calling and running water from the stream. The Ecosystem room showed the salmon on Ketchikan Creek on the underwater camera by the hatchery. There are exhibits on fishing, recreation, wildlife, mining and more. The whole town sits on a small strip of land backing into the Tongass National Forest, 17 million acres in size, the largest National Forest in the U.S., designated by Theodore Roosevelt in 1907. It is the largest temperate rainforest in the world, a land of beauty, mystery and untold natural resources. Ketchikan has 162” rainfall and 32” snow per year. My walk took me to Creek Street, built on stilts along Ketchikan Creek. In 1903, the city council ordered all the bordellos moved across the creek from the townsite so this area was the red light district from 1903 – 1953. There were more than 30 bawdy houses with 1-2 working girls lining the boardwalk. During Prohibition, rowboats slipped in on high tide and smuggled liquor slipped up thorough the trapdoors. Today ‘Dolly’ stands outside her house which is the same as she left it when she left town.