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 Forklift Masts Juneau - Juneau, Alaska is the states capital city. It is considered a unified city and is located within the Alaska Panhandle on the Gastineau Channel. During the year 1970, the City and Borough of Juneau was created when the city of Juneau, the city of Douglas and the Greater Juneau Borough merged to form a home rule municipality. The current Borough and City population is 31,275.
Juneau covers a land area that is bigger than the states of Delaware and Rhode island combined. The downtown of Juneau sits at sea level and is also Mount Juneau's base. Across the channel is Douglas Island.
Juneau has gone through three name changes. It was called Rockwell and after that Harrisburg, after two gold prospectors, and afterward was renamed Juneau after a different prospector, Joe Juneau. The native people of the area, the Tlingit, called the area Dzántik'i Héeni, that means "river where the flounders gather." A lot of local geographic features take their name from the Tlingit, like for instance the Taku River, that was named after the t'aakh, a cold wind that comes down from the mountains. Auke Bay located north of Juneau is referred to as Aak'w, which translates to "little lake".
The mountains around Juneau range from 1,100 m to 1,200 m in height. The Juneau Icefield sits on top of these high mountains, dispersing water from roughly 30 glaciers. People can see a coupe of glaciers, the Lemon Creek Glacier and the Mendenhall Glacier, from the road.
The city of Juneau has been the Alaska state capital since the year 1906, when the capital was moved from Sitka. Government is by far the largest employer in Juneau. Numerous residents are employed by the state government, municipal government or federal government. The harbors, hospital, airport, University of Alaska Southeast and school district are all run by the government. About 25 percent of Juneau's economy is directly and indirectly dependent on state government offices.
Tourism is largely seasonal but still contributes greatly to the economy. Cruise ships travel through Juneau between the months of May and September, bringing approximately one million guests to the area. These visitors usually stay within the city of Juneau only for a short time, up to about 11 hours.
Fishing was once be the main industry within the city of Juneau back in the days when the halibut schooner fleet operated here. At present, the fishing industry is still important to the local economy. The city of Juneau is considered the 49th most lucrative U.S. fisheries port by volume and 45th by value. The shellfish and fish caught here is valued at roughly 20 million dollars annually.
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