Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-04-19
Some Interesting Facts About the
Metropolis Of Alaska.
UNMARRIED WOMEN ARE In DEMAND
The Town is Quite Gay in Social
Way.
ITS PICTURESQUE SITUATION

every tourist who has visited it will bear
me out in this statement. 1t sits. like a
bird on its perch. at the very foot of Mt.
Juneau, a great, black mountain, SCARED
with silver streams. rising 1000 feet sheer
above it, and impending as if jar would
toDple cliff and crag and beetling rock and
tumbling torrent upon the helpless town by
the waterSide.
Juneau is the metropolis of Alaska. Skag-
way may object to this statement, but that
does not controvert the fact. Juneau is the
oldest, the largest, the richest and the most
permanent town in the country, and that
combination must lead. 1t will also become
the capital of Alaska. to which Sitka will
object, but really Sitka is back number,
which is laid away for reference as ancient
history. Juneau was founded in 1877 by
Joseph Juneau and r. T. Harris, pros
pectorS, who discovered goid-bearing quartz
here and built up little mining town.
which vas called Harrisburg and later was
changed to Juneau. Joe Juneau died at
Dawson year ago in poverty, and Mr..
Harris is living at Juneau in more or less
obscurity. 1t was not until 1881 that Har-
risburs developed into Juneau. 1t was in
1881. also. that Pierre Erussard, known as
French Pete discovered. across the chan
mel. on Douglass Island, what is now
known as the Treadwel mines. the most
extensive goldminng plant in the world.
Suueuu POPULATION.
The population of Juneau is $500 whites
and 1000 Indians, with about 1000 whites
and Indians at Trcadwel. Taking in all
the miners who work in the vicinity, there
are probably 5000 persons here, the largest
aggregation of Caucastans in Alaska.
Juneau is most picturesque town. and
not content with mountains all around 1t,
1t has Chicken Ridge. rising several hun
dred feet out of its very midst as it were
Chicken Ridge will make a great park when
Juneau has population of 100000.
No city in the United States has a public
building so magnfcently situated as was
Juneau's court house. But somebody upset
a lamp one night. and 5000 building with
xSo,No worth of records went up in smoke.
However, the site is still there, and nothing
short of an earthquake can remove it.
Juneau is not pious town, notwlthsta nd
ing it has a Methodist. Presbyterian an
Episcopal. Greek, a Catholic and an In
dian church, all of them thrifty. The fact
Is Juneau is a good deal Partisan in its
style. and is decidedly wide open Gambling
places. saloons, dance halls and dives
abound. and they appear to be a necessity
of existing conditions.
The streets Of Juneau, beyond the one at
the water front, are mostly uphill, and they
are all paved with plank. Wagons are few
ten In all. but there are platform sleds on
low runners that can slide down a street
like a tOboPgan. There are TWENTY-FIVE
horses in town and one buggy Young men.
don't take the girls buggy riding in Ju-
neau, and there are no livery stables
There are twenty bicycles but Just where
they can run is not apparent. There is an
opera house, and unique method of hay-
ing shows in 1t. Every Friday night it is
open to the best people. at 81 a seat with
selected talent from the variety shows of
the town where the best people cannot go
except the men-and real nice clean per
Torrance is given to the pleasure of everv-
pody. and the profit of the proprietor
Dances and lectures are also held in the
same place.
Social Life.
Socially, Juneau IS quite gay and pink
and other hued teas prevail in the after
moons. while assemblies, balls and other
functions take up the night time. On spe-
cial occasions flowers are ordered from,
Seattle There are twenty-five or thirty
ladies who are prominent In society and
entertain. Men are plenty, but there are
few unmarried women. and there is an mr.
gent demand for them. A dozen bright girls
from the states could have a perfectly
lovely time in Juneau, hut they do not
seem 10 avail themselves of their opporttI-
mites
People have money in Juneau, and there
are two or three milionaircs scattered
around, with hundred or more men who
are worth from 10000 up. There are two
banks, and the stores are very large with
llne window displays. One firm paws IT'S
window trimmer $f05 month. What $500
sizcd town in the states does as well as
mat! Extensive stocks are carried RIM
clnS from $4,000 to s150,0O0 with annual
sales running as high as $3.50 900 at retail.
There is big business done in Indian
curlos, the Indians selling as high as $50, 600
worth year from their houses and on
the streets. One excursion steamer last
season carried out $1,000 worth of Indian
baskets.
The press Is represented by tho Dispatch
edaily) and its weekly, the Morning Record,
ey T. {. Russell. jr., a hustler: the Alaska
Miner and the Truth are weeklies Editor
Cor of the Miner, the leading paper, is a
boston Journalist and has seen service all
over, even as far as India. Single copies
sell at 10 cents each, the daily is 81
a month and the weeklies are So per
year Just now there is money In the bust
ness, for brains and advertising and job
work come high in Juneau
1t is estimated that there are go nar
sons living in Juneau who were born in the
town one of the prettiest little girls /
ever saw the daughter of Mr.. NJ Behrepds.
Is n native, and If there are MANY more
like her Juneau will have a reputation for
pretty women twenty years hence that will
make Baltimore and the blue grass region
everlastingly Jealous.
There is no Y. NJ. c. A. Somehow miners
don't yearn for that sort of thing.
Capricious Tides.
The tide rises twenty-seven feet In the
TO have to go up into the second story to
get aboard of a steamer at one time of the
day and down into the basement to get
aboard at another time
There are two or three libraries and free
reading rooms maintained by the citizens.
and they are all well patronized Dealers
Sell large quantities of paper-back novels
as well, and all the periodicals of the east
are in eager demand. I fancy that there
are few towns in the east where as MANY
people read as do in Juneau and other
northwest towns in remote localities.
There Is no police force In Juneau, the
police function being in the hands of dep-
uty United States marshals, and there is
little disorder. The fact that a man can
md trouble very easily If he is looking for
1t acts as a deterrent to disorder and
scraps are few and far between Nobody
has been shot within year About a wear
ago a deputy marshal was killed and three
wounded. This seems to have cleared the
atmosphere morally. Nothing on earth could
do 1t meteorologically, for Juneau has a
climate that is all cloud and fog and mist
and rain for about 367 days in the year.
All kinds OF hardy vegetables are raised
around the town, and one man has a floral
garden, where roses and other flowers
flourish as the green bay tree. Prices are
quite reasonable.
There is not brick house In town. Busi-