This is Gold Mine Creek… In 1880, Joe Juneau and Richard Harris found large pieces of quartz mixed with gold in this very same waterway. Juneau later created the Treadwell Mine which became the largest gold mine in the world.
This area of where Joe Juneau discovered the first substantial piece of gold in Alaska was eventually named after Joe, which of course is what you know to be called Juneau, Alaska.
Too bad for Russia – Russian Prime Minister Baron Edward Stoeckl completed the Treaty of Cession of Russian America on March 30, 1867. It was then official, the territory became the property of the United States for a price tag of $7.2 million. Not a bad deal considering the fact that Alaska has produced over $27 BILLION in precious metals, coal, oil and other commodities between 1880 and 2009.