Paulette Simpson: When our ships come in

By PAULETTE SIMPSON

April 29, 2026 – Enrichment, relaxation, recreation – and frankly better weather – draw many Juneauites south in Fall and Winter months.  Some disperse to bucket list destinations around the globe while others join fellow “snowbirds” in warmer enclaves, returning just before summer cruise ships sail north.

We sometimes forget that ships have been showing up on Juneau shores for over 145 years.

The 1880 discovery of gold in the Gastineau Channel area drew the first visitors to what was then known as the “Department of Alaska.”

In what was likely Juneau’s inaugural tourism season, the mail steamer Los Angeles visited “Harrisburg” in August 1881. As reported in the San Francisco Examiner, the ship carried “a company of ‘jovial tourists’, whose sole object was to see all there was to be seen.” 

By the end of 1881, the mining camp had been re-named Juneau, and the Pacific Steamship Company of San Francisco had begun monthly service to Southeast with the 226’ side-wheeler Ancon and the 198’ wooden steamer Idaho.

Carrying miners, food and freight, the ships routinely brought tourists to view Juneau’s gold rush.

In 1884, Alaska became the “District of Alaska” and by then, the steamship company offered excursion cruises in the summer, advertising fine accommodations, stops in Glacier Bay, and “unsurpassed scenic grandeur along the route.”

Steamship passengers were an important source of revenue for our young community.  In her book Treadwell Gold,author Sheila Kelly includes a 1909 photo of Tlingit women selling woven baskets to tourists on the Treadwell Wharf, a 1912 photo of her father guiding visitors on a tour of the Treadwell Glory Hole, and a photo of visitors taken 1,250 feet underground.

The Alaska Gold Rush also extended to Skagway and Dawson City YT which to this day still market their gold rush history past.  It’s those two towns’ primary commodity and why they’re not ghost towns.

By 1912, Alaska had become the “Territory of Alaska,” and in 1959 we achieved statehood.  In 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) into law, designating 157 million acres of federal land in Alaska as new or expanded conservation system units.  The Act created 10 new national parks and preserves, nine wildlife refuges, 23 wild and scenic rivers, national monuments and recreational areas.

ANILCA captured the public’s attention and broadened Alaska’s appeal far beyond its iconic gold rush.

During that pre-cable TV time, the three major television networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) broadcast spectacular images of Alaska into living rooms across the country, enticing viewers to experience Alaska’s scenery, wildlife and recreation and learn about our Indigenous cultures.

Most Americans view our national parks as shared treasures belonging to everyone.  ANILCA more than doubled the size of the National Park System so it was inevitable, especially with the intense media coverage, that its 1980 passage would produce a significant boon to Alaska tourism. And that it did.

In 1900, sailing first class from Seattle to Juneau on a steamship cost around $100-$130, an amount that was only accessible to the very wealthy. The economies of scale changed all that and today, Alaska cruise tourism is no longer the exclusive domain of the very rich.  In fact, it’s extremely egalitarian.

Competitive pricing, shoulder-season offerings, and a range of stateroom options make “bucket list” Alaska cruises affordable to almost anyone, from middle class mid-westerners and widows on fixed-incomes to families celebrating landmark anniversaries.

Just like they were in the early days, visitors remain important to Juneau’s economy.  They purchase goods and services from local businesses that allow our creative private sector entrepreneurs to establish roots in our community, grow their enterprises, and often operate year-round.  Twenty-five percent of Juneau’s annual sales tax revenue comes directly from those visitors whose outside dollars help put police on our streets and keep our roads plowed in the winter.

When tourists leave, they take memories and photographs to share with family, friends and future visitors, just like we do when we travel.

We are all visitors on this planet, which is another way of saying, we are both guests and hosts. Let’s try to be good ones.

Paulette Simpson is a longtime Juneau resident.

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