Whether you arrive on a jet that swoops in from Seattle, aboard an Alaska Marine Highway ferry, or a cruise ship, you know you're in Alaska when you set foot in Ketchikan. The little town of 14,500 is built right over the water in many places—the steep hillsides making construction extremely expensive. Established originally as a fishing camp, Ketchikan today bustles with activity. Commercial fishing enterprises, growing tourism and the Misty Fjords National Monument to the east make Ketchikan  a great place to visit.

An outstanding collection of totems make a stop here essential for anyone  looking for the "real Alaska". Ketchikan's name supposedly comes from the native term "Katch Kanna", which roughly translates: "spread  wings of a prostrate eagle". But lest you think eagles are creatures of the past, look carefully along the water line, both north and south of town, and you're likely to see one or more bald eagles circling back to their  waterside perches.

Although the town appears to have grown in topsy-turvy fashion, it almost  seems today to have been built for its visitors: The big jet airport (its  runways built on three levels), is just a short ferry ride across Tongass Narrows.

Ketchikan Map (PDF)

History
In 1883, a man named Snow built a salmon saltery on the spot where Ketchikan now stands.  Two years later, businessmen from Portland, Oregon, hired Mike Martin to investigate  possibilities for building a salmon cannery on the banks of Ketchikan Creek. Martin and the cannery's manager, George Clark, set up a partnership and opened a saltery and a general store. Two years later, with the fishing trade flourishing, Ketchikan was definitely in business. And by 1900, with a population of 800, the town was officially incorporated.

With mining activities beginning in the area, Ketchikan became an important  trading community, with an estimated two-thirds of miners' wages reportedly  ending up in the bars and bordellos of Creek Street.

Despite a mining decline, the fishing industry and timber operations began to grow with establishment of the Ketchikan Spruce Mills early in the century.

In 1954, Ketchikan Pulp Mill was completed at nearby Ward Cove, assuring jobs not only in town, but in the surrounding woods as well. Today, that industry is in trouble world wide but the ever resilient Alaskans are starting to focus on another mainstay, tourism. Cruise ships, the Alaska Marine Highway and Alaska Airlines as well as many charter operators bring thousands of visitors  to town through the summer months, while across Tongass Narrows, an endless stream of jet aircraft keep Ketchikan very much in touch with the world outside.