Ketchikan

Ketchikan (ke'chikăn") [key], city (1990 pop. 8,263), SE Alaska, a port of entry on Revillagigedo Island in the Alexander Archipelago. A supply point for miners in the gold rush of the 1890s, it has become a center of Alaska's fishing industry (especially salmon, halibut, and abalone). Its logging, and pulp industries are declining, but tourism adds to the economy. There are major molybdenum deposits nearby. Its excellent ice-free harbor on Tongass Narrows makes it an important port on the Inside Passage and a distribution point for a large area. The headquarters of Tongass National Forest are in Ketchikan, and Dolly's House Museum preserves some of the 20 brothels that operated in the city until 1954.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

• • Cite
  • Print
  • Email
  • Bookmark
    • Add bookmark
    • Add to del.icio.us
    • Digg It!
    • Add to Reddit