Alaska | Azzam.ch - The official Website of Simon Azzam

From Vancouver to Anchorage

Holiday Log

July, 29: Vancouver BC, Canada
July, 30: Vancouver BC, Canada
July, 31: Vancouver BC, Canada / Boarding Cruise Ship
August, 1: On the way to Ketchikan
August, 2: Ketchikan and trip to the rainforest
August, 3: Juneau, whale watching and trip to Mendenhall Glacier
August, 4: Skagway and trip to the Yukon
August, 5: Scenic cruising in Glacier Bay
August, 6: Scenic cruising in College Fjord
August, 7: Deboarding Cruise Ship / Whittier and Anchorage
August, 8: Anchorage

Look at the Log of the cruise

Vancouver BC, Canada

Archaeological evidence shows that coastal Indians had settled the Vancouver area by 500 B.C. British naval captain George Vancouver explored the area in 1792. Vancouver was founded as a sawmill settlement called Granville in the 1870s. The city was incorporated in 1886 and renamed after Captain Vancouver. Vancouver is a Canadian city in the province of British Columbia. It is the largest metropolitan centre in western Canada and third largest in Canada. Vancouver is internationally renowned for preserving its natural beauty within the metropolis. Vancouver is home to one of North America’s largest urban parks, Stanley Park. The city has all the urban amenities of a major city, as well as easy access to the Pacific Ocean and the mountains of the Pacific Coast Range.

At a glance:

The city’s population is more than 2’130’000

Ketchikan, Alaska

The Tlingit people originally settled this area as a summer fishing camp, where five different species of salom spawned every year. The Natives called it “Kitchsk-him” which means Kitchsk’s Stream. This word sounds much like another Tlingit word which translates to mean “Thundering wings of an Eagle” and this is often sited as the origin of the word Ketchikan. Locals agree that Kitchsk’s stream is the true translation. Until the late 1880’s, most of the non-Native people who arrived in the Ketchikan area were sailors, explorers and traders who bartered with the natives and then moved on. The early 1900’s were a boom time for Ketchikan, along with the rest of Alaska. Gold was discovered in the nearby hills and on Prince of Wales Island, and copper was discovered a short time later. Ketchikan quickly became the supply center for all the mines in the surrounding area. By the mid-1930’s, Ketchikan had aptly named itself “The Salmon Capital of the World”. In 1936 alone, the city packed more than 1.5 million cases of salmon. During World War II, Ketchikan was the site of a major United States Coast Guard base and housed more than 750 enlisted men and officers. Today, Ketchikan is a popular tourist destination. It is known as “The Gateway to Alaska” because it is the first stop for cruise ships heading north along the famed Inside Passage. The abundance of Native cultural icons attracts visitors from around the world and contributed to Ketchikan being named one of the Top 100 Small Arts Communities in the United States.

At a glance:

Ketchikan is 240 miles south of Juneau
Approximately 13’000 people live in Ketchikan
Ketchikan is approximately a half mile wide an seven miles long

Juneau, the capital of Alaska

In 1880, Joe Juneau and Richard Harris were prospecting in Alaska. They were led by three native guides ti the Silver Bow Basin, where they discovered gold. Out of their discovery came a camp that became the capital city of Alaska: Juneau. Juneau was first named Harrisburg – some say because Harris was the only partner able to write and recorded it that way. The name didn’t stick. After news of the gold strike spread to Sitka, nearly 300 prospectors swarmed to the camp renamed it Rockwell. Shortly after, it became Juneau and that name stuck. Gold fever led to gold production. By 1882, the world famous Treadwell Mine was operational and expanding. Gold was what Juneau was all about, and within a decade of the Juneau/Harris discovery, wagon roads penetrated the valleys behind the camp-turned-town. Polotics took center stage in Juneau from the beginning as well. The future state’s first political convention was held here in the summer of 1881. And in 1906, the district government of Alaska transferred to Juneau from Sitka. Gold remained Juneau’s and Alaska’s mainstay until the government shut down the mine in 1944 because of manpower and conservation issues. By the time the mine was shut down, the city had experienced a continuous rise in its territorial government activity and employment. By 1959, when Alaska became state number 49, government had all but filled the economic void left by the empty mine. While many people made a fortune during the gold rush, Juneau and Harris never got rich from their discoveries. Juneau died broke in the Canadian Yukon and a collection had to be taken up to send his body home for burial in the city he co-founded.

At a glance:

Juneau is the capital of Alaska
Approximately 30’000 people live in Juneau
The airport is a 15 minute drive from the cruise ship pier

Skagway, Alaska

The first known homesteader in the area was Capt. William Moore, who settled at the mouth of the Skagway River in 1887, after discovering the White Pass route into the Yukon. He believed that a gold rush to the Yukon was inevitable, so he staked out a 160-acre claim and waited. In August of 1896 gold was discovered on the Klondike River. When steamers arrived in San Francisco and Seattle laden with two tons of gold, the nation was electrified. The first shipload of prospectors anchored off Moore’s homestead in 1897. They swam ashore, seized Moore’s land and hired a surveyor to lay out the streets of the new town. When it was discovered Moore’s cabin stood right in the middle of a new street, he was evicted and his cabin thrown into the mud flats. Within months the population of Skagway exceeded 20’000, making it the largest city in Alaska. In October 1897, according to a Northwest Mounted Police report, Skagway “had grown from a concourse of tents to a fair-sized town with well-laid-out streets and numerous frame buildings, stores, saloons, gambling houses and dance houses”. Although the gold rush lasted a few short years, during that time Skagway erupted into a state of chaos likened by visitors to “hell on earth”. The town consisted of few permanent structures; prospectors lived in tents and shacks erected in a haphazard manner. Civilization first appeared to arrive when the White Pass and Yukon Route began constructing its railroad in May of 1898. By the time the rail was completed to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory in 1900, the gold rush was over. Since 1900, Skagway has served as a railroad town and port of call. The railroad was Skagway’s economic mainstay for more than 80 years until it closed in 1982, then reopened in 1988 as a summer operation. The visitor industry remained small until 1920 and has since grown into a major economic force. Today, tourism is Skagway’s main economic base. Within Skagway’s downtown historical district, false-front buildings and boardwalks date from gold rush time. The local residents have succeeded in retaining the 1898 Gold Rush atmosphere.

At a glance:

Approximately 800 people live in Skagway
Skagway is a 20 by 5 block area
The Skagway airport is located along the Skagway River in downtown

Whittier and Anchorage, Alaska

Whittier is the gateway to the spectacular Prince William Sound and the city of Anchorage. Founded in 1915 as construction headquarters for the Alaska Railroad, Anchorage is the largest city in the state. A mix of the familiar and the unusual, the metropolitan and the rustic, Anchorage is a place where it is not uncommon to see moose walking through the parking lot of a downtown skyscraper.

At a glance: