Long before there was a town here, Tlingit Indians maintained a fish camp at the mouth of the stream we call Ketchikan Creek. They came every year in late summer to harvest the abundant run of humpback salmon.

In 1887, businessmen from Portland, Oregon established the Tongass Packing Company and built a small cannery here. In the middle of its third season, the cannery was destroyed by fire. Michael Martin and George Clark purchased the land and built a salmon saltery where the cannery had been. Eventually, they opened a general store nearby. The rest, as they say, is history.

Ketchikan has been mining center, fishing port, cannery town, transportation hub, timber town, regional center of government and commerce, and tourist destination. It has been called a variety of things, from “The Salmon Capital of the World” to “The Wickedest City in Alaska.” Through it all, the Town on Tongass Narrows has been friendly, resilient, independent, resourceful, and proudly Alaskan. We hope some of that comes through in this exhibit.