Richard Tighe Harris (October 31, 1833 – October 11, 1907) was an Irish American miner and

prospector Prospector may refer to: Space exploration * Prospector (spacecraft), a planned lunar probe, canceled in 1962 * '' Lunar Prospector'', a NASA spacecraft Trains * Prospector (train), a passenger train operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Western ...

Life

Richard Harris was born in

Banbridge Banbridge ( , ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Bann and the A1 road and is named after a bridge built over the River Bann in 1712. It is situated in the civil parish of Seapatrick and the historic barony of Iv ...

, County Down,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. He then attended

Girard College Girard College is an independent college preparatory five-day boarding school located on a 43-acre campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The school was founded and permanently endowed from the shipping and banking fortune of Stephen Girard upon ...

, a private boarding school in

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. He is most famous for co-founding, with

Joe Juneau Joe or JOE may refer to: Arts Film and television * ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle * ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage * ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971 * ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...

, the city of Juneau, Alaska. The first major

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

discovery in Juneau or

Douglas Island Douglas Island is a tidal island in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is part of the city and borough of Juneau, just west of downtown Juneau and east of Admiralty Island. It is separated from mainland Juneau by the Gastineau Channel, and contains t ...

(across from Juneau) was around 1880. It has been the political capital of Alaska since 1906. His Native American guide in southeastern Alaska was Chief Kowee. Kowee is credited with discovering much of the Juneau area. Richard and Joe were sent with Kowee by George Pilz, an entrepreneur from

Sitka russian: Ситка , native_name_lang = tli , settlement_type = Consolidated city-borough , image_skyline = File:Sitka 84 Elev 135.jpg , image_caption = Downtown Sitka in 1984 , image_size ...

. Harris and Juneau traded with the natives much of their grubstake for hoochinoo. When they returned to Pilz empty-handed, he sent them back to the Juneau area. There, Kowee took them beyond Gold Creek (which today flows beside the Hurff Ackerman Saunders Federal Building and Robert Boochever U.S. Courthouse) to Silver Bow Basin. Today, a creek on Douglas Island is named Kowee Creek. After the discovery of gold in

Juneau The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau ( ; tli, Dzánti K'ihéeni ), is the capital city of the state of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a unified municipality and the s ...

, Harris and Juneau loaded approximately 1,000 pounds of gold ore back to

Sitka russian: Ситка , native_name_lang = tli , settlement_type = Consolidated city-borough , image_skyline = File:Sitka 84 Elev 135.jpg , image_caption = Downtown Sitka in 1984 , image_size ...

. The town did not take its current name immediately; originally, it was known as Harrisburg, Pilzburg, and Rockwell. Juneau was able to buy votes from enough of his fellow miners for the name to be changed. Today, Harris Street still exists in Juneau. Harris lived for the remainder of his life in Juneau, before later moved to a nursing home in

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

, where he died. Both Harris and Juneau are buried in the city's Evergreen Cemetery.

Sources

University of Alaska, Anchorage Archives

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Richard Gold prospectors American gold prospectors People from County Down 1833 births 1907 deaths Burials at Evergreen Cemetery (Juneau, Alaska)