Ketchikan, city, Ketchikan Gateway Borough, southeastern Alaska, on
Revillagigedo Island, a seaport along the Inside Passage; incorporated 1900. It
has a fine natural harbor and is a center for fishing (especially salmon),
lumbering, and mining activities. Tourism is also important to the city's
economy. Located here is an international airport and a branch campus of the
University of Alaska, Southeast (1954). A salmon cannery was established on the
site of the present-day city in 1887. The community grew rapidly after copper
mining began nearby in 1898. The city's name is possibly derived from a Tlingit
phrase meaning “spread wings of an eagle.”
Inside Passage, natural protected waterway, northwestern North
America, 1,500 km (950 mi) long. It extends along the coast from Seattle,
Washington, to Skagway, Alaska, and is an important year-round shipping lane.
The passage is made up of a series of straits sheltered from Pacific Ocean
storms by Vancouver Island and other islands. Ports along the passage include
Vancouver and Prince Rupert, B.C., Canada, and Ketchikan, Wrangell, and
Juneau, Alaska.
