City of Ketchikan

About Us :

Ketchikan was originally called "kitschk-kin," meaning creek of the thundering wings of an eagle. This name was given to a creek (now called, aptly, Ketchikan Creek) by the Cape Fox and Tongass Tlingit tribes they had been using as a fish camp.

Ketchikan is known throughout Alaska as a friendly, hard-working town. Tucked into the mountains, and spilling down to the shores of the Inside Passage, this regional hub of 15,000, makes its living from the surrounding forest, from the abundant fish runs, from the thousands of visitors that flock north each year, and other entrepreneurial ventures.

The first Alaska port of call for northbound cruise ships, commercial vessels and state ferries, Ketchikan is 680 air miles north of Seattle and is located in the nation's largest national forest, the Tongass, which totals 17 million acres