KETCHIKAN

city, port of entry, on Revillagigedo Island, Alexander Archipelago, southeastern Alaska, U.S. Originally a fishing settlement and a supply centre for miners during the gold rush of the 1890s, its Tlingit Indian name, Kach Khanna, means spread wings of prostrate eagle. Served by air transport and by steamship lines along the Inside Passage (Alaska Marine Highway), Ketchikan has an economy based on fishing, canning, logging, pulp milling, and tourism. The city is centred on its waterfront, with many buildings constructed above the water on pilings. The salmon derbies are annual fishing contests. The Ketchikan campus of the University of Alaska Southeast was opened as a community college in 1954. Saxman Totem Park and Totem Bight, both nearby, have large collections of Indian totem poles. Inc. 1900. Pop. (1990) 8,263; (1994 est.) 8,781.