Juneau Alaska

     The City and Borough of Juneau ( /'d?u?no?/) is located on the Gastineau
     Channel in the panhandle of the U.S. state of Alaska. It has been the
     capital of Alaska since 1906, when the government of the then-District of
     Alaska was moved from Sitka as dictated by the U.S. Congress in 1900.
     The municipality unified in 1970 when the city of Juneau merged with the
     City of Douglas and the surrounding Greater Juneau Borough to form the
     current home rule municipality.
	 
     The area of Juneau is larger than that of Rhode Island and Delaware
     individually and almost as large as the two states combined. Downtown
     Juneau 58°18'07?N 134°25'11?W is nestled at the base of Mount Juneau and
     across the channel from Douglas Island. As of the 2010 census, the City
     and Borough had a population of 31,275.

     Juneau is named after gold prospector Joe Juneau, though the place was for a
     time called Rockwell and then Harrisburg (after Juneau's co-prospector,
     Richard Harris). The Tlingit name of the town is Dzántik'i Héeni
     ("river where the flounders gather"), and Auke Bay just north of Juneau
     proper is called Aak'w ("little lake") in Tlingit. The Taku River, just south
     of Juneau, was named after the cold t'aakh wind, which occasionally blows
     down from the mountains.

     Downtown Juneau sits at sea level, with tides averaging 16 feet (5 m),
     below steep mountains about 3,500 feet (1,100 m) to 4,000 feet (1,200 m) high.
     Atop these mountains is the Juneau Icefield, a large ice mass from which 
     about 30 glaciers flow; two of these, the Mendenhall Glacier and the Lemon 
     creek Glacier, are visible from the local road system; the Mendenhall glacier
     has been generally retreating; its front face is declining both in
     width and height.

     The Alaska State Capitol in downtown Juneau was originally built as the 
     Federal and Territorial Building in 1931. Prior to statehood, it housed
     federal government offices, the federal courthouse and a post office. It also
     housed the territorial legislature and many other territorial offices,
     including that of the governor. Today, it is still the home of the state
     legislature and the offices of the governor and lieutenant governor.
     Other executive branch offices have largely moved elsewhere, in Juneau
     or elsewhere in the state, in the ongoing battle between branches for
     space in the building, as well as the decades-long capital move issue.
     Recent discussion has been focused between relocating the seat of state
     government outside of Juneau and building a new capitol building in Juneau.
     Neither position has advanced very far. The Alaska Committee, a local
     community advocacy group, has led efforts to thus far keep the capital
     in Juneau.