Creek Street, Ketchikan, Alaska
The Creek Street postcard shared this week has a photo by Hamilton Gelhar and is issued by fishcreekalaska.com. There are no identifying numbers or an information blurb on the card.
And I thought we had a lot of stairs! Ketchikan is built on very steep hills. We saw lots of houses with steps like these. These stairs connect the upper road with the Married Man's Trail.
A little ways ahead the narrow walkway between the buildings along the creek was lined with small shops.
The buildings are on pilings in the creek
On the walk back from the Totem Heritage Center we took the Married Man’s Trail that leads down into Creek Street. Ketchikan’s main industry is fishing and the fish canneries. It has been called the “Salmon Capital of the World.” Another industry was the Ketchikan Pulp Company that operated for 40 years until it was shut down in 1997. Tourism is a major industry today.
A woman dressed in costume was inviting guests into the Dolly's House museum
Creek Street housed the red light district with bars and bordellos. Its most famous brothel, Dolly’s House, has been turned into a museum where for a $10 fee visitors can learn interesting things about the bawdy days. Prostitution was illegal on land; however, the owners of these establishments built in the water to get around that law. Dolly Arthur bought her house for $800 and was the madam until age 72.
Along the Married Man's Trail
The Married Man’s Trail that winds down the hillside and connects to Creek Street was supposed to be a way a married man could sneak out the to bars and bordellos.
It even has a road sign
Looking down from the Married Man's Trail on the creek below
Larger view of the fish sculpture in the creek
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