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Place Name
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Ketchikan
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Pronunciation
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KE-chi-kan
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Place Status (Type)
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city
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Population
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8,263 (1990)
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Location
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Alaska, United States, North America
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Latitude
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55°21'N
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Longitude
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131°35'W
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Ketchikan
(KE-chi-kan), city (1990 pop. 8,263), Gateway
borough, SE Alaska, a port of entry on Revillagigedo Isl. in the
Alexander Archipelago; 55°21'N 131°35'W. A supply point for miners
in the gold rush of the 1890s, it has become a center of Alaska's
fishing (especially salmon, halibut, and abalone), and the now-declining logging and pulp industries. Tourism and fish processing adds
to the economy. Major molybdenum deposit nearby under sporadic
development. Ferry connections to other panhandle communities and B.C.,
Canada. Its excellent ice-free harbor on Tongass Narrows makes it an
important port on the Inside Passage and a distribution point for a
large area. Continuance of pulp mill N of town problematic. Hq. for
Tongas Natl. Forest; Dolly's House Mus., preserves some of 20 brothels
that operated until 1954, in Creek Street red-light dist.
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