Juneau Partial Avalanche Chronology

A partial chronology of Juneau slides

Juneau Empire
Web posted Wednesday, December 17, 2003

[Note that most of these are mudslides or landslides and not snow avalanches.]

May 3, 1888: Avalanche in Icy Gulch swallows three houses.

August 1889: Rainfall causes mud slides which take out part of Basin Road and the hill behind the courthouse (Rawn Way and Franklin). It takes the cabin of John Peterson to the beach.

1896: Avalanche in Silver Bow Basin carries away the Gilbert Mill.

Sept. 26, 1900: Two Indian houses slide down the hill "below the Behrends' house" and land right-side-up on the beach.

Oct. 22, 1903: Three houses ruined in landslide.

December 6, 1912: A mud slide into the Taku village at the end of the boardwalk to Sheep Creek demolishes about a dozen homes. Other slides break flumes.

Jan. 27, 1917: Three big avalanches in the Basin. Two line-men, Ben Grout and Marius Rasmussen, are killed in a slide between the Red Mill and Ebner Mine on Jan. 26.

Nov. 7, 1918: A land and mud slide "in the usual place" on South Franklin Street.

March 4, 1929: Three avalanches. The worst one sweeps the auto of Alex Kiloh Jr. off Thane Road.

November 15, 1929: Dirt slide on Gastineau Avenue demolishes the Charles Miller home.

April 18, 1932: An avalanche at A.J. Gold Creek camp No. 1 nearly traps four workers, one of whom runs outside barefooted to escape it. It destroys the bunkhouse and mess house.

October 13, 1936: Mrs. Alex Kupoff buried in debris in slide on Gastineau Avenue.

November 13, 1936: Dirt slide on Gastineau Avenue leaves one dead, 8 injured and 11 missing. Final toll: 15 dead.

January 7, 1947: A 20-foot avalanche is being cleared off Thane Road.

January 14, 1948: A landslide damages the Erland Pearson home at 261 Gastineau Avenue.

February 18, 1949: An avalanche on Mt. Juneau cuts power and sends snow spray half the way to Douglas Island. Pete Peckovich and Ed Kirchoffer, working for the water company in the basin, have to run for their lives.

October 2, 1952: A slide on Gastineau Avenue wrecks the Sherman Crosby House. The family of three in the house escapes.

- Contributors can log in for advertising-free pages.

www.avalanche-center.org