Arrivals & Departures

The airport and the town are on two separate islands. When you arrive at Ketchikan International Airport, you will have a short seven minute ferry ride from Gravina Island to Revillagigedo Island at a cost of $5 per person. The ferry runs every half hour on the half hour (ie 12:00 and 12:30) from the airport to the town side. During some periods of summer, there are two ferries which run every 15 minutes. Please give us a call when you have received your bags and know which ferry you will be coming across on. The Narrows Inn provides a courtesy van from both the airport ferry terminal and the Alaska Marine Highway ferry terminal on our island to the hotel. There is currently no door to door service available directly from the airport to the hotel. Dock to dock service can be arranged with the Water Taxi, 907-617-8294, bringing you and your bags from the airport float plane dock to our marina dock, about a 10 minute ride, for about $12. If you do not want the inconvenience of handling your bags, call us and we will make arrangements for them to be brought over later in the day for $5 per bag. Some baggage carts are available for you to take on the ferry and leave in a cart rack on our side. Upon your departure, we can arrange for bags and fish boxes to be transproted to the airport.

History

Ketchikan is located on the western coast of Revillagigedo Island, near the southernmost border between Alaska and Canada in what is known as the Panhandle. It is 679 miles north of Seattle and 235 miles south of Juneau. The 2.2 million acre Misty Fjords National Monument lies 22 air miles east of Ketchikan. It is the first Alaska port of call for northbound cruise ships and State ferries, thus we are known as the First City of Alaska.

Tongass and Cape Fox Tlingits have used Ketchikan Creek as a fish camp which they called “kitschkhin,” meaning creek of the “thundering wings of an eagle.” The abundant fish and timber resources attracted non-Natives to Ketchikan. In 1885, Mike Martin bought 160 acres from Chief Kyan, which later became the township.

The first cannery opened in 1886 near the mouth of Ketchikan Creek and four more were built by 1912. The Ketchikan Post Office was established in 1892. In the late 1890s, nearby gold and copper discoveries briefly brought activity to Ketchikan as a mining supply center. By 1936, 7 canneries were in operation, producing 1.5 million cases of salmon. Ketchikan named itself the “Salmon Capital of the World.” Ketchikan Spruce Mills was built in 1903 as new construction and packing boxes increased the need for lumber. It operated for over 70 years. Spruce was in high demand during World War II, and Ketchikan became a supply center for area logging. The forest is predominantly spruce and best used for pulp. A $55 million pulp mill was constructed at Ward Cove near Ketchikan in 1954. Its operation fueled the growth of the community. The mill’s 50 year contract with the U.S. Forest Service for timber was canceled, and the pulp mill closed in March 1997. Tourism has become the basis for a majority of the economic activity in Ketchikan.