- 1903

The Australian ballot was used for the first time in Juneau on May 20 for the election of six city councilmen, three school board members and a city magistrate. The new form of ballot worked very well. (Aka secret ballot in which voters mark their votes privately on uniform ballots, then deposit them into closed ballot boxes).

Football game on ball field, Treadwell, Alaska. Alaska State Library, ASL Juneau Area People, ca. 1915, P525-6-28.

On New Years Day, teams from Juneau and Douglas high schools played the first football game in Alaska under adverse conditions, with Douglas winning 20 – 0. Only one kick was attempted and it resulted in the ball sailing out into Gastineau Channel. The game was delayed while a skiff was found to rescue the ball. Later that spring a baseball park was created at the site of the old Calhoun dairy farm on the Gold Creek “flats” (where the football game had been played.)

Local telephone service increased from 12 to 24-hour service. Telegraphic communication was established October 2 between Sitka, Skagway, and Juneau via submarine cables.

Joe Juneau was buried August 16 in Evergreen Cemetery. His body was moved from Dawson, Canada where he had died in 1899.

Two large parties of Atlin Indians arrived in mid-March, laden with furs to trade. The two parties traveled together as far as the mouth of the Taku River. They then split up and made a race of it to see which could reach Juneau first. One group came over a pass in the mountains and down Silver Bow Basin and Gold Creek Valley. The other party took to canoes and came around Point Bishop and up the channel. The mountain climbers reached the city a full hour ahead of those who came by water.