Biography - Chief Kowee

Chief Kowee, one of the chiefs of the Auk Tlingits. Kowee may have had a summer house at the mouth of this creek and in some accounts he is credited with having guided Joe Juneau and Richard Harris to their original gold find at Silver Bow Basin. At any rate, Juneau and Richard Harris staked the "Kow-eeh Gold an Silver Quartz Lode" claim on Cowee Creek on October 12, 1880. The early miners usually spelled the name Kowee or Kow-eeh, although occasionally the form Cowee or Cow-eeh was used. The creek is known as Kowee Creek on mineral survey play No. 569, by C.E. Davidson, August 15, 1902, but the following year when W.J. Peters, topographer with the U.S. Geological Survey, mapped the area he showed it as Cowee Creek and this spelling has been followed on subsequent maps. Chief Kowee lived in the Auk village at Juneau right after the whites came here and served as Indian policemen during the days of Navy rule. He died at his home in Juneau on February 27, 1892, at an age estimated as 75, and his body was cremated with the usual ceremonies. A plaque marking the approximate site of the cremation stands at Glacier Avenue and Irwin Street.

Cowee Creek - on Douglas Island, discharging into Gastineau Channel just north of the bridge. Named for Kowee.

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