The king salmon, also called the Chinook salmon and the chrome hog, is the largest species of Pacific salmon. They are native to the north Pacific Ocean and the river systems of western North America, ranging from California to Alaska as well as Asian rivers from northern Japan to northeast Arctic Siberia.

In addition to Ketchikan High School being the only known high school in the United States with the mascot of king salmon, the fish is also on the city flag. Ketchikan is the southeast-most hub of Alaska, in what one might call a panhandle archipelago, or cluster of islands, abutting from the state. It is also both west and north of British Columbia.

Ketchikan is named for the eponymous creek flowing through the town. The name is a corruption of the Tlingit 'Kitschk-hin', the meaning of which is unclear but possibly 'the river belonging to Kitschk'. Other accounts claim it means 'thundering wings of an eagle'. In modern Tlingit, this name is Kichx̱áan. Tlingit and Haida are the two principal subsets of Southern Coastal Indians, in turn one of the five major groups of Alaska Natives, the others being Aleuts; Interior Indians (Athabascans); Southern Eskimos (Yuit); and Northern Eskimos (Inupiat).

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