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An Alaska Port City Vignette - Wrangell

By Mike Miller, Publisher
Alaska Cruising Report.com

    I recall, back in the 1950s when I was a Ketchikan sales rep for Pacific Northern Airlines, my boss told me my next out-of-town sales trip would be to Wrangell.

    “You’ll love it,” he said. “It’s a ‘real Alaska’ kind of town.”

    Truth to tell, I’ve never quite known what that phrase really means. But before my short first visit to Wrangell ended those many decades ago I knew he was right. It just has that Alaskan feel to it.

    For one thing there’s a huge amount of  important Alaska history wrapped up in this community. When the first Russian traders first came calling to the area around 1811 Tlingit Native peoples had already been there for centuries. They had already established an important trade route up the nearby Stikine River for the purpose of exchanging goods with Athapascan peoples in the Interior.

    Once the Russians arrived they began exchanging trade goods with the Tlingits for valuable furs such as beaver and land otter which the Tlingit people could obtain up the river. Eventually, in 1834, in order to thwart the British Hudson’s Bay Company expansion into the area the Russians even established a fort, Redoubt Saint Dionysius, on the site of the present Wrangell Harbor.

    Fast forward a half-decade to 1839. The Russians and the English mended their differences and the fort transferred into English hands with a new name – Fort Stikine. In 1867, with the purchase of Alaska from Russia the fort came into American ownership and became Fort Wrangell until its abandonment in the 1870s along with all other U.S. Army posts in Alaska except Sitka.

    Later, in a succession of three gold rushes, the now town of Wrangell survived (sometimes barely) as a supply base and jumping-off-place to Canadian interior goldfields including the Klondike. By the time that  stampede had run its course the town had established a more dependable and permanent base with two canneries and a sawmill.

    By that time a population of Tlingit Natives, under the direction of a strong leader named Chief Shakes, had established a site on a small island (called, appropriately, Shakes Island) within what is now Wrangell Harbor. Located there today is a magnificent Tribal House and a collection of exceptional totem poles. No one who visits Wrangell should miss visiting Shakes Island. This is must, must see.

Chief Shakes Tribal House was constructed as part of the 1930s government-sponsored Civilian Conservation Corps' project to recognize and restore traditional Alaska Native art and culture. The interior offers a dramatic view of the living environment for Southeastern Native peoples before the coming of other cultures to the area.  (Photo courtesy of Wrangell Convention & Visitors Bureau.)

    Nor to be missed is the Wrangell Museum located within the James and Elsie Nolan Center. There, visitors may stroll among exhibits that range from large brilliant brass Russian samovars to intricately executed Tlingit carvings, hand-woven baskets and gold rush memorabilia. Also displayed  are ancient petroglyphs (rock carvings) of undetermined age and authorship.

    More such rocks may be viewed in the tidewater setting of Petroglyph Beach State Historic Park. A wooden handicap-accessible boardwalk takes visitors to an observation deck which overlooks the beach. Petroglyph replicas are loccated on the observation deck for “rubbing” – which is prohibited on the original 40-some ‘glyphs on the beach. Depicted are sea mammals, birds, land critters and any number of spirals and designs of unknown purpose. (Curiously, among the designs are “spirals” not unlike similar rock carvings I’ve seen along beaches of the Big Island of Hawaii.) Access for viewing and photography is allowed. Local photographers recommend picture-taking in late afternoon when the sun casts shadows from each carvings’ edge. This makes the design more visible.


Walking and hiking is a favorite Wrangell pastime and a number of trails offer uncrowded forest, shoreline, and mountain options. Short on time? A one-mile stroll from Volunteer Park ballfields leads through cranberry bogs and muskeg with spectacular mountain vistas.

    The Stikine River remains a prime playground for Wrangell salmon fishers, recreationists, and rubber-necked sightseers like me. At the upper reaches of the river Shakes Glacier and Chief Shakes Hot Springs awaits. As does a U.S. Forest Service recreation site with enclosed wooden bathhouse in a forest glade and an outdoor tub. What more could one ask for? (Well, some mosquito repellant, if you haven’t remembered to bring it along. The little critters can be ravenous.)

    Two last brief viewing suggestions:

    I’ve never been to the U.S. Forest Service bear observatory at close-by Anan Creek but  friends have told me that seeing both black bears and brownies there is a lifetime memory experience. It’s on my “gotta do” list for my next visit.

    And... if you’re a golfer the local golf course with the unlikely name Muskeg Meadows gets exceptionally high raves as well.

A brown (grizzly) bear, oblivious to photographers, crouches in anticipation of passing salmon in Anan Creek near the U.S. Forest Service Anan Wildlife Observatory south of Wrangell on the mainland. The site is easily accessible by Wrangell-based daycruise vessels. (Photo courtesy of Wrangell Convention Bureau)

    Want to know more? The community’s Wrangell Convention and Visitor Bureau can be reached at 1-800-367-9745; website can be accessed at  www.wrangell.com and mailing address is P.O Box 1350, Wrangell, AK 99929. Contact WCVB for help in locating hotels/motels/b&bs, land-based sightseeing companies, guided fishing trips, waterborne whale-watching/sightseeing excursions, overnight accommodations, and more.  

Copyright © 2008 Mike Miller All Rights Reserved
Alaskan travel writer Mike Miller lives in Juneau where his current passion is publishing an information-packed website about Alaska cruising and ferry travel: http://www.AlaskaCruisingReport.com. Miller has authored a number of books (Fodors, Sierra Club Books, Globe Pequot,  and others), and contributes to The Milepost, TravelAge West (for travel agents) and frequently writes for major newspapers and magazines.