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With a population of approximately 2,150 people Wrangell lies near
the mouth of the famous Stikine River. Summer temperatures typically range
from 42 to 64; winter temperatures range from 21 to 44. Average annual
precipitation is 82 inches, including 64 inches of snowfall.
Wrangell's economy is based on commercial fishing and timber from the
Tongass National Forest. Although Wrangell offers a deep-water port, they
cater to the smaller cruise ships. Stikine River sport fishing attracts
independent travelers.
Wrangell is one of the oldest non-Native settlements in Alaska. In 1811, the
Russians began fur trading with area Tlingits, and built a stockade named
Redoubt Saint Dionysius in 1834. The Island was named for Ferdinand Von
Wrangell, manager of the Russian-American Co. around 1830. The British of
Hudson's Bay Co. leased the fort in 1840, and named the stockade Fort
Stikine. A large Stikine Indian village known as Kotzlitzna was located 13
miles south of the fort. The Tlingits claimed their own ancient trade rights
to the Stikine River, and protested when the Hudson Bay Company began to use
their trade routes. But two epidemics of smallpox, in 1836 and 1840, reduced
the Tlingit population by half. The fort was abandoned in 1849 when furs
were depleted. The fort remained under the British flag until Alaska's
purchase by the U.S. in 1867. In 1868, a U.S. military post called Fort
Wrangell was established, named for the Island. The community continued to
grow as an outfitter for gold prospectors in 1861, 1874-77, and in 1897. Wrangell was the supply center for three gold rushes: on the
Stikine in 1861, the Cassiar (1874-1877) and the Klondike in 1897-1898.
Riotous with 10,000 prospectors, Wrangell was the wild west. Riotous activity filled gambling halls, dance halls, and the streets.
Thousands of miners traveled up the Stikine River into the Cassiar District
of British Columbia during 1874, and again to the Klondike in 1897. Glacier
Packing Company began operating in Wrangell in 1889. The Wilson & Sylvester
Sawmill provided packing boxes for canneries, and lumber for construction.
The City was incorporated in 1903. By 1916, fishing and forest products had
become the primary industries - four canneries and a cold storage plant were
constructed by the late 1920s. In the 1930s, cold packing of crab and shrimp
was occurring. Abundant spruce and hemlock resources have helped to expand
the lumber and wood products industry. The Alaska Pulp Corporation sawmill,
Wrangell's largest employer, closed in late 1994.
The City is accessible by air and water. The State-owned paved
lighted runway enables jet service. A seaplane base is adjacent to the
runway. Scheduled air taxi services are also available. Freight arrives by
barge, ship, ferry and cargo plane.
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