Between and after the rushes, Wrangell made its living from the sea and the forest. Fish traps went in at the mouth of the Stikine in the 1890s, and salmon canneries grew into the backbone of the town, packing the runs that came down the river every summer. When canning gave way in the mid-twentieth century, a lumber mill took its place, and Wrangell settled into the role it still plays — a working Inside Passage town of fishermen, loggers, and harbor hands, far quieter than the cruise ports to the north. When statehood arrived in 1959 the new state finally outlawed the fish traps that had thinned the Stikine runs, and the salmon slowly came back.
Start with the river and the people. The Stikine pours out of the Coast Mountains into the islands of the Inside Passage, and the Stikine Tlingit built their life around it — fishing, trading inland, and carving the totems the town is still known for. When the Russians arrived to guard the fur trade, Chief Shakes moved the Tlingit village to Shakes Island in the heart of today's harbor, beside the new redoubt. The island was named, like the town, for Baron Ferdinand von Wrangel, the Russian-American Company governor. The Hudson's Bay Company soon leased the Stikine country and flew the British flag over Fort Stikine; the lease ran until 1867, when the United States bought Alaska and a year later raised a third flag over Fort Wrangell.
Why People Visit Wrangell
Wrangell rewards the off-the-path traveler. It pairs living Tlingit culture with easy reach of the Stikine and bear country, and you can see totems, petroglyphs, and a working harbor in a single walkable day. It feels authentic, green, and quietly adventurous — an Alaska town that stayed itself — with year-round appeal in its trails, parks, and waterfront.
