Wrangell
WRANGELL
GATEWAY TO THE STIKINE RIVER
I
n 1834 the Russians erected Fort Dionysius to prevent the Hudson’s Bay Company from fur trading up the Stikine River. When the Russians finally agreed to lease Southeast Alaska to the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1840, Fort Dionysius was renamed Fort Stikine. The name of the settlement was changed to Fort Wrangell when Alaska became a United States territory in 1867. Prospectors of two gold rushes surged through Wrangell en route to the gold fields via the Stikine River, first in 1874 with the Cassiar discovery, and again in 1897 with the Klondike discovery. Some very notable people passed through Wrangell including the naturalist
www.BellsAlaska.com
John Muir and Wyatt Earp who stopped on his way to Nome. He even served as Marshall for 10 days. Alaska’s first Presbyterian Church and school were established here in 1877. A weekly newspaper, The Wrangell Sentinel, printed its first issue November 2, 1902, and still continues to print today, which makes it the oldest continuous publication in Alaska. The Stikine River, a designated wilderness area is abundant with the wildlife that lured the Hudson Bay Company to establish a settlement here. During July and August the Anan Bear and Wildlife Observatory is a favorite spot to view brown and black bears feasting on salmon.
Inside Passage
25
