Story Timeline

1860s - First Gold Rush

By the 1860s, due to epidemic disease, the population of Kaachxana.áakʼw was less than half of what it was when fur traders first arrived. The fur trade was in decline, but gold became the new attraction. After Canadian miner Buck Choquette married Shakes’ daughter, he was shown where to find gold on the Stikine River, kicking off Alaska’s first gold rush. By the end of the decade, the Stikine Gold Rush was dried up, but the arrival of the U.S. Army in May 1868 to construct a fort brought money, merchants, ships, and conflict.

1870s - The American Era

Following the Bombardment of Wrangell, the U.S. Army abandoned Fort Wrangel and sold the garrison to local trader, William King Lear. After several years as a ghost town, the Cassiar Gold Rush brought thousands of miners to Fort Wrangel in 1874, and the Army reoccupied the garrison until 1877. After Tsimshian missionaries converted the Tlingit to Christianity, the Presbyterian Church began sending people to lead the new converts. Naturalist John Muir joined a group of Presbyterian missionaries to Fort Wrangel, which he made his home during his stays in Alaska.

1880-1890s - Era of Neglect

While the U.S. Army and the gold rush are long gone, the missionaries to be an influential group within Fort Wrangel’s Tlingit community. In 1884, the Organic Act provides Fort Wrangel with a judge and courthouse six months of the year. Steamships deliver curious tourists who photograph and document the town. The population dwindles through the end of the century, until the Klondike Gold Rush sparked new life.

1898-1902 - Klondike Gold Rush

Of the many routes to the Klondike, the path through Fort Wrangel and up the Stikine River was likely the worst. That didn’t stop gold miners from trying. As Fort Wrangel’s population swelled, the U.S. Army returned to reoccupy the Fort Wrangel garrison. For the first time, the population of European descent outnumbered the Indigenous. As the Alaska Packers Association grew, the Tlingit continued to press their case for compensation.

1900s - The New Century

Wrangell made major steps towards maturing into a first-rate town. It formally incorporated into a city in 1903 so it could lay taxes and appoint positions of power. An electric power plant and street lamps soon followed, and a telegraph line connected Wrangell to communications from north and south. In March 1906, a fire leveled the north end of Front Street, but Wrangell’s merchants quickly rebuilt. Civic groups organized around providing services for the town, such as the Redmen Cemetery. The wreck of the Star of Bengal near the end of the decade highlighted the risks and rewards of industry in Alaska.

1910s - The Teens

Wrangell was modernizing, but it still maintained the character of a rough town on edge of the frontier. Gas-powered outboard motors revolutionized travel around Wrangell and up the Stikine River. Seasonal workers came in the summer to work in fisheries and timber. The decade was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I and the Spanish Influenza pandemic that followed.

1920s - The Roaring 20s

The post-war, post-influenza lockdown years saw dramatic growth in Wrangell. The town’s economic boosters began crafting an identity for Wrangell that could be sold to tourists. Racial conflicts led to disputes that played out publicly and beneath the surface. The movement for Alaska Native civil rights achieved milestone victories.

1930s - The Depression

Despite the economic depression gripping the nation, Wrangell boasted a brand-new high school building and a Wrangell Institute building just out a newly constructed road. Front Street is transformed by shops catering to tourists, but concerns about the deteriorating condition of Shakes Island raise alarm. Aviation changed Alaska, allowing daring bush pilots to access remote towns.

1940s - The War Years

The unveiling of the reconstructed Shakes Island marked a cultural and tourism high watermark for Wrangell. World War II consumed the Pacific, and the U.S. Army temporarily stationed Unangax̂ refugees to the Wrangell Institute. After the war, a generation of military veterans settled in Wrangell and began businesses and families. By the end of the decade, the Wrangell Institute converted from a high school to an elementary-junior high.