Wrangell, Alaska

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Wrangell is a city in Wrangell-Petersburg Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 2,308. Its Tlingit name is Khaachxhaana.áak'w, and the Tlingit people residing in the Wrangell area call themselves the Khaachxhaana.áak'w Khwáan, or alternately the Shtax'héen Khwáan after the nearby Stikine River.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Demographics
4 Transportation
5 External links

[edit] History

Wrangell harbor

Wrangell is one of the oldest non-Native settlements in Alaska. In 1811, the Russians began fur trading with area Tlingit at the site of present-day Wrangell. In 1834, Baron Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel, then head of Russian government interests in Russian America, ordered a stockade built near the Tlingit Naanyaa.aayi clan house of Chief Shakes that was located about 13 miles (20 km) north of the large Tlingit village of Kotzlitzna. The stockade, named Redoubt Saint Dionysius, was on the location of present-day Wrangell. The British Hudson's Bay Company leased the fort in 1840 and named the stockade Fort Stikine.

Totem poles at the Shakes house

The Tlingits had used the Stikine River as a trade route to the interior since ancient times and they protested when the Hudson Bay Company began to use their trade routes. However, two epidemics of smallpox in 1836 and 1840 reduced the Tlingit population in the area by half and silenced most of the protest.

The fort was abandoned in 1849 after the area sea otter and beaver stocks were depleted. It remained under British rule until Alaska's purchase by the United States in 1867.

In 1868, a U. S. military post called Fort Wrangell was built at the site. The community around the post continued to grow through commerce with gold prospectors in the gold rushes of 1861, 1874–1877, and 1897. As in Skagway, many gambling halls, dance halls, and bars were built. Thousands of miners traveled up the Stikine River into the Cassiar District of British Columbia during 1874, and again to the Klondike in 1897.

Having been under the jurisdiction of the Russians, the English, and the Americans, as well as having originally been Tlingit territory, Wrangell has the unique status of the only Alaskan city to have been governed under four "flags".

Fish traps were constructed in the late 1890s on the nearby mouth of the Stikine River and in the Zimovia Strait. These contributed to the growth of the fishing and fish canning industries in Wrangell, which provided much of the economic support for the town before the rise of logging in the 1950s. The fish traps caused severe damage to the Stikine River salmon runs, and had deleterious effects on salmon fishing in the region. All fish traps in Alaska were decommissioned by the new government after statehood, however the fishing industry remained strong and continues to be the primary profession of many residents.

A severe fire in the early 1950s burned much of the downtown area.

The renowned Bear Totem Store, built in the 1920s by Walter Waters, housed innumerable examples of Tlingit arts and crafts, as well as a number of irreplaceable totem poles. Waters began his business career carrying mail by boat form Wrangell to Sulzer. During this period, he traveled throughout Southeast as a fur buyer. While on business travels, Waters began to acquire Indian artifacts and make valuable contacts with Indian artisans. These contacts eventually enabled him to open his curio shop, The Bare Totem Store.

Currently, logging, fishing and tourism are the mainstays of the Wrangell area economy. One of the last two major saw mills in Southeast Alaska, is operated by the Silver Bay Logging Company just south of the city proper.

The town has always been a major home to people of the Tlingit Kiks.ádi clan, and a 70 year old Chief Shakes tribal house still stands on the original location of the Shakes house, a small island now inside of the Wrangell harbor. Until it was built, the Kiks.ádi had occupied the island since time immemorial. Today the Wrangell Cooperative Association, a Tlingit village corporation, maintains the site as well as the Totem Park near the city center.

[edit] Geography

Wrangell is located at 56°27′23″N, 132°22′40″W (56.456383, -132.377755)^GR1.

Wrangell is located on the northern tip of Wrangell Island, an island in the Alaska Panhandle. It is 250 km (155 miles) south of the Alaskan capital of Juneau. It is across the narrow Zimovia Strait from the mouth of the Stikine River on the Alaska mainland. The town is named after the island, which was named after Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel, a Russian explorer and the administrator of the Russian-American Company from 1840 to 1849.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 183.5 km² (70.8 mi²). 117.3 km² (45.3 mi²) of it is land and 66.2 km² (25.6 mi²) of it (36.10%) is water.

Wrangell welcome sign

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 2,308 people, 907 households, and 623 families residing in the city. The population density was 19.7/km² (51.0/mi²). There were 1,092 housing units at an average density of 9.3/km² (24.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 73.48% White, 0.13% Black or African American, 15.51% Native American, 0.65% Asian, 0.13% Pacific Islander, 0.35% from other races, and 9.75% from two or more races. 1.00% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 907 households out of which 35.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.9% were married couples living together, 9.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.3% were non-families. 26.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.05.

In the city the population was spread out with 29.4% under the age of 18, 5.2% from 18 to 24, 27.3% from 25 to 44, 26.4% from 45 to 64, and 11.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 106.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.7 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $43,250, and the median income for a family was $54,167. Males had a median income of $43,846 versus $29,205 for females. The per capita income for the city was $21,851. About 7.3% of families and 9.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.0% of those under age 18 and 9.3% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] Transportation

Being located on an island, Wrangell has two basics forms of transportation: ferry and plane.

The Alaska Marine Highway serves Wrangell on its Inside Passage route with both northbound and southbound stops that occur regularily that link it to the rest of Southeast Alaska. Wrangell is also a stop on the daily run of the Inter-Island Ferry Authority's M/V Stikine in its run that originates in Coffman Cove on Prince of Wales Island, continues on to Wrangell, then Petersburg, and then returns making the same stops.

Wrangell also receives jet service from Alaska Airlines at the Wrangell Airport.