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Wrangell
A small, unassuming timber and fishing community, Wrangell sits on the northern tip of Wrangell Island, near the mouth of the fast-flowing Stikine River—North America's largest undammed river. Like much of the Southeast, the town has suffered in recent years from a declining resource-based economy. Wrangell has flown three different national flags in its time. Russia established Redoubt St. Dionysius here in 1834. Five years later Great Britain's Hudson's Bay Company leased the southern Alaska coastline, renaming the settlement Fort Stikine. It was rechristened Wrangell when the Americans took over in 1867; the name came from Baron Ferdinand Petrovich von Wrangel, governor of the Russian-American Company.
The rough-around-the-edges town is off the track of the larger cruise ships, so it does not get the same seasonal traffic that Ketchikan and Juneau do. Hence, it is nearly devoid of the souvenir shops that dominate so many other nearby downtown areas, but gift shops and art galleries do sell locally created work.
Wrangell at a Glance
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- Alaska Denali Experience IExplore
- Alaska Experience — $2,099 IExplore
- Alaska Family Adventure! — $2,495 IExplore
- Ultimate Alaska — $3,995 IExplore