Riverboats have operated on the Stikine since the gold rush days of the 1860s and 1870s. The commerce was a big part of Wrangell’s economy in those days, with a long history of family-owned businesses moving people and freight up and down the river to and from Canada for 100 years.
And long before that, the river, which provided a natural passageway through the Coast Mountains, was used as a trade route by Indigenous peoples. The Tlingit and Tahltan knew the value of the river.
Wrangell was a hub, with the Stikine serving as the equivalent of an airport, highway and ferry terminal before any of those existed.
The flat-bottom, wooden steamboats are gone, but the community’s economic future remains connected to the natural beauty, recreational attractions and history and Native culture of the river. Only now, family-owned businesses are running jet boats for visitors who are eager to bring their money to town for a chance to see and experience The Great River.
As Wrangell looks to build up its tourism business, bringing more people to town and for longer stays, it makes sense to even more heavily promote the Stikine, nearby LeConte Glacier, Anan, whale watching, sportfishing and the other water-accessible features that make the community stand out.
In particular, cruise ship operators and their passengers look for ports of call that offer something different. Wrangell has always been different than Juneau, Ketchikan and Skagway — less developed, thankfully — and boat tours are a low-key development the community should strongly promote.
“They’re looking for places a little more authentic and different, and for experiences … that are perhaps a little more genuine and up close and unique than some of the basic large-group excursions you might find in other places,” Brenda Schwartz-Yeager, co-owner of Alaska Charters and Adventures, said in a recent interview. “Wrangell is well-positioned for those types of visitors because we have some of the best things to do around here in a very unspoiled way.”
She is big on independent travelers, who spend more time and money in town. But attracting more cruise ship passengers and putting them into jet boats, charter tours and fishing boats is part of the future, too.
Michael Hicks is senior director of marketing for American Queen Voyages, which operates the 186-passenger Ocean Victory cruise ship that just started coming to town this summer. “Wrangell and the jet boats fit so well into what we’re doing” Hicks said. “A lot of our guests have sailed on the larger ships, and they want to come back and see Alaska up close.”
In addition to individual boat owners handling their own reservations and promotions, the Stikine River Jet Boat Association is working to get more cruise lines to use its services for more of their passengers. The better the community and boat operators can organize and promote the river, the better chance Wrangell will have at attracting more ships and visitors to town.
A recent article in Seatrade Cruise News reported on several higher-end cruise lines that are coming to Wrangell this year or in the future. All are opportunities for members of the jet boat association and others to expand their businesses, providing jobs and increased spending in town.
“Wrangell offers so much for our guests,” Hicks, of American Queen Voyages, told the Cruise News. “It has an old Alaska feel.”
The feeling may be old Alaska, but it’s the growing future for Wrangell’s tourism economy.
Reader Comments(1)
Kimberly Metcalfe writes:
Be careful what you wish for. I hope the large cruise ship operations never “discover” Wrangell. Downtown Juneau is like New Orleans’s Bourbon Street. Crowded and noisy, indiscriminate Covid spreaders. My downtown neighborhood is overrun by tourists vehicles—one day in June saw 499 trips through our narrow streets. Wrangell and the Stikine River are world class destinations. Major cruise lines will make a Disneyland out of your paradise.
07/08/2022, 11:47 pm