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...