WCA prepares for tourism season, hires coordinator

As the first cruise ship of the season arrived in town last Thursday, the Wrangell Cooperative Association's new tourism coordinator, Brooke Leslie, gave visitors an informative presentation inside the Chief Shakes House. After performing a song, she taught the group about matrilineal Tlingit family structure, construction of the house, traditional communal living and canoe travel.

The Tlingit traveled long distances by canoe, she explained, but "how would you know that the people arriving are friendly?" When paddlers would visit another village, they would announce themselves through song. "W...