Wrangle, Alaska

 

Wrangle today has a population of 2000, but its population has changed both up and down since being founded in the 1830s by the Russians.

The Bear Tribal House

We visited a tribal house, which was rebuilt in 1940. Because of rot only about 7% of the previous house remains, the roof pillars. The Bear house was a family house of 60 to 80 people in the Tlingit tribe. These houses are hand built of and use tongue and groove construction, so they can be moved and rebuilt. It takes about 20,000 adze strokes to build one sideboard from a cedar tree. Each of the house posts tells a tribal story, but only tribe members know the story. In traditional culture a child is taught their trade by their aunt or uncle, weaving, hunting, carver, etc.

Interior with 2 house posts

The major industries have changed over time: fur, supplying gold seekers, lumber, and fishing. Wolf, sea otter, wolverine furs.

Killer Whale Petroglyph

The most interesting stop was Petroglyph Beach. Over 60 different petroglyphs are visible here. We don’t know how old they are, 200 years to 9000 years is possible. Many have designs that are traditional Tlinkit symbols. But there are also spirals, which aren’t traditional. Today was the warmest day of the cruise: 60 degrees with lots of sun.

Spiral and Cedar Bark Petroglyph