Though the feverish quest for gold may have begun in California in 1849, it migrated to Alaska in the decades to follow and Wrangell was the epicenter over the course of nearly 40 years.
It began on Buck’s Bar near Telegraph Creek B.C. in 1861 when fur trader Alexander "Buck" Choquette discovered gold there. The rush was on and Wrangell would soon have its hands full of fortune seekers looking for shelter supplies and ultimately transportation up the Stikine River.
Choquette’s discovery may have drawn the first attention to Wrangell but it was the discovery of gold by Henry Thibert and Angus McCulloch near Dease Lake, B.C. in 1872 that set Wrangell firmly in the history books as the only access point to what became known as the Cassiar District.
During the Cassiar Gold Rush, as many as 3000 people made their way through Wrangell as they waited to hitch a ride on a steamship up the Stikine River to the Cassiar District trail. Wrangell saw rapid growth during these years. Newly built beer halls, supply stores, and flop houses were flooded and soon the town’s capacity to accommodate those waiting to go up the Stikine River was met. Tents were the only option and the square white canvas shelters began to spring up anywhere there was open ground. But within five years the tents where gone and the Cassiar Gold Rush, which made few rich, was over.
It wasn’t until 1898 when gold was discovered in the Klondike, Yukon Territory that Wrangell woke to another flood of gold seekers. However the boom was short-lived as the City of Skagway and the Chilkoot and White Passes became the favored routes to riches.
Wrangell’s role as the epicenter of gold rush activity came to an end as the Klondike Gold Rush raged on, but the spirit of those years lives on each February when Wrangellites celebrate “Tent City Days” a commemoration of the town’s role in gold rush history.
Tent City Days will be Feb. 6-9. A schedule of events can be viewed at wrangellchamber.org.
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