The almost-100-year-old U.S. Forest Service vessel Chugach Ranger at the dock in Juneau in 2006.
Contractors Gordon and Sterling Chew, with the Tenakee Logging Co., work to make sure the blocks are level and set in place for the Chugach Ranger's move to the Nolan Center on March 31.
The Chugach Ranger, the last wooden boat in the U.S. Forest Service fleet, was relocated to its new home beside the Nolan Center on March 31.
The city museum and visitor center has been advocating the past several years to move the boat into a permanent historical display outside the center.
However, the protective tarp covering the boat could stay there awhile, Cyni Crary, Nolan Center director, said Monday. Relocating the boat is just the first phase of turning it into a museum exhibit, she said, including designing and building storyboards for the public.
An official unveiling will be scheduled at some future date, she said.
The 62-foot-long boat, a piece of Alaska history, was built in 1925 in Seattle. It was one of 11 Forest Service ranger boats that operated in the state in the early 20th century. The Chugach was first assigned to Cordova and later transferred to Petersburg in 1953. Its 90-plus years of use came to an end in 2015, when it was taken out of service.
According to a 2016 article in the Wrangell Sentinel, the Chugach came to Wrangell in May 2016 for work on its hull and decking, where then-director of the Nolan Center Terri Henson asked for the ship to stay in town to serve as a museum piece.
For years, the ship was in storage at The Marine Service Center but was moved last week to its new location on the water side of the Nolan Center. The marine center's travel lift set the Chugach down on large wooden blocks, next to another boat on exhibit, the Emerald, which had belonged to former Gov. Frank Murkowski.
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