Story last updated at 6/2/2010 - 12:14 pm
A water passage from Frederick Sound to Summer Strait separates Mitkof Island from Kupreanof Island. Like the town of Wrangell, the passage was named for Ferdinand von Wrangell of the Russian American Company. At some time one of its boats took a shortcut frequently used by the Natives in their canoes, and the passage became Wrangell Narrows and appears on a Russian map of 1838.
When George Vancouver, the British Naval officer, explored this area in 1792-93, his men concluded it was merely another inlet. The first large American ship to pass through safely was the U.S. Navy vessel Saginaw in 1869.
On the 1881 cruise of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (USC&GS) vessel Hassler, men made a hydrographic examination of the Narrows. The Hassler returned the next year to verify the survey, and the information was forwarded to William Dall for the 1883 Coast Pilot. Then the McArther and the Patterson, USC&GS, returned in 1885 to make a new hydrographic chart so that the Manzanita, of the U.S. Lighthouse Service, could place buoys and erect signals. This it did in both 1886 and 1888.
Over the following years, the buoys and beacons were repaired or new ones installed. In 1910, thirteen of the main markers were fitted with acetylene lanterns. The two light keepers, who lived in cabins nearby, no longer rowed out to tend the coal oil lights. The routine continued, with surveys made, and buoys and beacons removed or added.
For nearly 25 years, there were plans to dredge the Narrows to make it navigable for large steamers, without regard to tidal currents and high or low water. In 1902, the federal government finally showed interest in providing a safe and adequate channel. Another examination took place, this time by the Corps of Engineers. The estimated cost was $1.6 million. Congress did nothing. In 1907 it authorized an examination of Dry Strait on the other side of Mitkof Island, but the cost of high maintenance killed that alternative.
Then came another survey in 1921 for Dry Strait and Wrangell Narrows, and the latter was chosen. The first funds, $1.7 million, were appropriated in the 1925 Congressional session. Work began in June 1926 using the William T. Russell, a million-dollar, 269-foot suction dredge. It came all the way from New York Harbor to Petersburg under its own power via the Panama Canal. In seven months it removed 628,738 cubic yards of material.
Then she was completely destroyed by fire after she had been beached for minor repairs on September 16, 1927. A new dredge, the Burrard II, was purchased to complete the work.
During 1928, constructions of new navigational aids began to mark the newly dredged channel. Men constructed foundations for three concrete piers on submerged sites and erected superstructures on these foundations. Still hazards existed. Log booms, tidal conditions, and occasional ice flows often changed floating buoys' positions. This was a real hazard to navigation when captains could not be certain the buoy was in place!
On June 1, 1928, ships began to traverse the new channel. The dangerous rocks, twists, and turns were removed for 23 miles to provide a depth of 31 feet at mean water for a width on the bottom of 200 feet with increased widths on turns. Over the years additional dredging and improved alignment have taken place. The latest work, I have found, was undertaken in summer 1962-1963.
Pat Roppel, a 50-year resident of Southeast Alaska, is the author of numerous books about mining, fishing, and man's use of the land. She lives in Wrangell.
