The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. From its source in British Columbia, it flows through Canada's territory of Yukon (itself named after the river). The lower half of the river continues westward through the U.S. state of Alaska. The river is long and empties into the Bering Sea at the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta. The average flow is . The total drainage area is , of which lies in Canada. The total area is more than 25% larger than Texas or Alberta.
The longest river in Alaska and Yukon, it was one of the principal means of transportation during the 1896–1903 Klondike Gold Rush. A portion of the river in Yukon—"The Thirty Mile" section, from Lake Laberge to the Teslin River—is a national heritage river and a unit of Klondike Gold Rush International Historical Park.The Thirty Mile (Yukon River) National Heritage River , National Heritage Rivers SystemKlondike Gold Rush International Historical Park , Parks Canada Paddle-wheel riverboats continued to ply the river until the 1950s, when the Klondike Highway was completed. After the purchase of Alaska by the United States in 1867, the Alaska Commercial Company acquired the assets of the Russian-American Company and constructed several posts at various locations on the Yukon River.
The Yukon River has a recent history of pollution from military installations, dumps, wastewater, and other sources. However, the Environmental Protection Agency does not list the Yukon River among its impaired watersheds, and water-quality data from the U.S. Geological Survey shows relatively good levels of turbidity, metals, and dissolved oxygen. The Yukon and Mackenzie rivers have much higher suspended sediment concentrations than major Siberian Arctic rivers.
The Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council, a cooperative effort of 70 First Nations and tribes in Alaska and Canada, has the goal of making the river and its tributaries safe to drink from again by supplementing and scrutinizing government data.
Name The name Yukon, or ųųg han, is a contraction of the words in the phrase , which means white water river and refers to "the pale colour" of glacial runoff in the Yukon River."Dear Sir, I have great pleasure in informing you that I have at length after much trouble and difficulties, succeed[ed] in reaching the 'Youcon', or white water River, so named by the (Gwich'in) natives from the pale colour of its water. ..., I have the honour to Remain Your obt Servt, John Bell" Hudson's Bay Company Correspondence to George Simpson from John Bell (August 1, 1845), HBC Archives, D.5/14, fos. 212-215d, also quoted in, In Gwich'in, adjectives, such as choo [big] and gąįį [white], follow the nouns that they modify. Thus, white water is chųų gąįį [water white]. White water river is chųų gąįį han [water white river]. The contraction is Ųųg Han, if the /ųų/ remains nasalized, or Yuk Han, if there is no vowel nasalization.Gwich'in vowels may or may not be nasalized. A hook under a vowel, as in "ų," indicates that the vowel is nasalized. , at page ii (footnote). English, of course, has no nasalized vowels. In the 1840s, the various Dene nations had differing opinions as to the literal meaning of Yukon. In 1843, the Holikachuks had told the Russian-American Company that their name for the river was Yukkhana and that this name meant big river."[The Yukon] in the language of the Kang-ulit (Yup'ik) people is Kvikhpak; in the dialect of the downriver Inkilik (Holikachuk), Yukkhana; of those upriver (Koyukon), Yuna. All these terms mean the same thing in translation–'Big River.' I have kept the local names as a clearer indication of the different tribes along the river." Lt. Zagoskin's Note 63 (1848), translated in, , at page 295. Zagoskin did not come into contact with the Gwich'in Indians and had no access to the information that Yukon means white water river in Gwich'in – the language from which the word came. However, Yukkhana does not literally correspond to a Holikachuk phrase that means big river.In Holikachuk, big river or big water would be xinmiksekh, xinchux, toomiksekh, or toochux. ; , at page 309 (Inkilik proper [Holikachuk] tu [water], miksekh [large]); Adjectives followed the nouns that they modified in Holikachuk.Thirty-nine pages of cited "Sources," representing over a century of research, did not verify Zagoskin's report that Yukon means big river. , at pp. 6-44 ("Sources of Names"), 1069 ("The Eskimo ... descriptively called it 'Kuikpak' meaning 'big river.' The Indian name 'Yukon' probably means the same thing."). Orth does not say "probably" when discussing Kuikpak meaning. Orth's use of "probably" is limited to the discussion of Yukon meaning, which indicates that Zagoskin's report that Yukon means big river was never verified. In addition, Orth's "Sources" do not even include the Hudson's Bay Company correspondence, which states that Yukon means white water river in Gwich'in. Nor do Orth's "Sources" include aboriginal dictionaries. Then, two years later, the Gwich'ins told the Hudson's Bay Company that their name for the river was Yukon and that the name meant white water river. White water river in fact corresponds to Gwich'in words that can be shortened to form Yukon. Because the Holikachuks had been trading regularly with both the Gwich’ins and the Yup'iks,Lt. Zagoskin reported that: "The ... Inkilit [Holikachuk] ... live along the routes of communication between the Yukon and the coast and are occupied almost exclusively with buying up furs from the natives living along the Yunnaka (Koyukuk River, a Yukon tributary)." Zagoskin also reported that: "The Inkalik [Holikachuk] ..., who are chiefly occupied in trading both with their fellow tribesmen and with the neighboring tribes of Kang-ulit (Yup'ik), have adopted the way of life of the latter ..." , at pp. 196-97, 244. Because they had adopted the Yup’ik (Eskimo) way of life, and because they were the ones trading upriver, the Holikachuk would have been "the Esquimaux" referred to in John Bell's 1845 report: "The Esquimaux to the westwards likewise ascends the 'Youcon' and carry on a trade with the natives, as well as with the Musquash [Gwich'in] Indians ... I have seen a large camp of the latter tribe on the Rat River on my return, who, had about a doz: of beat [hammered] Iron Kettles of Russian Manufacture which they bartered from the Esquimaux." See, Hudson's Bay Company Correspondence to Simpson from Bell (1845), HBC Archives, D.5/14, fos. 212, 213. For these reasons, the Holikachuk were in a position to conflate the meanings of the Gwich'in and Yup'ik names, and to furnish this conflated information to the Russian-American Company. the Holikachuks were in a position to borrow the Gwich'in contraction and to conflate its meaning with the meaning of Kuig-pak [River-big], which is the Yup'ik name for the same river. For that reason, the documentary evidence suggests that the Holikachuks had borrowed the contraction Ųųg Han [White Water River] from Gwich'in, and erroneously assumed that this contraction had the same literal meaning as the corresponding Yup'ik name Kuig-pak [River-big].
The Lewes River is the former name of the upper course of the Yukon, from Marsh Lake to the confluence of the Pelly River at Fort Selkirk.
Course
While geologists, geographers, hydrologists, and ecologists agree that the headwaters of the Yukon River are located within the northern reaches of the glaciated Coast Mountain range in British Columbia, its exact source remains the subject of some debate. According to the United States Geographic Survey, the generally accepted source of the Yukon River is the Llewellyn Glacier at the southern end of Atlin Lake in British Columbia. Others suggest that the source is Lake Lindeman at the northern end of the Chilkoot Trail. Either way, Atlin Lake flows into Tagish Lake (via the Atlin River), as eventually does Lake Lindeman after flowing into Bennett Lake. Tagish Lake then flows into Marsh Lake (via the Tagish River). The Yukon River proper starts at the northern end of Marsh Lake, just south of Whitehorse.
Some argue that the source of the Yukon River should really be Teslin Lake and the Teslin River, which has a larger flow when it reaches the Yukon at Hootalinqua. The upper end of the Yukon River was originally known as the Lewes River until it was established that it actually was the Yukon. North of Whitehorse, the Yukon River widens into Lake Laberge, made famous by Robert W. Service's "The Cremation of Sam McGee". Other large lakes that are part of the Yukon River system include Kusawa Lake (into the Takhini River) and Kluane Lake (into the Kluane and then White River).
The river passes through the communities of Whitehorse, Carmacks, (just before the Five Finger Rapids) and Dawson City in Yukon, and crossing Alaska into Eagle, Circle, Fort Yukon, Stevens Village, Rampart, Tanana, Ruby, Galena, Nulato, Grayling, Holy Cross, Russian Mission, Marshall, Pilot Station, St. Marys (which is accessible from the Yukon at Pitkas Point), and Mountain Village. After Mountain Village, the main Yukon channel frays into many channels, sprawling across the delta. There are a number of communities after the "head of passes," as the channel division is called locally: Nunum Iqua, Alakanuk, Emmonak, and Kotlik. Of those delta communities, Emmonak is the largest with roughly 760 people in the 2000 census. Emmonak's gravel airstrip is the regional hub for flights.
Hazards
Navigational obstacles on the Yukon River are the Five Finger Rapids and Rink Rapids downstream from Carmacks.
Bridges Despite its length, there are only four vehicle-carrying bridges across the river, listed from upstream to downstream: The Lewes Bridge, north of Marsh Lake, Yukon, on the Alaska Highway; The Robert Campbell Bridge, which connects the Whitehorse suburb of Riverdale to the downtown area; The Yukon River Bridge in Carmacks, Yukon, on the Klondike Highway; and The Yukon River Bridge, north of Fairbanks, Alaska on the Dalton Highway.
A car ferry crosses the river at Dawson City in the summer; it is replaced by an ice bridge over the frozen river during the winter. Plans to build a permanent bridge were announced in March 2004, although they were subsequently put on hold because bids came in much higher than budgeted.
There are also two pedestrian-only bridges in Whitehorse, as well as a dam across the river and a hydroelectric generating station. The construction of the dam flooded the White Horse Rapids, which gave the city its name, and created Schwatka Lake.
Transportation is also performed along the river in summer by barge, enabling heavy goods, oil, and vehicles to be transported to communities along the Yukon, Tanana, Innoko, and Koyukuk rivers. This service is performed by Ruby Marine and reaches Tanana on the Yukon River and Nenana on the Tanana River.
Ecology Some of the upper slopes of this watershed (e.g. Nulato Hills) are forested by Black Spruce.Scott R. Robinson. 1988. Movement and Distribution of Western Arctic Caribou Herd across the Buckland Valley and Nulato Hills, U.S. Bureau of Land Management Open file Report 23, Alaska This locale near the Seward Peninsula represents the near westernmost limit of the Black Spruce, Picea mariana,C. Michael Hogan, Black Spruce: Picea mariana, GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. Nicklas Stromberg, November, 2008 one of the most widespread conifers in northern North America.
The river flows into several parklands and refuges including:
Innoko National Wildlife Refuge Nowitna National Wildlife Refuge Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge
Discharge
Yukon at Pilot Station (121 miles upstream of mouth) minimum, average and maximum discharge: Water yearDischarge (Period: 1975/10/01 – 2024/09/30)MinMeanMaxcfsm3/scfs m3/s km3 cfsm3/s 1975/76 65,0001,840218,300 6,182 195 700,00019,800 1976/77 44,0001,250204,100 5,779 182