Yukon River
River
A view of the Yukon River near Dawson City, Yukon
Countries	United States, Canada
State	Alaska
Source	Llewellyn Glacier at Atlin Lake
- location	Atlin District, British Columbia, Canada
- coordinates	59°10′N 133°50′W / 59.167°N 133.833°W / 59.167; -133.833
Mouth	Bering Sea
- location	Wade Hampton, Alaska, United States
- elevation	0 m (0 ft)
- coordinates	62°35′55″N 164°48′00″W / 62.59861°N 164.8°W / 62.59861; -164.8
Length	1,980 mi (3,187 km)
Basin	330,000 sq mi (854,696 km2)
Discharge
- average	227,000 cu ft/s (6,428 m3/s)
[1][2]

Location of the Yukon River and watershed

The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. The source of the river is located in British Columbia, Canada. The next portion lies in, and gives its name to Yukon Territory. The lower half of the river lies in the U.S. state of Alaska. The river is 1,980 miles (3,190 km)^[2][3] long and empties into the Bering Sea at the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. The average flow is 6,430 m³/s (227,000 ft³/s).^[1] The total drainage area is 832,700 km² (321,500 mi²),^[1] of which 323,800 km² (126,300 mi²) is in Canada. By comparison, the total area is more than 25% larger than Texas or Alberta.

The longest river in Alaska and the Yukon Territory, it was one of the principal means of transportation during the 1896–1903 Klondike Gold Rush. A portion of the river in the 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.^[4][5] 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.

Yukon means "great river" in Gwich'in. The river was called Kuigpak, or "big river", in Central Yup'ik. 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.

The Yukon River has had a history of pollution from gold mining, military installations, dumps, wastewater, and other sources [citation needed]. 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.^[6]

The Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council, a cooperative effort of 64 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.

Course[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Map of the Yukon River watershed

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 the Yukon Territory, 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 communitites 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[link]

The bridge across the Yukon River at Carmacks on the Klondike Highway.

The E. L. Patton Yukon River Bridge carries the Dalton Highway over the Yukon north of Fairbanks.

Volcanoes near the Yukon River, such as Volcano Mountain in the Fort Selkirk Volcanic Field, may have once partly blocked or at least altered the Yukon River by lava flows. Any future activity in this area could disrupt the course of the river and could have serious impacts on people living or working downstream.

Navigational obstacles on the Yukon River are the Five Finger Rapids and Rink Rapids downstream from Carmacks.

Bridges[link]

Despite its length, there are only four vehicle-carrying bridges across the river:

• The Lewes Bridge, north of Marsh Lake 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, on the Klondike Highway; and
• The E. L. Patton Yukon River Bridge, north of Fairbanks 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 are currently 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.

The river flows into several parklands and refuges including:

Canoeing the Yukon River

• Innoko National Wildlife Refuge
• Nowitna National Wildlife Refuge
• Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve
• Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge
• Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge

Geography and ecology[link]

Some of the upper slopes of this watershed (e.g. Nulato Hills) are forested by Black Spruce.^[7] This locale near the Seward Peninsula represents the near westernmost limit of the Black Spruce, Picea mariana,^[8] one of the most widespread conifers in northern North America.

Yukon River fisheries[link]

The Yukon River is home to one of the longest salmon runs in the world. Each year Chinook, Chum, and Coho Salmon return to their terminal streams in Alaska, the Yukon Territories, and British Columbia. The Chinook have the longest journey, with an estimated 35–50% bound for Canada. As salmon do not eat during their spawning migration, Yukon River salmon must have great reserves of fat and energy to fuel their thousands-mile long journey. As a result Yukon River salmon are noted for their especially rich and oily meat.

The villages along the Yukon have historically and continue to rely on salmon for their cultural, subsistence, and commercial needs. Salmon are traditionally dried, smoked, and frozen for both human and sled dog consumption. Common methods of fishing on the Yukon include set gillnets, drift nets, dip nets, and fish wheels. The preference of certain gear is largely dependent on the river's varied characteristics in different areas. Some parts of the river do not have eddies to make set-nets successful, whereas in other places the tributaries are small enough to make drifting impractical.

Over the last 20 years salmon recruitment, the number of returning adults, has taken several shocks. The late 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s have been marked by radically reduced runs for various salmon species. The United States Department of Commerce issued a Federal Disaster Declaration for the 2008 and 2009 Commercial Chinook Yukon River fisheries, citing the complete closure of commercial fishing along with restrictions placed on subsistence fishing. The root cause of these poor returns remains debated, with questions about the effects of climate change on ocean food-supply & disease prevalence in returning adults, the methods of fishing used on the river, and the effects of the Bering Sea Pollock trawl fleet on food supply and salmon bycatch.^[9][10] In 2010, the Alaska Department of Fish & Game's Board of Fisheries issued the first-ever restriction for net mesh size on the Yukon, reducing it to 7.5 inches (190 mm).^[11]

Various organizations are involved to protect healthy salmon runs into the future. The Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association was formed in 1990 by consensus of fishers representing the entire drainage in response to recent disaster years. Its organizational goals include giving voice to the village fishers that have traditionally managed these resources, enabling communication between fishers and fishery managers, and helping to preserve the ecological integrity of salmon runs and local cultures' Traditional Ecological Knowledge ^[12]

In March 2001, the U.S. & Canadian governments passed the Yukon River Salmon Agreement to better manage an internationally shared resource and ensure that more Canadian-originated salmon return back across the border.^[13] The agreement is implemented through the Yukon River Panel, an international body of 12 members, equal-parts American and Canadian, that advises managers of Yukon River fisheries concerning restoration, conservation, and coordinated management.^[14]

Tribal organizations such as Association of Village Council Presidents (AVCP), Council of Athabascan Tribal Governments (CATG), and Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC) work to sustain Yukon River salmon to promote healthy people, cultures, and communities.

Tributaries[link]

Yukon Territory[link]

The Yukon River from Midnight Dome next to Dawson City, Yukon.

• Takhini River
• Big Salmon River
• Little Salmon River
• Nordenskiold River
• Teslin River
• Pelly River
  • Macmillan River
• Stewart River
  • Nadaleen River
  • Lansing River
  • Hess River
  • McQuesten River
• White River
  • Donjek River
    • Kluane River
    • Nisling River
  • Beaver Creek
• Sixtymile River
• Indian River
• Klondike River
• Fortymile River

Alaska[link]

• Tatonduk River
• Seventymile River
• Nation River
• Kandik River
• Charley River
• Porcupine River

  (tributaries in the Yukon)

  • Miner tributaries
    • Fishing Branch
  • Bell River
    • Eagle River
    • Rock River (Yukon)
  • Driftwood River (Yukon)
  • Old Crow River
  • Bluefish River

  (tributaries in Alaska)

  • Coleen River
  • Black River
    • Wood River
    • Bear Mountain Creek
    • Mountain Creek
  • Chandalar Creek
  • Sheenjek River
    • Sheenjek River East Fork
    • Koness River
    • Eskimo Creek
• Christian River
• Chandalar River
  • East Fork Chandalar River
    • Junjik River
    • Wind River
  • Middle Fork Chandalar River
  • North Fork Chandalar River
  • West Fork Chandalar River
  • Marten Creek
• Birch Creek
• Hadweenzic River
• Beaver Creek
• Hodzana River
• Dall River
• Ray River
• Big Salt River
• Hess Creek
• Garnet Creek
  • Fish Creek
• Texas Creek
• Coal Creek
• Tanana River
  • Nabesna River
  • Chisana River
  • Tetlin River
  • Goodpaster River
  • Delta River
  • Salcha River
  • Chena River
  • Wood River
  • Nenana River
  • Tolovana River
  • Kantishna River
• NC Creek
• Tozitna River
  • Bluebell Creek
  • Dagislakhna Creek
    • Banddana Creek
• Blind River
• Bering Creek
• Nowitna River
  • Sulatna River
• Big Creek
  • Beaver Creek
  • Glacier Creek
• Melozitna River
  • Black Sand Creek
  • Little Melozitna River
• Ruby Slough
• Yuki River
  • East Fork Yuki River
• Kala Creek
  • Kelly Creek
• Galena Creek
• Bishop Creek

Anabranches near the junction of the Yukon River and the Koyukuk River in Alaska, August 24, 1941.

• Koyukuk River
  • Workyard Creek
  • Gisasa River
  • Kateel River
  • Dulbi River
  • Huslia River
    • Nulitna River
    • Tom Cook Slough
    • Billy Hawk Creek
  • Cutoff Slough
  • Hogatza River
    • Clear Creek
  • Batza River
  • Matthews Slough
    • Little Indian River
    • Indian River
      • Calamity Creek
    • Pocahontas Creek
  • Kanuti River
  • Discovery Creek
  • Alatna River
    • Siruk Creek
  • South Fork Koyokouk River
    • Jim River
  • Jane Creek
  • John River
  • North Fork Koyukuk River
• Nulato River
• Khotol River
• Anvik River
• Bonasila River
  • Stuyahok River
• Innoko River
  • Paimiut Slough
    • Reindeer River
  • Iditarod River
    • Yetna River
    • First Chance Creek
  • Mud River
  • Dishna River
    • Coffee Creek
    • Tolstoi Creek
      • Madison Creek
      • Mastodon Creek
        • Hurst Creek
  • Taft Creek
  • Finland Creek
  • Scandinavian Creek
  • North Fork Innoko River
    • Tango Creek
    • West Fork North Fork Innoko River
  • Colorado Creek
• Kako Creek
• Engineer Creek
• Reindeer River
• Atchuelinguk River
• Andreafsky River
• Kashunuk River (distributary)

See also[link]

• Alaska salmon fishery
• List of Alaska rivers
• List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem)
• List of longest rivers of Canada
• List of Yukon rivers
• Steamboats of the Yukon River

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Yukon River

• Canadian Council for Geographic Education page with a series of articles on the history of the Yukon River
• The Yukon River Bridge at Dawson City
• [1] "Experience Alaska's Yukon River & the Nowitna National Wildlife Refuge" at "Yukon River Lodge"
• Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council
• Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association
• Yukon River Panel

v t e Canadian Heritage Rivers System Rivers Alsek • Arctic Red • Athabasca • Bay du Nord • Bloodvein • Bonnet Plume • Boundary Waters • Clearwater • Cowichan • Detroit • Fraser • French • Grand • Hayes • Hillsborough • Humber • Kazan • Kicking Horse • Main • Margaree • Mattawa • Missinaibi • North Saskatchewan • Red • Rideau • Seal • Shelburne • Soper • South Nahanni • St. Croix • St. Marys • Tatshenshini • Thames • Thelon • The Three Rivers • Upper Restigouche • Yukon Nominated Churchill • Coppermine • Ottawa • St. John See also: American Heritage Rivers • Category:American Heritage Rivers • Category:Canadian Heritage Rivers • Category:Rivers of Canada

Coordinates: 63°38′N 135°46′W / 63.633°N 135.767°W / 63.633; -135.767

Yukon
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: No motto
Capital	Whitehorse
Largest city	Whitehorse
Largest metro	Whitehorse
Official languages	English, French
Demonym	Yukoner
Government
Type
Commissioner	Doug Phillips
Premier	Darrell Pasloski (Yukon Party)
Legislature	Yukon Legislative Assembly
Federal representation	In Canadian parliament
House seats	1 of 308 (0.3%)
Senate seats	1 of 105 (1%)
Confederation	June 13, 1898 (9th)
Area	Ranked 9th
Total	482,443 km2 (186,272 sq mi)
Land	474,391 km2 (183,163 sq mi)
Water (%)	8,052 km2 (3,109 sq mi) (1.7%)
Proportion of Canada	4.8% of 9,984,670 km2
Population	Ranked 12th
Total (2011)	33,897 [1]
Density (2011)	0.07 /km2 (0.18 /sq mi)
GDP	Ranked 12th
Total (2006)	C$1.596 billion[2]
Per capita	C$51,154 (3rd)
Abbreviations
Postal	YT
ISO 3166-2	CA-YT
Time zone	UTC-8
Postal code prefix	Y
Flower	Fireweed
Tree	Subalpine Fir
Bird	Common Raven
Website	www.gov.yk.ca
Rankings include all provinces and territories

Yukon^[3] /ˈjuːkɒn/ is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories.

The territory was created from the rump of the Hudson's Bay Company's North-Western Territory in 1898 as "the Yukon". Receiving royal assent on March 27, 2002, the federal government moderized the Yukon Act to confirm "Yukon", rather than "Yukon Territory", as the current usage standard.^[3] Though officially bilingual (English and French) the Yukon Government also recognizes First Nations languages.

At 5,959 m (19,551 ft), Yukon's Mount Logan, in Kluane National Park and Reserve, is the highest mountain in Canada and the second-highest of North America (after Mount McKinley in the U.S. state of Alaska). The territory's climate is Arctic and subarctic, resulting in long cold winters, short summers, and little precipitation.

Etymology[link]

It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in.

Geography[link]

Map of the Yukon

The territory is the approximate shape of a right triangle, bordering the U.S. state of Alaska to the west for 1,210 km (752 mi) mostly along longitude 141° W, the Northwest Territories to the east and British Columbia to the south.^[4] Its northern coast is on the Beaufort Sea. Its ragged eastern boundary mostly follows the divide between the Yukon Basin and the Mackenzie River drainage basin to the east in the Mackenzie mountains. Whitehorse is the territorial capital.

Most of the territory is in the watershed of its namesake, the Yukon River. The southern Yukon is dotted with a large number of large, long and narrow glacier-fed alpine lakes, most of which flow into the Yukon River system. The larger lakes include Teslin Lake, Atlin Lake, Tagish Lake, Marsh Lake, Lake Laberge, Kusawa Lake and Kluane Lake. Bennett Lake on the Klondike Gold Rush trail is a lake flowing into Nares Lake, with the greater part of its area within the Yukon.

Canada's highest point, Mount Logan (5,959 m/19,551 ft), is in the territory's southwest. Mount Logan and a large part of the Yukon's southwest are in Kluane National Park and Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Other national parks include Ivvavik National Park and Vuntut National Park in the north.

Other watersheds include the Mackenzie River, the Peel watershed and the Alsek–Tatshenshini, as well as a number of rivers flowing directly into the Beaufort Sea. The two main Yukon rivers flowing into the Mackenzie in the Northwest Territories are the Liard River in the southeast and the Peel River and its tributaries in the northeast.

Notable widespread tree species within the Yukon are the Black Spruce and White Spruce. Many trees are stunted because of the short growing season and severe climate.^[5]

The capital, Whitehorse, is also the largest city, with about two-thirds of the population; the second largest is Dawson City, (pop. 1,250) which was the capital until 1952.

History[link]

Long before the arrival of Europeans, central and northern Yukon escaped glaciation as it was part of Beringia. The volcanic eruption of Mount Churchill near the Alaska border blanketed southern Yukon with a layer of ash which can still be seen along the Klondike Highway. Coastal and inland First Nations already had extensive trading networks and European incursions into the area only began early in the 19th century with the fur trade, followed by missionaries and the Western Union Telegraph Expedition.

By the end of the 19th century gold miners were trickling in on rumours of gold, driving a population increase justifying the setting up of a police force, just in time for the start of the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897. The increased population coming with the gold rush led to the separation of the Yukon district from the Northwest Territories and the formation of the separate Yukon Territory in 1898.

Sites of archaeological significance in the Yukon hold some of the earliest evidence of the presence of human occupation in North America ^[6]. The sites safeguard the history of the first people and the easiest First Nations of the Yukon ^[7]. More information is found in the Yukon Archaeology Program.

Demography[link]

This article's factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. Please help improve the article by updating it. There may be additional information on the talk page. (May 2012)

Brown Creek (tributary of Fortymile River)

Ethnicity[link]

The 2006 Canadian census examined Canadians' ethnicity and ancestry (beyond grandparents).^[8] Out of a Yukon population of 30,195, only 13,045 (43%) responded with a single answer, 57% of respondents selected multiple ethnicity making a 'simple' assessment of the ethnic portrait impossible.^[9] From the total answers (118,035) 13% are of aboriginal, North American Indian, or Métis origin. This percentage might be a little higher if the 'Canadian' origin includes both First Nations people and European descendents. The categories for other origins are confounding ('European' vs 'Western European' vs 'French' vs 'Scottish', etc.) and therefore a further breakdown is not realistic. According the Statistics Canada 2006 Community Profiles page, Yukoners of aboriginal identity population (including all persons with treaty status or band registry) represent 25% of the population.^[10]

Language[link]

Tombstone Mountains, Yukon

The 2006 Canadian census showed a population of 30,372.

Of the 29,940 singular responses to the census question concerning 'mother tongue' the most commonly reported languages were: