Koyukuk River

Koyukuk River
Koyukuk River
	Flowing through the Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge
	Location of the mouth of the Koyukuk River in Alaska
Etymology	Koyukon people
Native name	Ooghekuhno' (Koyukon); Kuuyukaq (Inupiaq);
Location
Country	United States
State	Alaska
Census Area	Yukon-Koyukuk
Cities	Evansville, Bettles, Allakaket, Hughes, Huslia
Physical characteristics
Source	confluence of North and Middle forks
• location	Brooks Range
• coordinates	67°02′49″N 151°04′26″W / 67.04694°N 151.07389°W
• elevation	715 ft (218 m)
Mouth	Yukon River
• location	Koyukuk
• coordinates	64°55′24″N 157°33′14″W / 64.92333°N 157.55389°W
• elevation	115 ft (35 m)
Length	425 mi (684 km)
Basin size	32,000 sq mi (83,000 km2)
Discharge
• location	Hughes
• average	14,250 cu ft/s (404 m3/s)
• minimum	280 cu ft/s (7.9 m3/s)
• maximum	330,000 cu ft/s (9,300 m3/s)

The Koyukuk River (/ˈkaɪəkʊk/;^[6] Ooghekuhno' ^{[pronunciation?]} in Koyukon, Kuuyukaq or Tagraġvik in Iñupiaq) is a 425-mile (684 km) tributary of the Yukon River, in the U.S. state of Alaska.^[3] It is the last major tributary entering the Yukon before the larger river empties into the Bering Sea.^[7]

Rising at the confluence of the North Fork Koyukuk River with the Middle Fork Koyukuk River, it flows generally southwest to meet the larger Yukon River at Koyukuk.^[8] The river, with headwaters above the Arctic Circle in the Endicott Mountains of the Brooks Range, drains an area north of the Yukon River that includes part of the Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, as well as Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge and Koyukuk National Wildlife Refuge.^[8]

The main stem of the river is lined by the communities of Evansville, Bettles, Alatna, Allakaket, Hughes, and Huslia before reaching Koyukuk.^[8] Its headwaters tributaries include the Koyukuk's south, middle, and north forks, the Alatna River, and the John River.^[9] Major tributaries further downstream include the Kanuti, Batzu, Hogatza, Huslia, Dulbi, Kateel, and Gisasa rivers.^[9] Of these, the Alatna, John, and North Fork are National Wild and Scenic Rivers, as is the Tinayguk River, a tributary of the North Fork.^[10]

^ ^a ^b "Koyukuk River". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. 1981-03-31. Retrieved 2011-07-11.
^ Derived by entering source coordinates in Google Earth.
^ ^a ^b Orth, Donald J.; United States Geological Survey (1971) [1967]. Dictionary of Alaska Place Names: Geological Survey Professional Paper 567 (PDF). University of Alaska Fairbanks. p. 544. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 17, 2013. Retrieved October 3, 2013. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |agency= ignored (help)
^ "Boundary Descriptions and Names of Regions, Subregions, Accounting Units and Cataloging Units". U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved 2011-07-11.
^ ^a ^b "USGS Gage #15564900 on the Koyukuk River at Hughes, Alaska". National Water Information System. U.S. Geological Survey. 1960–1982. Retrieved 2011-07-11.
^ Koyukuk Culture & Wellness Camp (September 17, 2019).
^ Cite error: The named reference Benke 790 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ ^a ^b ^c Alaska Atlas & Gazetteer (7th ed.). Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. 2010. pp. 134, 136. ISBN 978-0-89933-289-5.
^ ^a ^b Benke and Cushing, pp. 789–90
^ Benke and Cushing, p. 791