The King Salmon River is a tributary of the

Ugashik River The Ugashik River is a stream, long, on the Alaska Peninsula of the U.S. state of Alaska. It flows from headwaters near Lower Ugashik Lake and empties into Ugashik Bay, an estuary of the Bering Sea's Bristol Bay. The origin of the name Ugashik ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

. Beginning at

Mother Goose Lake Mother Goose Lake is a 6.4 mile long lake located at head of King Salmon River, on the Alaska Peninsula, 21 miles south of Ugashik, Aleutian Range. It was named in 1923 by R. H. Sargent, USGS, as "suggested by its goose-like shape." According t ...

in the

Aleutian Range The Aleutian Range is a major mountain range located in southwest Alaska. It extends from Chakachamna Lake (80 miles/130 km southwest of Anchorage) to Unimak Island, which is at the tip of the Alaska Peninsula. It includes all of the mountain ...

, it flows northwest to meet the larger river near the upper reaches of Ugashik Bay. The lake and the upper course of the King Salmon lie within the

Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge The Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge is a United States National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Alaska whose use is regulated as an ecological-protection measure. It stretches along the southern coast of the Alaska Peninsula, between th ...

. The river's gravel bottom and braided channels are ideal for the many

king salmon The Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') is the largest and most valuable species of Pacific salmon in North America, as well as the largest in the genus ''Oncorhynchus''. Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other ve ...

that spawn in its waters, but they limit navigation to small skiff. There are many rivers in Alaska bearing the name King Salmon River, including tributaries to the

Egegik River The Egegik River (pronounced locally, I-ga-gik; Central Alaskan Yup'ik, Igyagiiq; translation, "swift") is a waterway in the U.S. state of Alaska. A biological survey was conducted at the base of the Alaska Peninsula in 1902 by Wilfred Hudson Osg ...

and

Nushagak River The Nushagak River ( esu, Iilgayaq) is a river in southwest Alaska, United States. It begins in the Alaska Range and flows southwest to Nushagak Bay, an inlet of Bristol Bay, east of Dillingham, Alaska. The Mulchatna River is a major tributar ...

systems in southwest Alaska, alone. The name is also occasionally confused with a nickname given the

Kenai River The Kenai River called ''Kahtnu'' in the Dena'ina language, is the longest river in the Kenai Peninsula of southcentral Alaska. It runs westward from Kenai Lake in the Kenai Mountains, through the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge and Skilak Lake ...

, a popular fishing stream located in the

Cook Inlet Cook Inlet ( tfn, Tikahtnu; Sugpiaq: ''Cungaaciq'') stretches from the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage in south-central Alaska. Cook Inlet branches into the Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm at its northern end, almost surrounding Anchorage. On its sou ...

drainage of southcentral Alaska. Besides the large numbers of king salmon, the river also hosts large numbers of sea-run Dolly Varden,

Chum Salmon The chum salmon (''Oncorhynchus keta''), also known as dog salmon or keta salmon, is a species of anadromous salmonid fish from the genus '' Oncorhynchus'' (Pacific salmon) native to the coastal rivers of the North Pacific and the Beringian A ...

and a small run of

Pink Salmon Pink salmon or humpback salmon (''Oncorhynchus gorbuscha'') is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family. It is the smallest and most abundant of the Pacific salmon. The scientific species name is based on the Russian common name for ...

References

Rivers of Lake and Peninsula Borough, Alaska Rivers of Alaska {{Alaska-river-stub

See also

References