The Klehini River is a large, glacially fed

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

in the vicinity of Haines 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., ...

. The Klehini River is about long from its source in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

to its mouth at the

Chilkat River The Chilkat River is a river in British Columbia and southeastern Alaska that flows southward from the Coast Range to the Chilkat Inlet and ultimately Lynn Canal. It is about long. It begins at Chilkat Glacier, in Alaska, flows west and south i ...

, of which it is the largest tributary. The Klehini River is renowned for its

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

runs, its biannual congregation of

bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

s—the second largest in the Haines area after the Chilkat River's Council Grounds—and for the Klehini Falls. The Klehini also delineates the northern boundary of the

Chilkat Range The Chilkat Range is a mountain range in Haines Borough and the Hoonah-Angoon Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska, west of the city of Juneau. The Chilkat Range is one of the principal divisors between Haines Borough and Glacier Bay National ...

. The name ''Klehini'' appears to be derived from the

Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),

phrase ''l’éiw héeni'', which translates to ''river with sand or gravel in it''. ''See'', The Klehini River contains abundances of both sand and gravel. The lower Klehini is located within the

Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve The Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve is a state park and wildlife refuge in the U.S. state of Alaska near Haines. Established in 1982, the park covers 49,320 acres (199.6 km2), mainly along the Chilkat River, with sections along the Klehini ...

. Walt Disney's 1991 rendition of ''White Fang'' was filmed along the Klehini River.

Klehini Falls

The Klehini Falls are a series of four cataracts in far northwestern

occurring in a narrow gorge near the headwaters of the Klehini River. The falls are separated from one another by a distance of approximately 300 feet (91 m), with an average plunge of 30 to 40 feet (9.1 to 12.2 m). The individual cataracts are currently unnamed.

References

Rivers of Haines Borough, Alaska Rivers of Alaska Rivers of the Boundary Ranges Atlin District International rivers of North America {{Alaska-river-stub

Klehini Falls

See also

References