The Kuskokwim River or Kusko River (
Yup'ik
The Yup'ik or Yupiaq (sg & pl) and Yupiit or Yupiat (pl), also Central Alaskan Yup'ik, Central Yup'ik, Alaskan Yup'ik ( own name ''Yup'ik'' sg ''Yupiik'' dual ''Yupiit'' pl; russian: Юпики центральной Аляски), are an I ...
: ''Kusquqvak'';
Deg Xinag
Deg Xinag (Deg Hitan) is a Northern Athabaskan language spoken by the Deg Hitʼan peoples of the GASH region. The GASH region consists of the villages of Grayling, Anvik, Shageluk, and Holy Cross along the lower Yukon River
The Yukon River ( ...
: ''Digenegh'';
Upper Kuskokwim: ''Dichinanek' ''; russian: Кускоквим (''Kuskokvim'')
) is a river, long, in
Southwest Alaska
Southwest Alaska is a region of the U.S. state of Alaska. The area is not exactly defined by any governmental administrative region(s); nor does it always have a clear geographic boundary.
Geography
Southwest Alaska includes a huge, complex, and ...
in the United States.
It is the ninth largest river in the United States by average
discharge volume at its mouth and seventeenth largest by basin drainage area.
The Kuskokwim River is the longest river system contained entirely within a single U.S. state.
The river provides the principal drainage for an area of the remote
Alaska Interior on the north and west side of the
Alaska Range
The Alaska Range is a relatively narrow, 600-mile-long (950 km) mountain range in the southcentral region of the U.S. state of Alaska, from Lake Clark at its southwest endSources differ as to the exact delineation of the Alaska Range. ThBoar ...
, flowing southwest into
Kuskokwim Bay
Kuskokwim Bay is a bay in southwestern Alaska, at about . It is about long, and wide.
The Kuskokwim River
The Kuskokwim River or Kusko River ( Yup'ik: ''Kusquqvak''; Deg Xinag: ''Digenegh''; Upper Kuskokwim: ''Dichinanek' ''; russian: � ...
on the
Bering Sea. The highest point in its watershed is
Mount Russell. Except for its headwaters in the mountains, the river is broad and flat for its entire course, making it a useful transportation route for many types of watercraft, as well as road vehicles
during the winter when it is frozen over. It is the longest free flowing river in the United States.
''Kuskokwim'' is a loose transliteration of a
Yup'ik
The Yup'ik or Yupiaq (sg & pl) and Yupiit or Yupiat (pl), also Central Alaskan Yup'ik, Central Yup'ik, Alaskan Yup'ik ( own name ''Yup'ik'' sg ''Yupiik'' dual ''Yupiit'' pl; russian: Юпики центральной Аляски), are an I ...
word. It is a compound word meaning big slow moving thing.
The
Alaska Natives of Kuskokwim are
Yup'ik Eskimo on the lower Kuskokwim,
Deg Hit'an Athabaskan on the middle Kuskokwim,
Upper Kuskokwim Athabaskan on the upper Kuskokwim, and
Koyukon Athabaskan on the North Fork,
Lake Minchumina.
Name
The river's name comes from the
Yup'ik
The Yup'ik or Yupiaq (sg & pl) and Yupiit or Yupiat (pl), also Central Alaskan Yup'ik, Central Yup'ik, Alaskan Yup'ik ( own name ''Yup'ik'' sg ''Yupiik'' dual ''Yupiit'' pl; russian: Юпики центральной Аляски), are an I ...
, ''kusquqviim'', recorded by a Russian sailor in 1826.
[Bright, p. 243] The
Tanana (Athabaskan) name for the river was ''Chin-ana''.
''
Upper Kuskokwim'' (Kolchan) is often used to mean the people of the upper parts of the river, while
Yup'ik people
The Yup'ik or Yupiaq (sg & pl) and Yupiit or Yupiat (pl), also Central Alaskan Yup'ik, Central Yup'ik, Alaskan Yup'ik ( own name ''Yup'ik'' sg ''Yupiik'' dual ''Yupiit'' pl; russian: Юпики центральной Аляски), are an I ...
live along the lower river.
Course
The river is formed by the
confluence of East Fork Kuskokwim River and North Fork Kuskokwim River, east of
Medfra
Medfra is an unincorporated community located in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska.
Geography
Medfra is located on the north bank of the Kuskokwim River, about by air northwest of Nikolai.
History
Medfra may have b ...
. From there it flows southwest to
Kuskokwim Bay
Kuskokwim Bay is a bay in southwestern Alaska, at about . It is about long, and wide.
The Kuskokwim River
The Kuskokwim River or Kusko River ( Yup'ik: ''Kusquqvak''; Deg Xinag: ''Digenegh''; Upper Kuskokwim: ''Dichinanek' ''; russian: � ...
and the
Bering Sea.
The Kuskokwim is fed by several forks in central and south-central Alaska. The North Fork (250 mi/400 km) rises in the
Kuskokwim Mountains
The Kuskokwim Mountains is a range of mountains in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, United States, west of the Alaska Range and southeast of the Yukon River. The Kuskokwim Mountains begin in the interior west of Fairbanks. The mountain range ...
approximately 200 miles (320 km) WSW of
Fairbanks and flows southwest in a broad valley. The South Fork (200 mi/320 km) rises in the southwestern end of the Alaska Range west of
Mount Gerdine and flows north-northwest through the mountains, past
Nikolai, receiving other streams that descend from the Alaska Range northwest of
Denali
Denali (; also known as Mount McKinley, its former official name) is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of above sea level. With a topographic prominence of and a topographic isolation of , Denali is the th ...
. The two forks join near Medfra, and from there the main stem of the Kuskokwim flows southwest, past
McGrath
McGrath or MacGrath derives from the Irish surname Mac Craith and is occasionally noted with a space: e.g. Izzy Mc Grath. In Ireland, it is pronounced "Ma Grah". In Australia and New Zealand it is pronounced ''MuhGrah''.
Notable people with the su ...
, in a remote valley between the Kuskokwim Mountains to the north and the Alaska Range to the south.
In southwest Alaska the river emerges from the Kuskokwim Mountains in a vast lake-studded
alluvial plain south of the
Yukon River
The Yukon River ( Gwich'in: ''Ųųg Han'' or ''Yuk Han'', Yup'ik: ''Kuigpak'', Inupiaq: ''Kuukpak'', Deg Xinag: ''Yeqin'', Hän: ''Tth'echù'' or ''Chuu k'onn'', Southern Tutchone: Chu Nìikwän, russian: Юкон, Yukon) is a major watercourse ...
, surrounded by vast
spruce forests. It passes a series of Yup'ik villages, including
Aniak, and approaches within 50 mi (80 km) of the Yukon before diverging southwest. Southwest of
Bethel, the largest community on the river, it broadens into a wide marshy delta that enters Kuskokwim Bay approximately 50 mi (80 km) SSW of Bethel. The lower river below Aniak is located within the
Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge
The Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge is a United States National Wildlife Refuge covering about in southwestern Alaska. It is the second-largest National Wildlife Refuge in the country, only slightly smaller than the Arctic National Wildlife R ...
.
The river receives the Big River from the south approximately 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Medfra. It receives the
Swift
Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to:
* SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks
** SWIFT code
* Swift (programming language)
* Swift (bird), a family of birds
It may also refer to:
Organizations
* SWIFT, ...
,
Stony, and
Holitna rivers from the south at the southern end of the Kuskokwim Mountains before emerging on the coastal plain. It receives the
Aniak River from the south at Aniak. Approximately 20 miles (32 km) upstream from Bethel it receives the
Kisaralik and
Kwethluk
Kwethluk ( ; esu, Kuiggluk) is a city in Bethel Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. At the 2010 census the population was 721, up from 713 in 2000.
Geography
Kwethluk is located at (60.802332, -161.418556). It lies at the confluence of th ...
rivers from the south. It receives the
Eek River
The Eek River is a tributary of the Kuskokwim River in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is south of the Kwethluk River and north of the Kanektok River, which also drain into the Kuskokwim or Kuskokwim Bay on the Bering Sea.
Beginning at a small la ...
from the east at
Eek near its mouth on Kuskokwim Bay.
History
The principal economic activities along the river have historically been
fur trapping
Animal trapping, or simply trapping or gin, is the use of a device to remotely catch an animal. Animals may be trapped for a variety of purposes, including food, the fur trade, hunting, pest control, and wildlife management.
History
Neolithic ...
and fishing. Subsistence fishing for salmon and whitefish provides a staple of the Yup'ik diet along the river. Economic deposits of
placer gold were discovered in 1901 near Aniak. Mineral production in the region has mainly been from scattered placer gold deposits that through 2004 had produced a total of 3.5 million
troy ounce
Troy weight is a system of units of mass that originated in 15th-century England, and is primarily used in the precious metals industry. The troy weight units are the grain, the pennyweight (24 grains), the troy ounce (20 pennyweights), and th ...
s of gold. The primary route of the
Iditarod Trail
The Iditarod Trail, also known historically as the Seward-to-Nome Trail, is a thousand-plus mile (1,600 km) historic and contemporary trail system in the US state of Alaska. The trail began as a composite of trails established by Alaskan ...
follows the South Fork Kuskokwim River out of the Alaska Range and crosses the main stem of the river near McGrath.
See also
*
List of rivers of Alaska
This is a List of rivers in Alaska, which are at least fifth-order according to the Strahler method of stream classification, and an incomplete list of otherwise-notable rivers and streams. Alaska has more than 12,000 rivers, and thousands more st ...
*
List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem)
The longest rivers of the United States include 38 that have main stems of at least long. The main stem is "the primary downstream segment of a river, as contrasted to its tributaries". The United States Geological Survey (USGS) defines a main- ...
*
Kuskokwim Bay
Kuskokwim Bay is a bay in southwestern Alaska, at about . It is about long, and wide.
The Kuskokwim River
The Kuskokwim River or Kusko River ( Yup'ik: ''Kusquqvak''; Deg Xinag: ''Digenegh''; Upper Kuskokwim: ''Dichinanek' ''; russian: � ...
*
Kuskokwim Delta
*
Kuskokwim Mountains
The Kuskokwim Mountains is a range of mountains in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, United States, west of the Alaska Range and southeast of the Yukon River. The Kuskokwim Mountains begin in the interior west of Fairbanks. The mountain range ...
*
Kuskokwim 300
The Kuskokwim 300 is among the more highly regarded mid-distance dogsled races in Alaska, annually attracting some of the top mushers in the sport. The race starts and ends on the Kuskokwim River in Bethel, Alaska, and is run on and adjacent to ...
References
Works cited
*Benke, Arthur C., ed., and Cushing, Colbert E., ed. (2005). ''Rivers of North America''. Burlington, Massachusetts: Elsevier Academic Press. .
*Bright, William. (2004). ''Native American Placenames of the United States''. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. .
External links
Iditarod National Historic TrailKuskokwim River Watershed CouncilIyana Gusty and the Kuskokwim
{{Authority control
Drainage basins of the Bering Sea
Rivers of Bethel Census Area, Alaska
Rivers of Alaska
Rivers of Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska
Rivers of Unorganized Borough, Alaska
Braided rivers in Alaska