Nome River is a

waterway A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other languages. A first distinction is necessary b ...

on the

Seward Peninsula The Seward Peninsula is a large peninsula on the western coast of the U.S. state of Alaska whose westernmost point is Cape Prince of Wales. The peninsula projects about into the Bering Sea between Norton Sound, the Bering Strait, the Chukchi S ...

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., ...

. It has its source in a narrow valley in the southern margin of the

Kigluaik Mountains The Kigluaik Mountains (''Kiglawait'' in Inupiaq) are a mountain chain running east to west on western Alaska's Seward Peninsula. Its highest point is the summit of Mount Osborn, at above sea level. This remote range is home to numerous isolated ...

, west of

Salmon Lake Salmon Lake is a lake of Ontario, Canada. It is located between Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands Provincial Park and the Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park. See also *List of lakes in Ontario This is an incomplete list of lakes in Ontario, a provinc ...

Geography

The point where Buffalo and Deep Canyon creeks join, which is regarded as its head, is north of Nome. Its valley is wide and is floored with a deep filling of gravels into which the river channel is incised to a depth ranging from . In several places between Osborn and Darling creeks the river flats reach a width of a mile without attaining an elevation more than 50 feet higher than the top of the river banks. North of Darling Creek the valley narrows decidedly and below Osborn Creek it enters the coastal plain. It leaves this valley as a mountain torrent and debouches in a broad, gravel-filled valley, part of the depression already described, which extends along the southern margin of the Kigluaik Mountains. It flows south for to

Norton Sound Norton Sound (russian: Нортон-Саунд) is an inlet of the Bering Sea on the western coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, south of the Seward Peninsula. It is about 240 km (150 mi) long and 200 km (125 mi) wide. The Yukon ...

at the

Bering Sea The Bering Sea (, ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and The Ameri ...

. The mouth of the river is about southeast of Nome. The elevation of Nome River at Dexter Creek is less than , which allows the river below that point an average grade of . From Dexter Creek to Hobson Creek the river level rises 107 feet, or at the rate of 8 feet to the mile, and from Hobson Creek to the mouth of Deep Canyon Creek it rises 393 feet, or at the rate of 44 feet to the mile. The Nome River Valley has the same character as the

Eldorado El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king o ...

—that is, a broad upper basin, connected by a board pass with

Kruzgamepa River The Kruzgamepa River (or Pilgrim River) is a tributary of the Kuzitrin River on the Seward Peninsula in the U.S. state of Alaska. The river begins at Salmon Lake, elevation , and descends to above sea level at its mouth. In turn, the Kuzitrin ...

waters, and below this basin a constricted valley, and nearer the sea a broad valley whose floor merges into the coastal plain. Most of the mining developments in the coastal plain of the

Nome mining district The Nome mining district, also known as the Cape Nome mining district, is a gold mining district in the U.S. state of Alaska. It was discovered in 1898 when Erik Lindblom, Jafet Lindeberg and John Brynteson, the "Three Lucky Swedes", found pla ...

are west of Nome River, but at several localities, prospects have been opened up to the east of the river.Geological Survey (1901), p. 84

Tributaries

Stevens and Washington gulches flow through the

tundra In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless moun ...

from the hill south of Osborn Creek into Nome River. Buster Creek, flowing from the northeast, enters Nom River a short distance below Dexter Creek; Lillian Creek is a tributary of Buster. Dewey Creek rises in the limestone hills north of the head of Lillian Creek and flows into Nome River about above Buster Creek. Banner Creek is a small stream tributary to Nome River from the west, about above Dexter Creek. Basin Creek is an easterly tributary of Nom River, about below Hobson Creek. Hobson Creek joins Nome River about from the sea; it has a narrow valley and a southerly course. Dorothy Creek is a tributary to the upper part of Nome River; it flows through a small canyon having a general northerly course.Geological Survey (1901), p. 79

References

Sources

* {{Authority control Rivers of the Seward Peninsula Rivers of Alaska Rivers of Nome Census Area, Alaska Rivers of Unorganized Borough, Alaska