Yukon River

The course of the Yukon

Catchment area of the Yukon River

The Yukon in Yukon Charley Rivers National Preserve

Looking at heranziehendem thunderstorms from Midnight Dome on Dawson and the mouth of the Klondike ( from the left ) in the Yukon

The Yukon River (French Fleuve Yukon ) is a stream which rises in the Yukon Territory and empties into the Bering Sea to the west predominantly fluent in the U.S. state of Alaska.

Due to its size and importance of the flow of most living in its river system mostly indigenous peoples as the "Great River " or was " Great, more flow " means. Hence the name Yukon is only anglicization of the Gwich'in word Yu -kun - ah ( " Great River "). Neighbouring First Nations - as the Koyukon or Deg Hit'an - also called him Yookkene ( " Big, further flow " ) or Yukkhane ( " Great River ").

Yukon River system

The Yukon is 3120 km length - calculated from the Tagish Lake - the fifth longest river on the North American continent. However, the Nisutlin River, together with the Teslin River and the middle and lower reaches of the Yukon a 3185 km long river. This arises from some further east in the Pelly Mountains, flows first to the south, opens in Teslin Lake in the Teslin River and then flows - as Teslin - in a northwesterly direction to einzumünden near the village of Hootalinqua in the Yukon.

Geography

The origin of the Yukon is located in Marsh Lake in western Canada in the Coast Mountains 200 kilometers east of the Pacific coast near the border with the province of British Columbia and the Yukon Territory. This is the Tagish River, the outflow of the Tagish Lake, fed. The headwaters of the Yukon River includes a number of major lakes include its Tagish Lake purpose of Atlin Lake and Lake Bennett.

About 30 miles behind the Marsh Lake breaks through the Yukon narrow, about two kilometers long and Miles Canyon is behind dammed in Schwatka Lake. As the comparison with historical photographs shows the water level has risen by about six feet into the canyon.

The dam of this lake is located south of downtown Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon Territory. In the waters of the lake sank the foam-flecked rapids, reminiscent of wild white horses and gave the city its name. The reservoir is named after the U.S. officer Frederick Schwatka equipped with a raft explored in 1883 the upper reaches of the river. Many geographical names with original Indian names were renamed by him and bear the new name today. The dam was equipped with fish ladders to allow salmon access to the sea than 3,000 miles away spawning grounds ( successful reintroduction example, at the Wolf Creek ).

The following 740 river miles between Whitehorse and Dawson, are now mainly of tourist importance. Canoeists set the scenic route taking advantage of up to ten km / h flow in about 14 to 16 days back ( whitewater difficulty scale in places I to II at high tide ). About 20 kilometers north of Whitehorse flows through the Yukon to Lake Laberge. The 65 kilometers long and four kilometers wide lake was formed by an expansion of the river. Feared here are the strong katabatic winds in south-north direction that give rise up to two meters high waves. The subsequent part section to the confluence of the Teslin River is known as the Thirty Mile River. He is designated as a natural monument (Canadian Heritage River ).

Until Carmacks, with 391 inhabitants, the largest city between Whitehorse and Dawson, lead coming from the east tributaries of Big Salmon River and the Little Salmon River in the Yukon. The place is named after the Klondike George Carmack, one of the discoverers of gold claims. A few miles beyond Carmacks are the Five Finger Rapids ( " Five Finger rapids "). Four rocks divide the stream into five fingers and asked for the paddle steamer in the 19th and 20th centuries is a major obstacle that had to be overcome with winches and steel cables. This obstacle was defused by rock blasting and can therefore now, at normal water levels, be easily overcome by canoeists.

In Fort Selkirk a former trading post, opens the Pelly River in the Yukon. Fort Selkirk is used as a Fish Camp by resident First Nations in the summer and maintained. Some of the buildings of the trading posts were restored. Other major tributaries to Dawson are the White River and the Stewart River.

In Dawson, the known by the discovery of gold in 1896 Klondike River flows into the stream. On the 141 longitude is the border of Canada and the United States. A few kilometers downstream is Eagle, a supply center from the time of the Gold Rush, with 150 inhabitants today. About 15 km after the town of Yukon reaches the boundary of the nature reserve Yukon - Charley Rivers National Preserve. It is named after the inflow Charley River. The Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge, another conservation area, is located only 30 kilometers further. It is the third largest protected area in the United States. The landscape here is flat and therefore the Yukon increasingly wider.

In broad fanned Yukon Kuskokwim Delta, the river flows into the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge in the Bering Sea.

History

The Yukon has been used by the natives as a transport route.

During the Klondike gold rush to the Yukon momentarily came to a great importance as access roads and supply route to Dawson, either as part of the route over the Chilkoot or White Pass ( Dead Horse Pass ), or with paddle steamers of the mouth ago.

From 1950 to 1955, the Klondike Highway was built, the Whitehorse and Dawson connects. Due to the low bridges the sternwheeler could no longer be used and the river traffic was stopped.

As a transport path of the Yukon is now only of local importance. In contrast, the use is growing as a tourist attraction.

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