Colville River (Alaska)

Colville River catchment area

Inuit on the Colville River ( recording 1901)

Template: Infobox River / Obsolete

The Colville River is a 560 km long river in northern Alaska. It arises from the confluence of Thunder Creek and Storm Creek in the north of the De Long Mountains, flows ostnordostwärts and ends at Alpine, 190 kilometers west of Prudhoe Bay, in a large delta in the Beaufort Sea, a part of the Arctic Ocean.

Much of the northern flank of the Brooks Range is drained by the Colville River. Initially it flows north, then runs along the foothills of the Brooks Range to the east, where he wins in size by many tributaries. In the middle reaches, it forms the southern boundary of the National Petroleum Reserve and eventually flows to the north by the North Slope to the coast.

Was named the river in 1837 by the British explorers PW Dease and Thomas Simpson to Andrew Colvile of the Hudson's Bay Company. The name was written in the original and in the following maps incorrectly with two "l". This spelling was later the official name of the river.