Knik River

Knik River

The Knik River is a 40 km long river in south central Alaska.

It rises on the Knik Glacier in the Chugach Mountains, flows westward and flows 16 km southwest of Palmer along with the Matanuska River in the Knik Arm, a bay of Cook Inlet.

Until the 1960s, each year a glacier run from the pent-up by the Knik Glacier Lake George took place, which caused a tidal wave in the Knik River, which caused major damage along the shore and broke the road route from Anchorage to Palmer.

The river runs close to the boundary between the Matanuska- Susitna Borough and the city of Anchorage. The Old Glenn Highway and Knik River Road run along the river. The settlements Butte and Knik River lie on the river.

The name is derived from " Igniq ", the name of an Aboriginal fire. The current spelling was founded in 1869 and goes back to George Davidson of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.