Yaak River

BW

The Yaak River or Canada Yahk River is a tributary of the Kootenai River in the U.S. state of Montana and the Canadian province of British Columbia.

Reaches of the river

The river has its origin in southeastern British Columbia in the vicinity of the Purcell Mountains belonging Yahk Mountain. The river crosses the border into Montana and then first receives the East Fork Yaak River and then the West Fork Yaak River. This is also known as West and Yahk River originates near Rock Candy Mountain, then flows north-east to British Columbia in direction before he returns to Montana to the southeast and the Yaak River flows.

Below the confluence of the South Fork Yaak still leads River before the river makes a wide arc to the west and later south again. Shall be taken of a number of Creeks, including Spread Creek, Hellroaring Creek and Burnt Creek ( this is also known as Burnt Grizzly Bear Creek ). Troy the Yaak River eventually flows into the Kootenai River.

Hydrographic

The United States Geological Survey operates a level at the mouth near Troy. The annual average runoff of the river was 1957-2004 24 m³ / s On 16 May 1997, the highest ever observed runoff of 330 24 m³ / s was measured, the lowest value on 19 September 2007 was approximately 1.4 m³ / s

The catchment area covers a total of 1983 km ² and its share is attributable to Montana for the most part within the Kootenai National Forest. About the Kootenay River the Yaak River is part of the river system of the Columbia River.

Name of the river

According to the British Columbia Geographical Names Information System, the river name " Yahk " probably comes from the word " A'K " from the Kutenai and means either "arrow" or " bow" and refers either to the Yaak River or the Kootenay River. This is not entirely clear. The southward directed curve of the Kootenay River from Canada to the United States and back again is understood as an arc and the Yaak is therefore probably the "arrow".

According to the United States Geological Survey, there are several name variants, among others A'ak, Yaac, Yahk, Yahkh and yak.