Kuskokwim
Kuskokwim is a mapped river in the YearMaps hydrographic index. River courses organise settlement, agriculture and frontier-making more durably than any political boundary, and this reach is indexed against the dams, lakes and cities within its catchment.
- Feature Class
- River
- Coordinates
- 61.80°, -158.21°
About Kuskokwim
The Kuskokwim River or Kusko River (Yupʼik: Kusquqvak; Deg Xinag: Digenegh; Upper Kuskokwim: Dichinanekʼ; Russian: Кускоквим (Kuskokvim)) is a river, 702 miles (1,130 km) long, in Southwest Alaska in the United States. It is the ninth largest river in the United States by average discharge volume at its mouth and seventeenth largest by basin drainage area. The Kuskokwim River is the longest river system contained entirely within a single U.S. state.
The river provides the principal drainage for an area of the remote Alaska Interior on the north and west side of the Alaska Range, flowing southwest into Kuskokwim Bay on the Bering Sea. The highest point in its watershed is Mount Russell. Except for its headwaters in the mountains, the river is broad and flat for its entire course, making it a useful transportation route for many types of watercraft, as well as road vehicles during the winter when it is frozen over. It is the longest free flowing river in the United States.
Kuskokwim derives from the relative case form of Kusquqvak Kusquqviim, as used in Kusquqviim painga (the mouth of the Kuskokwim).
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Kuskokwim River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Kuskokwim in Depth
Course
The river is formed by the confluence of East Fork Kuskokwim River and North Fork Kuskokwim River, 5 miles (8 km) east of Medfra. From there it flows southwest to Kuskokwim Bay and the Bering Sea.
The Kuskokwim is fed by several forks in central and south-central Alaska. The North Fork (250 mi/400 km) rises in the Kuskokwim Mountains approximately 200 miles (320 km) WSW of Fairbanks and flows southwest in a broad valley. The South Fork (200 mi/320 km) rises in the southwestern end of the Alaska Range west of Mount Gerdine and flows north-northwest through the mountains, past Nikolai, receiving other streams that descend from the Alaska Range northwest of Denali.
History
The principal economic activities along the river have historically been fur trapping and fishing. Subsistence fishing for salmon and whitefish provides a staple of the Yup'ik diet along the river. Economic deposits of placer gold were discovered in 1901 near Aniak. Mineral production in the region has mainly been from scattered placer gold deposits that through 2004 had produced a total of 3.5 million troy ounces of gold. The primary route of the Iditarod Trail follows the South Fork Kuskokwim River out of the Alaska Range and crosses the main stem of the river near McGrath.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Kuskokwim River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Kuskokwim: Key Facts
| Length | 1,130 km |
|---|---|
| Average discharge | 1,897 m³/s |
| Drainage basin | 124,319 km² |
| Source | East Fork Kuskokwim River |
| Mouth | Bering Sea |
| Drainage system | Kuskokwim River basin |
| Tributaries | Aniak River, Swift River, Stony River, Takotna River, Johnson River, Holitna River, Kwethluk River, Eek River |
Facts from Wikidata Q60067 (CC0).
Major River Dossiers
Hand-written studies of the great river systems of history.
Connected Reaches
Nearby watercourses in the same drainage network.
Water Bodies in the Catchment
Settlements Along the Reach
Hydraulic Infrastructure Nearby
Surrounding Terrain
Kuskokwim: Quick Answers
- Where is Kuskokwim?
- Kuskokwim is located in United States, at 61.8029° N, 158.2098° W.
- Are there dams on the Kuskokwim?
- No dam on the Kuskokwim is recorded in the YearMaps dam index, which covers major structures only.