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Koyukuk River
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Koyukuk River is a principal tributary of the Yukon River, approximately 500 mi (805 km) long, in northern Alaska in the United States.
It drains an area north of the Yukon on the southern side of the Brooks Range. The river is named for the Koyukon people.
It rises in several forks above the Arctic Circle in the Endicott Mountains, near .
The North Fork rises in Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. The combined river flows generally southwest, past Bettles, in a broadening valley of spruce forests amid small lakes and marshes. It joins the Yukon from the north at Koyukuk.
Its tributaries include the Glacier, Alatna and John rivers. The area around its confluence with the Yukon is a large floodplain protected as part of Koyukuk National Wildlife Refuge.
The valley of the river is a habitat for bear and moose and is a popular destination for game hunting.
Lt. Henry Allen and Pvt. Fred Fickett of the United States Army ascended and explored the river in 1885. The discovery of gold deposits on the Middle Fork in 1893 led to a gold rush in 1898 with the establishment of trading posts and mining camps, including Bettles, on the upper river. In 1929, Robert Marshall explored the North Fork and gave the name Gates of the Arctic to the high Brooks Range along the river.
In 1980 the United States Congress designated 100 mi (164 km) of the North Fork in the Brooks Range as the Koyukuk Wild and Scenic River.
In 1994 floods on the river swept away three villages, forcing the wholesale relocation of the population.