Unalakleet River
{{Use American English|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox river
| name = Unalakleet River
| name_native = {{native name|ik|Uŋalaqłiit Kurgat}}
| name_other =
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| image = Boat_on_Unalakleet_River.jpg
| image_size = 300
| image_caption = Boat on Unalakleet River
| map =
| map_size = 300
| map_caption =
| pushpin_map = USA Alaska
| pushpin_map_size = 300
| pushpin_map_caption= Location of the mouth of the Unalakleet River in Alaska
| subdivision_type1 = Country
| subdivision_name1 = United States
| subdivision_type2 = State
| subdivision_name2 = Alaska
| subdivision_type3 =
| subdivision_name3 =
| subdivision_type4 = Census Area
| subdivision_name4 = Yukon–Koyukuk, Nome
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| source1 = Kaltag Mountains
| source1_location = Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area
| source1_coordinates= {{coord|64|20|27|N|159|12|12|W|display=inline}}
| source1_elevation = {{convert|2329|ft|abbr=on}}Derived by entering source coordinates in Google Earth.
| mouth = Norton Sound
| mouth_location = Near Unalakleet, Nome Census Area
| mouth_coordinates = {{coord|63|52|10|N|160|47|16|W|display=inline,title}}{{cite web | work = Geographic Names Information System| publisher = United States Geological Survey | date = January 1, 2000| url = {{gnis3|1411519}} | title = Unalakleet River| access-date = September 27, 2013}}
| mouth_elevation = {{convert|3|ft|abbr=on}}
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| extra = {{Designation list
| embed = yes
| designation1 = nwsr
| designation1_type = Wild
| designation1_date = December 2, 1980
| designation1_number =
}}
}}
The Unalakleet River (Iñupiaq: Uŋalaqłiit Kurgat) in the U.S. state of Alaska flows southwest {{convert|90|mi|km|0}} from the Kaltag Mountains to near the town of Unalakleet, on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea.
In 1980, the upper {{convert|80|mi|km}} of the river was protected as "wild" as part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.{{cite web|title=Unalakleet River, Alaska|url=http://www.rivers.gov/rivers/unalakleet.php|publisher=National Wild and Scenic Rivers System|access-date=September 27, 2013}} Managed by the Bureau of Land Management, the wild segment of the river is fished for king and silver salmon, Arctic grayling, and char. Other forms of recreation along the river include boating and camping in summer and snowmobiling, dog mushing, ice fishing, hunting, and trapping in winter.{{cite web|title=Unalakleet National Wild River: Recreation|url=http://www.blm.gov/ak/st/en/prog/nlcs/unalakleet_nwr/unlakleet_nwr_rec.html|publisher=Bureau of Land Management|date=February 22, 2011|access-date=September 27, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151004002059/http://www.blm.gov/ak/st/en/prog/nlcs/unalakleet_nwr/unlakleet_nwr_rec.html|archive-date=October 4, 2015}} For part of its length, the Iditarod Trail runs along the Unalakleet.
History
The river's name is Inupiat for "place where the east wind blows."{{cite web|title=Explore the Unalakleet National Wild River!|publisher=Bureau of Land Management|url=http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/content/ak/en/prog/nlcs/unalakleet_nwr.html|date=September 3, 2009|access-date=September 28, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703202533/http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/content/ak/en/prog/nlcs/unalakleet_nwr.html|archive-date=July 3, 2013}} Historically, the river provided a good connection between native coastal settlements and those in the interior along the Yukon River. The route, including what is called the Kaltag Portage, was the shortest connection between the Yukon and Norton Sound.{{cite book|last=Jettmar|first=Karen|title=The Alaska River Guide: Canoeing, Kayaking, and Rafting in the Last Frontier|publisher=Menasha Ridge Press|location=Birmingham, Alabama|edition=3rd|year=2008|orig-year=1993|pages=80–82|isbn=978-0-89732-957-6}}
Eskimos have lived near the Unalakleet for many centuries. House pits in the region date to 200 B.C. In the 1830s, after the Russian-American Company established trading posts at St. Michael and Unalakleet, Lieutenant Lavrenty Zagoskin of the Imperial Russian Navy filed the first non-native reports about the Unalakleet.
In 1898, herders from Lapland settled along the river, where they established reindeer herds. Shortly thereafter, prospectors seeking gold on the nearby Seward Peninsula traveled over the Kaltag Portage and downriver to the coast. Subsequent changes included a telegraph line and associated cabins along the river and establishment of a mail route.
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.blm.gov/programs/national-conservation-lands/alaska/unalakleet-wsr Unalakleet Wild and Scenic River] - BLM page
{{Protected areas of Alaska}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Rivers of Nome Census Area, Alaska
Category:Rivers of Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska