Kvichak River

Kvichak River
Marsh grasses along the upper Kvichak River
Country United States
State Alaska
Borough Lake and Peninsula, Bristol Bay
Source Iliamna Lake
 - elevation 46 ft (14 m) [1]
 - coordinates 59°19′51″N 155°52′56″W / 59.33083°N 155.88222°W / 59.33083; -155.88222 [2]
Mouth Kvichak Bay
 - location 9 miles (14 km) north of Naknek, Bristol Bay, Alaska Peninsula
 - elevation 0 ft (0 m) [2]
 - coordinates 58°52′50″N 157°02′14″W / 58.88056°N 157.03722°W / 58.88056; -157.03722Coordinates: 58°52′50″N 157°02′14″W / 58.88056°N 157.03722°W / 58.88056; -157.03722 [2]
Length 50 mi (80 km) [3]
Location of the mouth of the Kvichak River in Alaska

The Kvichak River is a large river, about 50 miles (80 km) long, in southwestern Alaska in the United States.[3] It flows southwest from Lake Iliamna to Kvichak Bay, an arm of Bristol Bay, on the Alaska Peninsula.[4] The communities of Igiugig and Levelock lie along the Kvichak River.[4] The Kvichak is navigable along its entire length, and is used as a short cut by boats getting between Cook Inlet and Bristol Bay via the Lake Iliamna portage.

The Kvichak River is home to the largest Red salmon run in the world. Commercial harvests are worth hundreds of millions annually.

The Kvichak River is part of the watershed downstream of the proposed Pebble Mine.

Historically, the river was navigated and subsistence fished by local Alaska Natives. The name of the river means from- or up to- great water, a reference to Iliamna Lake, Alaska's largest freshwater lake.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Derived by entering source coordinates in Google Earth.
  2. 1 2 3 "Kvichak River". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. March 31, 1981. Retrieved November 25, 2013.
  3. 1 2 Orth, Donald J.; United States Geological Survey (1971) [1967]. Dictionary of Alaska Place Names: Geological Survey Professional Paper 567 (PDF). University of Alaska Fairbanks. United States Government Printing Office. p. 557. Retrieved November 25, 2013.
  4. 1 2 Alaska Atlas & Gazetteer (7th ed.). Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. 2010. pp. 49–50, 58. ISBN 978-0-89933-289-5.

External links

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