The Kuskokwim River or Kusko River (Yupʼik: Kusquqvak; Deg Xinag: Digenegh; Upper Kuskokwim: Dichinanekʼ; (Kuskokvim)) is a river, long, in Southwest Alaska in the United States. 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).

The Indigenous peoples of the Kuskokwim river region are Yupʼik peoples on the lower Kuskokwim, Deg Xitʼan on the middle Kuskokwim, Upper Kuskokwim people on the upper Kuskokwim, and Koyukon people on the North Fork, Lake Minchumina.

Name

The river's name Kuskokwim derives from the relative case form of Kusquqvak Kusquqviim, as used in Kusquqviim painga (the mouth of the Kuskokwim). The name was first recorded by a Russian sailor in 1826. The Tanana (Athabaskan) name for the river was Chin-ana. 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.

See also

  • List of rivers of Alaska
  • List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem)
  • Kuskokwim Bay
  • Kuskokwim Delta
  • Kuskokwim Mountains
  • Kuskokwim 300

References

Works cited

  • Benke, Arthur C., ed., and Cushing, Colbert E., ed. (2005). Rivers of North America. Burlington, Massachusetts: Elsevier Academic Press. .
  • Bright, William. (2004). Native American Placenames of the United States. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. .
  • Iditarod National Historic Trail
  • Kuskokwim River Watershed Council
  • Iyana Gusty and the Kuskokwim