Tanana River
The Tanana River Template:IPAc-en (Lower Tanana: Tth'eetoo', Upper Tanana: Tth’iitu’ Niign) is a Template:Convert tributary of the Yukon River in the U.S. state of Alaska.<ref group="n">The main-stem length is calculated by subtracting the length of the Nabesna River from the length, 659 mi (1,061 km), listed by J.C. Kammerer in "Largest Rivers in the United States".<ref name = "USGS Kammerer">Template:Cite web</ref> The Nabesna River is roughly 75 mi (121 km) long, calculated by adding the 60 mi (97 km) from the Nabesna mouth to Camp Creek<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> to the distance, 15 mi (24 km), from Camp Creek to Nabesna Glacier,<ref>Template:Cite map</ref> Kammerer's most remote source for the Tanana.</ref> According to linguist and anthropologist William Bright, the name is from the Koyukon (Athabaskan) tene no, tenene, literally "trail river."<ref name="Bright2004">Template:Cite book</ref> Early explorer and naturalist to Alaska William Dall translated the name as "River of Mountains."<ref name=roessler>Template:Cite thesis</ref>
The river's headwaters are located at the confluence of the Chisana and Nabesna rivers just north of Northway in eastern Alaska.<ref name="Atlas">Template:Cite map</ref> The Tanana flows in a northwest direction from near the border with the Yukon Territory, and laterally along the northern slope of the Alaska Range, roughly paralleled by the Alaska Highway.<ref name="Atlas"/> In central Alaska, it emerges into a lowland marsh region known as the Tanana Valley and passes south of the city of Fairbanks.<ref name="Atlas"/>
In the marsh regions it is joined by several large tributaries, including the Nenana (near the city of Nenana) and the Kantishna. It passes the village of Manley Hot Springs and empties into the Yukon near the town of Tanana.<ref name="Atlas"/>
Ice on the river accumulates each winter to an average maximum thickness of Template:Convert at Nenana.<ref name="ice classic">Template:Cite web</ref> The Nenana Ice Classic, begun in 1917, is an annual guessing game about the date of the ice break-up.<ref name="ice classic"/> In October or November, after the freeze has begun, a tripod is planted in ice in the middle of the river. The tripod is connected to an on-shore clock that stops when the tripod begins to move during the spring thaw. Over the years, the break-up date has varied from April 20 to May 20.<ref name="ice classic"/> Betting on the exact time of the break-up takes the form of a lottery, called the Nenana Ice Classic.
History
Human habitation of the Yukon basin, including the Tanana watershed, began more than 12,000 years ago.<ref name = "Benke 787">Benke and Cushing, p. 787</ref> Several sites in the watershed have produced evidence of occupation by Paleo-Arctic people. Later residents include people of the Tanana tribe, which has had a presence in the region for 1,200 years.<ref name="Benke 787"/>
In the summer of 1885, Lieutenant Henry Tureman Allen of the U.S. Army undertook the first recorded exploration of the Tanana River. In 1883, Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka and his party had entered the Yukon watershed by way of Canada and floated to the mouth of the Yukon. Allen's goal was to find an all-Alaska route to the Yukon River. He and his men ascended the Copper River, crossed into Tanana River drainage, and descended the Tanana to the Yukon and down it to the mouth. During the five-month trip, the Allen party mapped the courses of the Copper, Tanana, and Koyukuk rivers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
During World War II, it was proposed to resettle Finnish refugees in areas around the Tanana River (Operation Alaska).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In the early 21st century, the basin is largely wilderness unchanged by human activity. Fairbanks, a metropolitan area with about 100,000 residents in 2019, is a center of placer gold mining, which has continued in the basin since the mid-19th century. Limited farming also occurs in the valley near Fairbanks.<ref name = "Benke 787"/>
On April 23, 2024, a Douglas C-54D operated by Alaska Air Fuel crashed along the banks of the Tanana River, killing both pilots, the only two occupants on board. Most fuel on board the aircraft was burned up in the post-crash fire and no cleanup operation was conducted.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Nenana Ice Classic
Since the early 1900s, Alaskans have been gambling on when the river would melt. Each year, thousands pay $3.00 to guess the exact date and minute the Tanana River ice will go out in Nenana. The Nenana Ice Classic is a fundraiser for local charities and has awarded some large prizes. In 2010, after the ice went out on April 29, three lottery winners split a jackpot of $279,030.<ref name="ticket sales">Template:Cite news</ref> In 2012, the record prize was $350,000.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Major tributaries (in descending order of elevation)
- Chisana River
- Nabesna River
- Kalutna River
- Tok River
- Robertson River
- Johnson River
- Little Gerstle River
- Healy River
- Volkmar River
- Gerstle River
- Clearwater Creek
- Goodpaster River
- Delta River
- Delta Creek
- Little Delta River
- Salcha River
- Little Salcha River
- Chena River
- North Fork
- South Fork
- Wood River
- Tatlanika River
- Nenana River
- Tolovana River
- Kantishna River
- Zitziana River
- Cosna River
- Chitanana River
See also
Notes and references
- Notes
- References
Works cited
- Benke, Arthur C., ed., and Cushing, Colbert E., ed. (2005). Rivers of North America. Burlington, Massachusetts: Elsevier Academic Press. Template:ISBN.