Yukon

Yukon, river in northwestern North America, 3,190 km (1,980 mi) long. The river, which has a drainage basin of 854,000 sq km (330,000 sq mi), rises in Tagish, Atlin, and Teslin lakes, which straddle the border between British Columbia and Yukon Territory, Canada; its ultimate source is the Nisutlin River, a tributary of Teslin Lake. The Yukon initially flows northwest in Yukon Territory, past Whitehorse, Carmacks, Fort Selkirk, and Dawson; its main tributaries in this section are the Big Salmon, Pelly, White, Stewart, and Klondike rivers. The Yukon then enters Alaska, where it flows west across the state for 2,040 km (1,265 mi) before emptying through a large delta into the Bering Sea. The chief affluents in Alaska are the Porcupine, Tanana, and Koyukuk rivers. After receiving the Porcupine, the Yukon flows in many channels for 240 km (150 mi) through the Yukon Flats, a region of sandbars and wooded islands.

The Yukon is navigable by shallow-draft commercial vessels as far upstream as Whitehorse. Known to Russian fur traders as early as 1831, it was an important transportation route in the late 19th and early 20th centuries but now is used principally by local traffic. Several thousand indigenous people still live in the region and continue to rely at least partly on hunting and trapping for their livelihood.