The Five Finger Rapids, also known as the Five Fingers, are located on the

Yukon River The Yukon River ( Gwich'in: ''Ųųg Han'' or ''Yuk Han'', Yup'ik: ''Kuigpak'', Inupiaq: ''Kuukpak'', Deg Xinag: ''Yeqin'', Hän: ''Tth'echù'' or ''Chuu k'onn'', Southern Tutchone: Chu Nìikwän, russian: Юкон, Yukon) is a major watercourse ...

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

, Canada. Four islands of composite rock divide the river into five narrow channels of which only the eastern is passable.

History

Indigenous Canadians called the Five Finger Rapids "Tthi-cho Nadezhe," or "big rocks standing up." The Five Finger Rapids were a common obstacle for gold seekers during the Klondike Gold Rush; the

was originally believed to be unnavigable above the rapids. Writer and artist Tappan Adney described them:

"The opening is about one hundred feet wide, with vertical walls, through which the river drops a couple of feet, the waves rising angrily in a return curl, then dancing on in rapidly diminishing chops until lost in the swift current below. We turn our prow squarely for the middle of the cleft; a drop, a smash, a few quarts of water over the sides, and we are shot through into the fast current, without even looking back."

From 1900 to around 1927, blasting was undergone at the rapids, widening the channel by 6 meters (20 feet).

In literature

The Five Finger Rapids are mentioned in

Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...

's novel ''

The Call of the Wild ''The Call of the Wild'' is a short adventure novel by Jack London, published in 1903 and set in Yukon, Canada, during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, when strong sled dogs were in high demand. The central character of the novel is a dog named ...

''. The Five Finger Rapids are also mentioned in Alastair Humphrey's novel '' Thunder and Sunshine''. Humphrey's canoe tips while passing through the rapids during his four-year journey around the world by bike.

References

Bodies of water of Yukon Rapids of Canada Yukon River {{Yukon-geo-stub