Fish River (Alaska)
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The Fish River (''Iġalugvik'' in Inupiaq) is a
waterway A waterway is any Navigability, navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other ways. A first distinction is ...
in the
U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...
. The river rises in the
Bendeleben Mountains The Bendeleben (/ˈbɛn.dəˌleɪ.bɨn/) Mountains are a mountain range on the heart of the Seward Peninsula in Nome Census Area, Alaska, United States. This range forms a major divide between drainage basins draining into the Pacific Ocean and t ...
and flows south to Golovnin Lagoon, before emptying into Golovnin Bay,
Norton Sound The Norton Sound ( Inupiaq: ''Imaqpak'') is an inlet of the Bering Sea on the western coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, south of the Seward Peninsula. It is about 240 km (150 mi) long and 200 km (125 mi) wide. The Yukon Riv ...
, and the
Bering Sea The Bering Sea ( , ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre, p=ˈbʲerʲɪnɡəvə ˈmorʲe) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasse ...
. The basin formed by the Fish River is known for its
placer gold Placer mining () is the mining of stream bed deposits for minerals. This may be done by open-pit mining or by various surface excavating equipment or tunneling equipment. Placer mining is frequently used for precious metal deposits (particularly ...
deposits, and in particular, the Niukluk River and its tributaries; production from this tributary valley is reported to be more than from any other place in the region. A
galena Galena, also called lead glance, is the natural mineral form of lead(II) sulfide (PbS). It is the most important ore of lead and an important source of silver. Galena is one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It crysta ...
mine existed from the sea, worked on occasion by a
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
corporation with a few hundred tons of ore taken to the city for smelting and refining for silver.
Walter Curran Mendenhall Walter Curran Mendenhall (February 20, 1871 – June 2, 1957) was the fifth director of the United States Geological Survey. Life Mendenhall was born in Marlboro, Ohio to William King Mendenhall and Emma P. Garrigues. He graduated from Ohio No ...
found obscure
fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...
s on Fish River at White Mountain.


Etymology

Its
Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...
name was reported in 1838 as ''Ikalikhvik'' meaning "fish (or fish place)" by Aleksandr Filippovich Kashevarov. Various spellings were reported by Western Union Telegraph Expedition in 1865–67. Dall appears to be the first to have applied the name "Fish River" in 1870 when he wrote: "Golofnina Bay is connected with a large lagoon which opens in Grantley Harbor by the extremely winding channel of the Fish River, which has one principal tributary, the Kavi-ava-zak." Dall's application heads the Fish River on what is now the Niukluk River.


Geography

Fish River is one of the streams emanating from the northern part of the
Bendeleben Mountains The Bendeleben (/ˈbɛn.dəˌleɪ.bɨn/) Mountains are a mountain range on the heart of the Seward Peninsula in Nome Census Area, Alaska, United States. This range forms a major divide between drainage basins draining into the Pacific Ocean and t ...
, along with others such as Tubutulik River. The area is accessible from
Nome Nome may refer to: Country subdivision * Nome (Egypt), an administrative division within ancient Egypt * Nome (Greece), the administrative division immediately below the ''peripheries of Greece'' (, pl. ) Places United States * Nome, Alaska ...
via a small airstrip at White Mountain. The catchment area of the river is about . It is bounded by Golovnin Sound to its south, by the Kruzgamepa River to its west and the mountain range to its north (starting with Cape Darby in an arc from). It has many tributaries that rise at low elevations, and most of them are of equal length and have almost equal flow rates. The northwest of the river basin is bounded by the hills, which rise to a height of about . Two stream originate from here, flow in torrents for some initial reach in the hills and then enters into flatter terrain where the river meanders forming sandbars. All the streams join in the gorge section itself before entering flatter terrain. It is met by the Niukluk River, and then flows for considerable distance in loops and forms the headwaters of the delta of Golovnin Sound. The delta extends over a width of and touches the foot of the White Mountain, a low mountain of about in height dominated by limestone formations. The delta is bisected by two channels, interspersed with sloughs, marshes, and ponds. Both channels are navigable; the west channel is larger and suitable for river craft and small boats to ply and the east channel is also navigable and suitable for plying light river craft.


Geology

Granite formations are recorded in the head reaches of the river with schistose sediment intrusions. Bluffs of slates are also noted in certain stretches of the river valley. White coarse crystalline marble was reported in the area marked by two branches of the fish river, which are noted between intrusions of granites. The gorge section of the river has schist and limestone geological formations. In the Nome group of Seaward Peninsula, geological formations of schist and limestone have also been recorded. Their age is conjectured as of
Cambrian The Cambrian ( ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordov ...
to Post Ordovician. The magnesium limestone formation in the White Mountain of the Fish River Basin is reported to contain fossil fauna in the form of a "heavy-shelled lamilibranch". This fossil has been compared with similar finds in south eastern Alaska in the limestone formations of similar age in the Glacier Bay and Freshwater Bay.


Wildlife

Fish River is also known for its rich stock of fishing resources which attracted establishing of a number of fishing camps. The fish species reported from the river are:
Chum salmon The chum salmon (''Oncorhynchus keta''), also known as dog salmon or keta salmon, is a species of anadromous salmonid fish from the genus ''Oncorhynchus'' (Pacific salmon) native to the coastal rivers of the North Pacific and the Beringian Arctic ...
, silver salmon,
pink salmon Pink salmon or humpback salmon (''Oncorhynchus gorbuscha'') is a species of euryhaline ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the type species of the genus ''Oncorhynchus'' (Pacific salmon), and is the smallest and most abundant of t ...
,
Chinook salmon The Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') is the largest and most valuable species of Oncorhynchus, Pacific salmon. Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other vernacular names for the species include king salmon, quinn ...
. red salmon,
burbot The burbot (''Lota lota''), also known as bubbot, mariah, loche, cusk, freshwater cod, freshwater ling, freshwater cusk, the lawyer, coney-fish, lingcod, or eelpout, is a species of coldwater ray-finned fish native to the subarctic regions of ...
,
Northern pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus ''Esox'' (pikes). They are commonly found in brackish water, moderately salty and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). T ...
, Dolly Varden,
Arctic grayling The Arctic grayling (''Thymallus arcticus'') is a species of freshwater fish in the salmon family Salmonidae. ''T. arcticus'' is widespread throughout the Arctic and Pacific drainages in Canada, Alaska, and Siberia, as well as the upper Missou ...
, and whitefish.
Bald eagles The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a Species complex, species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies ...
are reported to nest at the confluence of this river with Niukluk River.


Mining

In the Fish River valley, its longest tributary, Niukluk, has produced more gold than the rest of the region. This region was named the Council district. The river was reported initially to carry gold from its mouth to the northern periphery of the gorge. In the lower stretch of river water color was very light but got concentrated and heavier towards the constricted part of the valley. Here, limestone and schists belts are recorded as crossing the stream. The deposits are noted from the mouth of the river extending into the gorge section in the north. However, no gold was found in the upper lava plateau region of the river. The northern and eastern parts of the basin have the geological formations of schists (with
biotite Biotite is a common group of phyllosilicate minerals within the mica group, with the approximate chemical formula . It is primarily a solid-solution series between the iron- endmember annite, and the magnesium-endmember phlogopite; more al ...
) and
limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
s similar to the type found in the Placer region. In the Council district area, placer gold was explored and in 1898 mining was organized in the distrait and the production was substantial and placed second to that produced at
Nome Nome may refer to: Country subdivision * Nome (Egypt), an administrative division within ancient Egypt * Nome (Greece), the administrative division immediately below the ''peripheries of Greece'' (, pl. ) Places United States * Nome, Alaska ...
. Silver found in the upper regions of the Fish River was extracted at the Omalik Mine. Apart from silver a small amount of lead found was also extracted at this mine as early as 1881.


See also

*
List of rivers of Alaska This is a List of rivers in Alaska, which are at least fifth-order according to the Strahler stream order, Strahler method of stream classification, and an incomplete list of otherwise-notable rivers and streams. Alaska has more than 12,000 rivers, ...


References


Sources

* * * {{Authority control Drainage basins of the Bering Sea Rivers of the Seward Peninsula Rivers of Alaska Rivers of Nome Census Area, Alaska Rivers of Unorganized Borough, Alaska