Rivers of Anchorage, Alaska

Question

This piglix contains articles or sub-piglix about Rivers of Anchorage, Alaska

Answer 1

Campbell Creek (Alaska)

Campbell Creek (Alaska)

Campbell Creek is one of several streams that flow through the city of Anchorage, Alaska. It runs for 21 miles (34 km) from the Chugach Mountains to the Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet.

The main stem of the creek is formed at the junction of the North and South Forks, which flows in a south-westerly direction through Campbell Lake, before reaching the Turnagain Arm. The watershed of the Campbell Creek includes a number of tributaries, including the Little Campbell Creek, the Lower Campbell Creek, and the Middle Fork.

The creek connects a number of parks, open spaces and lakes to form a green corridor running from east to west through the city. The paved Campbell Creek trail follows the creek for much of its lower course through the areas from Campbell Park to Campbell Lake, over a distance of seven miles.

Before English speaking settlers came into the area, the Dena'ina were the inhabitants. They called the creek Qin Cheghitnu or Crying Ridge Creek. The Crying Ridge being the Tanaina Peak in the Chugach Mountains, in the upper reaches of the creek, which was considered to be a place of bereavement.

The European name of Campbell Creek being a derivative of Point Campbell, where the Knik and Turnagain arms of Cook Inlet meet.

The discharge of the Campbell Creek has been measured by the USGS since 1966. The stream gauge site at the Dimond Boulevard Bridge near Spenard measures flow from an area of 69.7 square miles (181 km²). The mean flow between 1966 and 2013 was 67.7 cubic feet per second (1.92 m³/s), with the lowest daily flow recorded in February 1969 at 2.2 cubic feet per second (0.062 m³/s).

The highest river level recorded occurred in August 1989 with a height of 23 feet (7.0 m) through the gauge, giving a corresponding flow of 1,510 cubic feet per second (43 m³/s).

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Answer 2

Chester Creek (Alaska)

Chester Creek (Alaska)

Chester Creek is one of several streams that flow through the city of Anchorage, Alaska. It runs for 21 miles (34 km) from the Chugach Mountains to the Knik Arm of Cook Inlet.

The creek connects a number of parks, open spaces and lakes to form a green corridor running from east to west through the city. A paved trail follows the creek for part of its course through the areas from Goose Lake to Westchester Lagoon.

The watershed of the Chester Creek includes a number of tributaries, the upper reaches are known as the South Fork which is located within Fort Richardson of the Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson base. The Middle Fork emerges from Russian Jack Springs in the park of the same name, the North Fork drains a smaller area to the west of the Middle Fork, and the Lower Chester Creek is the area downstream of the confluence of the North and South Forks to the outlet of Westchester Lagoon into the Knik Arm.

Before English speaking settlers came into the area, the Dena'ina were the inhabitants. They were known to use Chanshtnu, or Grass Creek, as a salmon fishing camp. The word Chanstnu was later transcribed to Chester, giving us the name we now use.

The areas surrounding the creek were developed as Anchorage expanded east in the first half of the 20th century, although some portions were also designated as green spaces. In 1971, as part of the reconstruction following the 1964 Alaska earthquake, existing parks were connected with other land, older plots and some new purchases, to create one of the oldest urban greenbelts in the country, connecting Russian Jack Springs to Cook Inlet. This included the area around the outlet of the creek which had subsided during the earthquake, which meant that it now became partly submerged at high tide. The decision was made to create a lake protected from the sea by a new embankment, to form the Westchester lagoon, with the remaining area being rehabilitated as parkland.

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Answer 3

Crow Creek (Alaska)

Crow Creek (Alaska)

Crow Creek is a stream in the Chugach Mountains, Alaska, US. It is the only notable tributary of Glacier Creek, which enters Turnagain Arm from the north, 12 miles (19 km) from its eastern end. The stream is notable as the site of ongoing gold mining since the late 19th century.

Crow Creek is a tributary of Glacier Creek, about 5 miles (8.0 km) above its mouth. The latter flows into Turnagain Arm from the northern side. The mountains at its head are high and rugged and form the divide between the waters that flow to Turnagain Arm and those tributary to Knik Arm. They are broken at the head of Crow Creek by Crow Creek Pass at an altitude of about 3,400 feet (1,000 m), which affords a fairly good route from Crow Creek to Raven Creek, a tributary of Eagle River. From its source in the pass to its mouth, Crow Creek is about 5 miles (8.0 km) long. Near its head, it is precipitous, descending in waterfalls and rapids for a vertical distance of over 1,000 feet (300 m) within 1 mile (1.6 km) of the pass. It is fed by several small glaciers, and during the summer its waters are turbid. Below the pass the stream emerges from its narrow stream-cut gorge into a gravel-filled basin.

The basin is bordered at its lower end by a terminal moraine from a lateral valley, and the gravel fill is the result of the lessened gradient behind this morajnal dam. Through its boulder-like channel across the moraine the stream descends in rapids, to emerge into a narrow gravel-floored valley bordered by benchlike terraces of gravel and snowing no rock outcrops. These conditions prevail to a point within half a mile of the mouth of the valley, where the stream enters a rock canyon, with nearly vertical walls, that extends to its mouth. Throughout the basin of Crow Creek, the bedrock consists predominantly of interbedded argillites or shales and graywackes, with some conglomerates, cut by numerous granitic dikes and sills. Locally, the shale beds have been metamorphosed, with the development of slaty cleavage, and in places the metamorphism has been intense enough to produce a somewhat schistose structure. The prevailing strike of the beds in this basin is northeast, but locally the beds diverge considerably from this general trend. Near the mouth of Crow Creek, they dip prevailingly at high angles to the southeast, but at the head of the valley folding has occurred, and the general trend of the structure swings around to an easterly direction.

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Answer 4

Eagle River (Cook Inlet)

Eagle River (Cook Inlet)

The Eagle River is a stream, 40 miles (64 km) long, in the Municipality of Anchorage in the state of Alaska. Heading at Eagle Glacier in Chugach State Park, it flows northwest into Eagle Bay on the Knik Arm of Cook Inlet, 9 miles (14 km) northeast of downtown Anchorage.

Beginning at Eagle Glacier in Chugach State Park, the river soon intersects the Iditarod National Historic Trail, which follows the Eagle River Valley from near Crow Pass in Chugach National Forest to the community of Eagle River. Downstream of the trail crossing, the river flows by, but at considerable distance from, the Eagle River Nature Center, the visitor center for the park. The nature center lies along the North Fork Eagle River, which runs roughly parallel to the main stem for several miles. Eagle River Road, like the North Fork, lies to the of the main stem, facing downstream. Eagle River Road links the visitor center to the Eagle River community 12 miles (19 km) away.

After receiving the North Fork from the right, the Eagle River receives the South Fork Eagle River from the before passing under Eagle River Loop Road. On its lower reaches, the river flows by the Eagle River community, which is on the right, and Eagle River Campground, on the left, before leaving the state park. It then passes under Glenn Highway and flows through Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, a military reservation, to Eagle Bay on Cook Inlet.

Parts of the Eagle River are floatable in a variety of watercraft. These sections are rated from Class I (easy) to Class III (difficult) on the International Scale of River Difficulty. Reaching a put-in place on the main stem west of the visitor center involves an arduous portage. A more accessible put-in place lies along the North Fork and Eagle River Road not far above the confluence with the main stem. Dangers include Class II (medium) and Class III rapids near Eagle River Campground, overhanging or submerged vegetation, and logjams.

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Answer 5

Eklutna River

The Eklutna River is a 22-mile (35 km) long river located in the Southcentral region of the U.S. state of Alaska. A degraded anadromous stream of glacial origin, it originates at Eklutna Glacier and flows through Eklutna Lake and a canyon up to 350 feet (107 m) deep, emptying into the Knik Arm of Cook Inlet approximately 17 miles (27 km) northeast of Anchorage. It has one significant tributary, Thunderbird Creek, which enters the south bank about 1 km (0.6 mi) upstream from where the river exits the canyon and forms an alluvial fan. Due to water impoundments on the Eklutna River for power generation, Thunderbird Creek is currently the main source of water in the river. The river is located entirely within the limits of the Municipality of Anchorage.

Anchorage was largely electrified by the late 1920s, but as demand increased, Eklutna was selected as a power source because of the hydroelectric potential of the river, then known as Eklutna Creek, and Eklutna Lake. In 1927, the City of Anchorage contracted with the Anchorage Light and Power Company to construct what is now called the Old Eklutna Hydroplant. Construction included a low-head storage dam at the outlet of Eklutna Lake and a 68-foot (21 m) high concrete arch diversion dam (known as the Lower Dam) in the river canyon 8 miles (13 km) downstream of the lake. The diversion dam diverted water through a 1/4 mile-long tunnel to a turbine house near the village of Eklutna. Since its construction, the Lower Eklutna Dam has been a barrier to fish movement upstream. When the Upper Dam was brought online, the Lower Dam was shut down as a result and the Lower Eklutna Dam was allowed to fill with gravel. This dam is no longer operational and is currently completely backfilled with sediment to a depth of approximately 68 feet (21 m) at the upstream face of the dam.

Military expansion in Anchorage during the 1940s stressed the capacity of the Eklutna power generation system and it was upgraded several times. In 1948 the Bureau of Reclamation recommended the construction of Upper Eklutna Dam to raise the level of Eklutna Lake to an elevation of 875 feet (267 m) above sea level with a tunnel intake at 830 feet (250 m). Construction was completed in 1955. The new system replaced the aging storage dam at the lake outlet with a new dam that diverted water through a 4.5-mile (7.2 km) long, 9-foot (2.7 m) diameter concrete lined tunnel with a capacity of 640 cubic feet (18 m³) per second (18 m³/s) to a turbine house on the south bank of the Knik River. The dam, as modified, is an earth- and rock-filled structure, 555 feet (169 m) long and contains approximately 5,000 cubic yards (3,800 m³) of material. This new plant used essentially the entire storage capacity of Eklutna Lake and no water was made available to operate the existing plant at Eklutna.

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Answer 6

Glacier Creek (Turnagain Arm)

Glacier Creek is a stream flowing out of the Chugach Mountains, which enters the Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet near Girdwood, Alaska.

Crow Creek is the largest tributary of Glacier Creek. It rises in the high mountains of the divide between this part of the Turnagain Arm drainage and Eagle River, a tributary of Knik Arm. It is 4–5 miles (6.4–8.0 km) in length, heading against Raven Creek of the Eagle River drainage in a broad pass—Crow Creek Pass—about 3,550 feet (1,080 m)) feet above sea level and entering Glacier Creek from the northwest at a point 5 miles (8.0 km) from Turnagain Arm.

California Creek has cut a steep, narrow, V-shaped valley in the mountains west of Glacier Creek, which it joins 2 miles (3.2 km) from the arm. Its bedrock comprises the same materials found on Crow Creek. The gravels are similar, also, but carry less granite and do not show in the same degree the effect of glacial action.

Winner Creek joins Glacier Creek just below the mouth of Crow Creek. Its valley, bedrock, and gravels resemble those of California Creek.

Coordinates: 60°56′14″N 149°10′21″W / 60.9372°N 149.1726°W / 60.9372; -149.1726

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Answer 7

Knik River

Knik River

The Knik River /kˈnɪk/ is a 25-mile-long (40 km) river in the U.S. state of Alaska. Its source is at Knik Glacier, from which it flows northwest and west and empties into the head of Cook Inlet's Knik Arm, near the mouth of the Matanuska River. It is bridged twice (old and new bridges) where the Old Glenn Highway crosses it near the Butte, and also bridged on the Hayflats.

It is characterized by a broad flat plain with a bed of finely ground gravel and sand and silt. During windstorms, large quantities of fine material is blown from the riverbed and deposited in locations generally downstream or west. The river itself is relatively shallow and wide and considered a class I float. It drops about 400 feet from the glacier to the Salt water, or roughly 16 feet per mile. The 4 miles above the hayflats bridge is unusual in that it remains unfrozen most winters because the eklutna project discharges warmer water into the tailrace. Discharge normally is about 5000 to 6000 ft3/s in the summer (140 to 170 m3/s), with floods of 60,000cfs or more not uncommon.

The term "knik," present in the names of the river, the arm of Cook Inlet, and the glacier, as well as the communities of Knik-Fairview and Knik River, derives from the Inupiaq word igniq ("fire"). The Denaina term for the Knik river was "Skitnu", (meaning Brush River) though this is now archaic, and not commonly used.

The river runs near the border between the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and the Municipality of Anchorage. Much of its length is paralleled by the paved Old Glenn Highway and the paved (as of 2000) Knik River Road, along which can be found the community of Knik River.

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Answer 8

Ship Creek, Alaska

Ship Creek is an Alaskan river that flows from the Chugach Mountains into Cook Inlet. The Port of Anchorage at the mouth of Ship Creek gave its name ("Knik Anchorage") to the city of Anchorage that grew up nearby. The river lies entirely within the limits of the Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska. Most of its upper length traverses Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

Coordinates: 61°13′34″N 149°53′33″W / 61.22611°N 149.89250°W / 61.22611; -149.89250

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