Tanana River
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The Tanana River is a tributary of the Yukon River in Alaska in the United States.
Its headwaters are on the north slope of the Wrangell Mountains in southeast Alaska. It flows in a northeast direction, and then turns to the northwest near the border with the Yukon Territory, and flows laterally along the northern slope of the Alaska Range, roughly paralleled by the Alaska Highway. In central Alaska, it emerges into a lowland marsh region known as the Tanana Valley and passes to the south of the city of Fairbanks and past the village of Ester.
In the marsh regions it is joined by several large tributaries, including the Nenana (near the city of Nenana) and the Kantishna. It empties into Yukon approximately 70 miles (110 km) downriver from the village of Manley Hot Springs, near the town of Tanana.
The date when the ice breaks on the Tanana River, an event that commemorates both the start of spring in Alaska, as well as transportation in Alaska before paved roads, trains, and planes, is the point of the Nenana Ice Classic, a lottery held in Nenana. During the history of the Ice Classic, the earliest calendar date the ice broke was April 20 in both 1940 and 1998; the latest date was May 20, 1964.
The word Tanana means mountain river in Athabascan.
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