Yukon River

Dominating influence over the entire Territory is the Yukon River, 3185 km (1979 mi.) from source to mouth and disgorging into the Bering Sea via an immense 30,000 sq. km (11,580 sq. mi.) delta in Alaska. Having its headwaters in the southern Yukon (Pelly River, Lewes River) the great waterway has a total catchment area of 855,000 sq. km (330,000 sq. mi.). It begins by flowing north through Whitehorse and Dawson City, then along the American Cordillera until, having reached the Arctic Circle, it makes its "big bend" to the west.

The Yukon is a gently flowing river, ice-covered from October to May. In summer melting snow causes it to flood. Made famous by the gold-rush at the end of the last century its best-known tributary the Klondike joins the Yukon River at Dawson.