Porcupine River

The Porcupine River (Ch’ôonjik^[3] in Gwich’in) is a 916 km (569 mi) tributary of the Yukon River in Canada and the United States. It rises in the Ogilvie Mountains north of Dawson City, Yukon, Canada.^[4] From there it flows north through the community of Old Crow, veers southwest into the U.S. state of Alaska, and enters the larger river at Fort Yukon, Alaska.^[4] It derives its name from the Gwich'in word for the river, Ch'oonjik, or "Porcupine Quill River".

Quick Facts Native name, Location ...

Porcupine River
Porcupine River
Location of the mouth of the Porcupine River in Alaska
Native name	Ch’ôonjik (Gwichʼin)
Location
Countries	Canada United States
Territories/States	Yukon Alaska
Physical characteristics
Source	Nahoni Range
• location	Ogilvie Mountains, Yukon, Canada
• coordinates	65°28′N 139°32′W[1]
Mouth	Yukon River
• location	Fort Yukon, Alaska, United States
• coordinates	66°35′42″N 145°18′32″W / 66.59500; -145.30889][[Category:Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas]]"},"html":"Coordinates: </templatestyles>\"}' data-mw='{\"name\":\"templatestyles\",\"attrs\":{\"src\":\"Module:Coordinates/styles.css\"},\"body\":{\"extsrc\":\"\"}}'/>66°35′42″N 145°18′32″W / 66.59500°N 145.30889°W / 66.59500; -145.30889"}">[1]
• elevation	126 m (413 ft)[1]
Length	916 km (569 mi)
Basin size	118,000 km2 (46,000 sq mi)[2]
Discharge
• average	414 m3/s (14,600 cu ft/s)[2]

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The Porcupine caribou herd, whose range includes the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska, gets its name from its calving grounds around the Porcupine River.

Possible (but disputed) evidence of the oldest known human habitation in North America comes from a cave on one of the Porcupine's tributaries, the Bluefish River. Many apparently human-modified animal bones have been discovered in the Bluefish Caves. Radiocarbon dating has assessed them as 25,000 to 40,000 years old—several thousand years earlier than the generally accepted date for human habitation of North America.^[5]