River, northwestern North America.
Formed by the confluence of the Lewes and Pelly rivers in southwestern Yukon Territory, Can., it is 1,980 mi (3,190 km) long. It flows northwest across the Yukon border into Alaska, then southwest across central Alaska to the Bering Sea . It is the third longest river in North America; its entire course of 1,265 mi (2,035 km) in Alaska is navigable. It attracted attention following the rich gold strikes in 1896 on one of its Canadian tributaries, the Klondike River (see Klondike gold rush ).