| Feature Type: | River - Watercourse of variable size, which has tributaries and flows into a body of water or a larger watercourse. |
| Status: | Official |
| Name Authority: | BC Geographical Names Office |
| Relative Location: | Flows S across BC-Alaska boundary W of White Pass, thence into Klehini River NW of Haines, Alaska, Cassiar Land District |
| Latitude-Longitude: | 59°41'23"N, 135°51'31"W at the approximate mouth of this feature. |
| Datum: | WGS84 |
| NTS Map: | 104M/12 |
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Origin Notes and History:
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Adopted in the 1st Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, 1898, as labelled on US hydrographic charts from 1880 or earlier, and as identified in the 1883 Alaska Coast pilot. Re-approved 6 May 1947 on 104NW. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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Drains Chilkat Glacier (accumulation area in Alaska) then flows west and south in BC for 17 miles, flows across BC-Alaska boundary then continues southwest for another 37 miles. Mouth at 59 29 - 135 56, at Wells, Alaska. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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Named by the Russians for the Chilkat tribe of Tlingit Indians living in this region; the name means "salmon storehouse". Their principal village, abandoned about 1910, was about 18 miles SSW of Skagway. The Indian name Tschilkathin was reported by Aurel and Arthur Krause (1883, map). Spelled variously Chilcat, Tchillkat, Tschilkathin, Tsilkat, Tsl-kaht... Source: Dictionary of Alaska Place Names, Geological Survey Professional Paper 567; US Department of Interior, Washington, 1967 |