Talk:List of rivers of Alaska
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I expanded this list to include all the rivers that had articles and all others that were notable based on my subjective opinion. This should probably have some sort of criteria for inclusion that is more objective. For other states you could list all the rivers, but that may not be practical for Alaska. Alaska has 1,398 rivers all together, most of which probably do not warrant having an article. Kmusser 15:24, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
- Tricky problem. When is a flow of water substantial enough to be included? I suggest that the word "river" may be key: we want to include substantial rivers, but perhaps not the smallest stream. Is there a distinction between 'river' and 'stream' that we can exploit? I guess that the decision is fairly arbitrary, but a Washington Univ. webpage gives the following:
- Headwater streams are orders 1-3
- Medium sized streams are orders 4-6
- Large rivers are orders >6
- I'm not sure whether this is useful, or indeed whether we could source this information, but it may be helpful. Jakew 18:41, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
- The word "river" isn't a useful distinction in Alaska as almost everything is called a river. Stream order is a good measure and is used effectively in similar lists so may be the way to go - it might be difficult to source though, especially for the more remote rivers. Kmusser 19:25, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
- Hmm. Another thought: can we use this? Jakew 19:47, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
- A further thought occurs. Delete this article, and replace it with an intelligent usage of categories (perhaps "Major Rivers of Alaska" and "Tributaries of X River"?). Then, ideally, write a "Rivers of Alaska" article which gives a good general overview. Thoughts? Jakew 20:36, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
- I'll see if I can download that GIS layer and take a look - I also might have a source for the stream order data I'm checking. I actually like the lists articles like this as they're good for finding rivers that still need articles, it could use a real introduction though. Kmusser 23:10, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
- Very useful for maintainance. I've checked every article & have corrected most English & style issues, and have ensured that all articles in 'Arctic Ocean' have at least one ref. I'll try to get the others sourced within the next few days, but have had enough of rivers for today. Jakew 23:26, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
- I'll see if I can download that GIS layer and take a look - I also might have a source for the stream order data I'm checking. I actually like the lists articles like this as they're good for finding rivers that still need articles, it could use a real introduction though. Kmusser 23:10, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
- The word "river" isn't a useful distinction in Alaska as almost everything is called a river. Stream order is a good measure and is used effectively in similar lists so may be the way to go - it might be difficult to source though, especially for the more remote rivers. Kmusser 19:25, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
Revised based on stream order, I didn't have a good source for stream order so it was eye-balled based on 1:63,360 topo maps. I'm pretty sure it includes all streams 5th order and above, it probably includes most 4th order streams as well. I took out a few 1-2nd order streams that were in there. Kmusser 13:36, 29 August 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Length not always correct
I just found this page after making a stub for the Unuk River. I noticed that the length given here for the Unuk River is 28 miles. As the page says, this comes from the USGS GNIS. However, I'm pretty certain that the 28 mile length is only that part of the Unuk River in Alaska. The rest of it is in British Columbia. Another source (Alaska Fish and Game Dept) gives the river's length as about 80 miles and even says the last 28 miles are in Alaska. This is something I've noticed about the USGS GNIS river length stats before -- they don't seem to measure beyond the US border. Since a great many Alaskan rivers cross the US-Canada boundary, the length info on this page might be questionable in many cases. Just thought I'd mention it, and correct me if I'm wrong. Pfly (talk) 05:14, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
