The Unuk River is a river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

 and the Canadian province

Provinces and territories of Canada

The provinces and territories of Canada combine to make up the world's second-largest country by area. There are ten provinces and three territories...

 of British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

. It flows from the Coast Mountains

Coast Mountains

The Coast Mountains are a major mountain range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges, of western North America, extending from southwestern Yukon through the Alaska Panhandle and virtually all of the Coast of British Columbia. They are so-named because of their proximity to the sea coast, and are often...

 southwest to Behm Canal

Behm Canal

Behm Canal is a channel in the Alexander Archipelago, in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Alaska.About long, Behm Canal separates Revillagigedo Island from the mainland...

, northeast of Ketchikan, Alaska

Ketchikan, Alaska

Ketchikan is a city in Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska, United States, the southeasternmost sizable city in that state. With an estimated population of 7,368 in 2010 within the city limits, it is the fifth most populous city in the state....

.

From its headwaters in a heavily glaciated area in British Columbia, south of the lower Iskut River

Iskut River

The Iskut River is the largest tributary of the Stikine River in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, entering it a few miles above its entry into Alaska....

, the Unuk flows west and south for 129 kilometres (80.2 mi), crossing into Alaska and emptying into Burroughs Bay, an inlet of Behm Canal. In Alaska the river flows through the Misty Fjords National Monument

Misty Fjords National Monument

Misty Fiords National Monument is a National Monument and Wilderness Area administered by the US Department of Agriculture United States Forest Service 40 miles east of Ketchikan, Alaska, along the Inside Passage coast in extreme southeastern Alaska and covering 2,294,343 acres of Tongass...

.

In Tlingit

Tlingit language

The Tlingit language ) is spoken by the Tlingit people of Southeast Alaska and Western Canada. It is a branch of the Na-Dené language family. Tlingit is very endangered, with fewer than 140 native speakers still living, all of whom are bilingual or near-bilingual in English...

 it is called Joonáx̱, the meaning of which is obscure but may have to do with dreaming (cf. aawajoon “he dreamed”). It is occasionally referred to as Oonáx̱, which is a reduced form. The USGS reports that a 1906 publication said the correct name for the river is “Junuk” or “Junock”, but it is unclear whether the initial sound is supposed to be an affricate [dʒ] or an approximant [j]. The former sound would reflect the full Tlingit name, the latter the English adaptation.

The Unuk River supports relatively large runs of salmon

Salmon

Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...

, including chinook, coho, pink, chum, and sockeye.