Knik River
Appearance
Knik River | |
---|---|
Physical characteristics | |
Mouth | Cook Inlet |
Length | 25 miles (40 km) |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/Knik_River_railroad_bridge.jpg/300px-Knik_River_railroad_bridge.jpg)
The Knik River (Template:PronEng) is a 25-mile-long (40 km) river in the U.S. state of Alaska. Its source is at Knik Glacier, from which it flows northwest and west and empties into the head of Cook Inlet's Knik Arm, near the mouth of the Matanuska River.
The term "knik," present in the names of the river, the arm of Cook Inlet, and the glacier, as well as the communities of Knik-Fairview and Knik River, derives from the Inupiaq word igniq ("fire").
The river runs near the border between the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and the Municipality of Anchorage. Much of its length is paralleled by the paved Old Glenn Highway and the paved (as of 2000) Knik River Road, along which can be found the community of Knik River.