Okhota
The Okhota (Russian: Охота, from an Even word окат (okat) meaning "river"[1]) is a river in Khabarovsk Krai which flows south to the Sea of Okhotsk near the port town of Okhotsk.[2]
| Okhota | |
|---|---|
Map of Ohota River Basin | |
| Location | |
| Country | Russia |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • location | Suntar-Khayata Range |
| Mouth | Sea of Okhotsk |
• coordinates | 59°19′42″N 143°04′21″E / 59.32833°N 143.07250°ECoordinates: 59°19′42″N 143°04′21″E / 59.32833°N 143.07250°E |
| Length | 393 km (244 mi) |
| Basin size | 11,900 square kilometres (4,600 sq mi) |
| Discharge | |
| • average | 200 cubic metres per second (7,100 cu ft/s) |
The Okhota is 393 kilometres (244 mi) long, and its drainage basin covers 19,100 square kilometres (7,400 sq mi).[3] To the east is the parallel Kukhtuy River and then the Kukhtuy Range. To the west is the short Urak River and to the north of it, the Yudoma Range. North of its headwaters, on the other side of the Suntar-Khayata Range, the Taryn-Yuryakh river runs north to join the Indigirka River near Oymyakon.
Course
The Okhota begins in the Suntar-Khayata Range at about 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) above sea level at the junction of the Left Okhota and Right Okhota rivers. These are about 10 kilometres (6 mi) long and start from an elevation of 1,800 to 2,000 metres (5,900 to 6,600 ft). First a mountain stream, the river later flows along with the river Kukhtuy in a wide valley between Yudoma and Kukhtuy Ranges to join the Kukhtuy to form the harbor of Okhotsk, a natural harbour of the Sea of Okhotsk formed by a sand spit. In 1810 the ice-choked river cut a new mouth through the spit at Novoye Ustye.
The banks of the river are mostly forested. There is an important salmon run. The lower reaches of the river are navigable for small craft. The Okhota is frozen from early November to May.[2] Snow cover in the valley can last until late June.
History
In the fur hunting trade, since there are no easy portages to the Okhota, the Russians usually approached Okhotsk from the Urak or the Ulya to the west. The only main route that used the Okhota ran from the "corner" of the Yudoma over the 100-kilometre (62 mi) Okhotsk Portage to the Okhota about 100 kilometres north of its mouth. There was some pasture along the river but not enough to keep many Yakutsk pack-horses over winter. Larch was cut and floated down the river for shipbuilding. Around 1750 there were 37 peasant families and from 1735 a few Yakut cattlemen.[4]
See also
References
- ^ "Охота". Вода России (in Russian). Retrieved 2020-06-15.
- ^ a b Охота (река в Хабаровском крае), (tr. "Okhota (river in the Khabarovsk Territory): Definition of "(literally) Hunting (river in the Khabarovsk Territory)" in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia") Great Soviet Encyclopedia, accessed 4 November 2022
- ^ "Река Охота (в верховье Лев. Охота) in the State Water Register of Russia". textual.ru (in Russian). (tr. "River Okhota (in the upper reaches of the Lev. Okhota)")
- ^ James R Gibson, Feeding the Russian Fur Trade, 1969