Talk:Stikine River/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Mertbiol (talk · contribs) 18:01, 30 August 2022 (UTC)

Hi, I have read through this very interesting article. It's well written and generally very clear. I have queries on some of the citations and some suggestions for improving the text (below). Please note that I am from the UK and some of my suggested changes may work less well in Canadian English. Best wishes Mertbiol (talk) 18:01, 30 August 2022 (UTC)

Lead section

• I suggest changing the second sentence of the first paragraph to read: "It drains the Stikine Country, a large, remote upland area to the east of the Coast Mountains, and flows west and south for 610 kilometres (379 mi) to the Inside Passage near Wrangell, Alaska."
• I suggest linking "boreal forest" to boreal forest of Canada.
• I suggest changing "natural water route" to "natural waterway".
• I suggest splitting the sentence starting "Used for millennia by indigenous peoples..." into two.
• I suggest linking salmon run.
• Please make "habitat" plural in the final sentence of the second paragraph.
• I suggest changing "outdoor recreation" to "outdoor recreational activities"
• I suggest deleting "and was considered impossible to boat until the 1980s" from the sentence starting "The river's Grand Canyon..."

All done, with slight variations Shannon [ Talk ] 19:18, 31 August 2022 (UTC)

Names

• I suggest splitting the first sentence in two, so that "gave its name to the Stikine group of Tlingit, Shtaxʼhéen Ḵwáan" is either a separate sentence or is in a footnote.

Done Shannon [ Talk ] 19:18, 31 August 2022 (UTC)

Geography

• Reference [3] does not appear to support "The Stikine River basin includes approximately 50,700 km2 (19,600 sq mi)..."
• I suggest rephrasing the first sentence to read "The Stikine River basin covers an area of around 50,700 km2 (19,600 sq mi) in the Stikine Region and Regional District of Kitimat–Stikine, BC and includes the City and Borough of Wrangell, Alaska."
• Please link Inside Passage in the final sentence of the first paragraph, as this is the first mention of the term in the main body of the text.
• I suggest changing "rising over 3,000 metres (9,800 ft)" to "rising to over 3,000 metres (9,800 ft)".
• The term "top out" seems a little too informal for me, would "rise to" be better?
• I suggest moving "Mount Ratz, 3,136 metres (10,289 ft), is the highest point in the Stikine basin." to a footnote.
• Reference [15] (Mount Ratz) does not appear to support "The Coast Mountains, rising over 3,000 metres (9,800 ft), include the highest elevations of the Stikine basin and are extensively glaciated. Mount Ratz, 3,136 metres (10,289 ft)..."
• Please change "The Tahltan Highland is located in between..." to "The Tahltan Highland is between..."
• I suggest moving "One of its most prominent features is 2,787-metre (9,144 ft) Mount Edziza, a dormant stratovolcano and part of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex." to a footnote.
• I suggest linking tundra.
• Reference [20] (Cassiar Iskut-Stikine Land and Resource Management Plan) redirects to a 404 error page.
• Reference [21] (Wrangell Airport, Alaska (509919) Period of Record Monthly Climate Summary) does not appear to support "Due to the rain shadow effect of the Coast Mountains, the interior Stikine basin has a much drier and more variable climate than the coast."

All done- I rephrased some of the sentences slightly differently but it should flow better now. Changed the reference for basin size to U.S. Geological Survey, which I decided was probably the most reliable source. Every source seems to list a different size for the Stikine basin: 49800 km2, 51000 km2, 80290 km2 being a few examples. Shannon [ Talk ] 19:18, 31 August 2022 (UTC)

Course

• Would Reference [26] (Watershed Sentinel) be better with the {{cite news}} than with the {{cite web}} template?
• I think Reference [28] (Pitman River) should come after "it turns due west again" rather than before.
• Please change "Below Highway 37, it enters the Grand Canyon of the Stikine..." to "Below Highway 37, the river enters the Grand Canyon of the Stikine..."
• Similarly, in the next sentence, please change "Here, the river flows much more swiftly..." to "Here, it flows much more swiftly..."
• Reference [30] (Stikine River Provincial Park) does not appear to support "...between the Tanzilla and Klastline Plateaus, both sub-plateaus of the Stikine Plateau. Here, the river flows much more swiftly, falling 450 m (1,480 ft) over 80 km (50 mi)."

Working on finding a source for this Shannon [ Talk ] 02:26, 6 September 2022 (UTC)

• Reference [18] (Mount Edziza Provincial Park) does not appear to support "...where ancient basalt flows cover more than 1,000 km2 (390 sq mi)".
• Reference [36] (Hutten, Reyn A.) does not appear to support "The gradient flattens considerably compared to the upper course, and the river becomes wide, braided and muddy with glacial silt."

Working on finding a source for this Shannon [ Talk ] 02:26, 6 September 2022 (UTC)

• Please link "braided" to braided river.
• I suggest changing "The channel gradient in Alaska is nearly flat..." to "In Alaska, the channel has a negligible gradient..."

All done except for the two concerns above Shannon [ Talk ] 02:26, 6 September 2022 (UTC)

Discharge

• I suggest rephrasing "The lower Stikine near the international border is generally frozen from..." to "Above its confluence with the Iskut, the Stikine is generally frozen from..." to match reference [43] (Sherwood, Deborah E.).

Geology

• I suggest changing "which" to "that" in the first sentence.
• I suggest changing "starting about 180 million years ago" to "from around 180 million years ago."
• Taku River was previously linked in the Geography section (it is linked twice in the Geology section).

Done Shannon [ Talk ] 06:02, 4 September 2022 (UTC)

History and culture

First peoples

• I suggest changing "for thousands of years it has been used as a trade route by indigenous peoples, who utilized canoes and rafts for river travel" to "for thousands of years it has been used as a trade route by indigenous peoples."
• Reference [26] does not appear to support "who utilized canoes and rafts for river travel".
• The Skeena River and Nass River were previously linked in the Geography section.
• Reference [20] (Cassiar Iskut-Stikine Land and Resource Management Plan) redirects to a 404 error page.
• I suggest rephrasing "the first human presence in this region started about 10,000 years ago" to "the first humans arrived in this region about 10,000 years ago".
• Reference [61] (Southeast Alaska Conservation Assessment) says that the "Stikine Kwan had the largest territory of any Tlingit group–almost 8,000 mi2 (20,480 km2)". Are the "Stikine Kwan" and the "Shtax'héen Kwáan" the same? If so, please check the size of the territory. If not, please provide another reference.

They are the same and seem to be used interchangeably. Shannon [ Talk ] 00:59, 12 September 2022 (UTC)

• I suggest starting a new paragraph with "Tahltan and Tlingit lands met around the confluence of the Stikine and Iskut rivers."
• I suggest linking "dry salmon" to fish preservation.
• I suggest rephrasing "which were not available in such abundance on the coast" to "which were not as/so abundant on the coast".
• I suggest linking dugout canoe and caribou.
• I suggest rephrasing "The Tahltan in turn traded coastal goods with the further inland Kaska and Sekani" to "The Tahltan in turn traded coastal goods with the Kaska and Sekani further inland."

All done Shannon [ Talk ] 00:59, 12 September 2022 (UTC)

Fur trade

• Please add a comma after "Vancouver Expedition" in the first sentence.
• I suggest splitting the sentence starting "In 1799 the Russian-American Company was chartered..." so that "The mouth of the Stikine River became a key route for transporting furs from the interior." is a separate sentence.
• Should "HBD" be "HBC"?
• Please rephrase "After continued tense relations culminating in Tlingit attacks in 1846–47..."

All done/corrected Shannon [ Talk ] 03:51, 20 September 2022 (UTC)

Gold rush period

• Please add "were" to "and were soon incorporated into the Colony of British Columbia."
• Please change "and" to "to" in "...assert control over the Tlingit to prevent them from interfering..."
• The sentence "This served as the tribal headquarters until 1920, when its remaining residents moved to Telegraph Creek." is unreferenced.

All done Shannon [ Talk ] 03:50, 20 September 2022 (UTC)

20th century

• Please add a comma after "After the end of the Klondike gold rush".
• I suggest linking "timber" to lumber.
• Please link electric grid.
• The sentence "This is the only bridge across the river other than the Highway 37 bridge." is unreferenced.

Done Shannon [ Talk ] 01:12, 1 October 2022 (UTC)

Biota

• Taku River was previously linked in the Geography section
• I suggest linking riparian forest and estuary.

Done Shannon [ Talk ] 03:50, 20 September 2022 (UTC)

Recreation and conservation

• Please clarify (either with a footnote or a wikilink) "The Stikine is often floated".

Rephrased. Shannon [ Talk ] 01:15, 1 October 2022 (UTC)

• Please link floatplane.
• Please add a comma after "allowed on the SMZs"
• I suggest rephrasing "Following the plan implementation, about 26 percent of the Stikine basin in BC was within protected areas" to "Following the implementation of the plan, about 26 percent of the basin in BC was protected."
• I suggest rephrasing "The park's highlight is the Grand Canyon of the Stikine, which is almost entirely within the park boundaries. " to "The Grand Canyon of the Stikine is the highlight of the park and is almost entirely within its boundaries."

All done Shannon [ Talk ] 01:15, 1 October 2022 (UTC)

Economic use and development

Fishing

• I suggest rephrasing "The portion of the Stikine River in Canada..." to "The Canadian portion of the Stikine River..."

Done Shannon [ Talk ] 03:51, 24 September 2022 (UTC)

Mining

• You have already linked tailings dam, but it may also be worth linking tailings in the final paragraph.

Done Shannon [ Talk ] 03:51, 24 September 2022 (UTC)

Energy and infrastructure projects

• I suggest linking intertie

Done Shannon [ Talk ] 03:51, 24 September 2022 (UTC)

General issues

• Please check for consistency in your use of "BC" and "British Columbia".

That's all for the first pass. Best wishes Mertbiol (talk) 18:01, 30 August 2022 (UTC)

Thank you for taking on this review. I'll be responding to your comments over the next few days. Shannon [ Talk ] 14:44, 31 August 2022 (UTC)

@Mertbiol: I have addressed all the concerns you raised previously. Thanks again for looking through it in such detail. Apologies for the delay as work has been busy the past month. Shannon [ Talk ] 01:43, 1 October 2022 (UTC)

Second pass

Thanks @Shannon1: I have read through the article again and have added a few additional links. There are just two more missing citations:

• "A common alternative spelling was Stickeen, reflected in the short-lived British Stickeen Territories." (Names section)
• "Chief Shakes of the Tlingit subsequently took control of the fort." (Fur trade subsection)

Other than that, I think the article easily meets the GA criteria, so I will put the review on hold. Best wishes, Mertbiol (talk) 12:02, 1 October 2022 (UTC)

@Mertbiol: I added a source for the first one and have removed the second for now as I can’t find where I got that information from. I may add it back if I find the source. Hope that will be good for now. Shannon [ Talk ] 02:52, 7 October 2022 (UTC)

Final verdict

GA review (see here for what the criteria are, and here for what they are not)

1. It is reasonably well written.

   a (prose, spelling, and grammar): b (MoS for lead, layout, word choice, fiction, and lists):

2. It is factually accurate and verifiable.

   a (reference section): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR): d (copyvio and plagiarism):

3. It is broad in its coverage.

   a (major aspects): b (focused):

4. It follows the neutral point of view policy.

   Fair representation without bias:

5. It is stable.

   No edit wars, etc.:

6. It is illustrated by images and other media, where possible and appropriate.

   a (images are tagged and non-free content have non-free use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):

7. Overall:

   Pass/Fail:

This is a very interesting and informative article. It is well written and appears to cover all aspects of the river in depth. Congratulations to @Shannon1: for their hard work to bring this nomination forward. I have no hesitation in promoting it to GA status. Great job!!! Mertbiol (talk) 10:08, 8 October 2022 (UTC)

Awesome! Thank you very much and I appreciate your thorough review! Shannon [ Talk ] 00:24, 10 October 2022 (UTC)