Nome River, Brook in Nome, Alaska

Nome River rises where Buffalo and Deep Canyon creeks meet, 42 km north of Nome, and runs 64 km south to Norton Sound, about 5 km southeast of the city. Its channel is cut 1.5 to 15 m into a wide gravel-filled valley; north of Darling Creek the valley narrows, and below Osborn Creek the river crosses the coastal plain.

The Nome River valley lies within the Nome mining district, where most coastal-plain mining developments were west of the river, though prospects were also opened east of it. The river's mouth sits about 3 miles southeast of Nome, the town founded after the 1898 gold discoveries on the Seward Peninsula.

Nome River shares its name with the city of Nome, founded nearby after gold was found on the Seward Peninsula in 1898. The river mouth lies about 3 miles southeast of Nome, and the stream drains the tundra south of the Kigluaik Mountains, where Stevens and Washington gulches carry runoff into it.

The river's mouth lies about 3 miles (5 km) southeast of Nome, where the channel meets the coastal plain of Norton Sound. Below Dexter Creek the grade averages only 4 feet per mile, so the lower valley is broad and gravel-floored; upstream toward Deep Canyon Creek it climbs 44 feet per mile. Expect a narrow, constricted valley north of Darling Creek.

The river's channel is cut into a gravel fill to a depth of 5 to 50 feet (1.5 to 15.2 m). Between Osborn and Darling creeks the flats widen to a mile while staying under 50 feet above the bank tops. Its mouth lies about 3 miles (5 km) southeast of Nome.