Wallkill River

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Wallkill River
Twischsawkin
River islands near Walden, New York

River islands near Walden, New York

Data
Water code US :  970746
location New York , New Jersey (USA)
River system Hudson River
Drain over Rondout Creek  → Hudson River  → Atlantic Ocean
origin Lake Mohawk in Sparta ( Sussex , NJ )
41 ° 1 '58 "  N , 74 ° 38' 38"  W
Source height 220  m
muzzle Rondout Creek near Rifton , Ulster County , New York Coordinates: 41 ° 51 '13 "  N , 74 ° 2' 55"  W 41 ° 51 '13 "  N , 74 ° 2' 55"  W
Mouth height 4  m
Height difference 216 m
Bottom slope 1.4 ‰
length 151 km
Catchment area 2033 km²
Drain MQ
 39 m³ / s
Left tributaries Shawangunk Kill , Muddy Kill
Right tributaries Papakating Creek , Tin Brook
Small towns New Paltz, Walden, Montgomery, Sparta
Wallkill River and Rondout Creek catchment area

Wallkill River and Rondout Creek catchment area

Sturgeon Pond, which was created by the damming of the Wallkill River just above its confluence with Rondout Creek

Sturgeon Pond, which was created by the damming of the Wallkill River just above its confluence with Rondout Creek

Dam, waterfalls and NYSEG power plant in Walden after heavy rainfall in October 2005

Dam, waterfalls and NYSEG power plant in Walden after heavy rainfall in October 2005

The Montgomery Worsted Mills are still operating today

The Montgomery Worsted Mills are still operating today

The Wallkill River ( Twischsawkin among the Indians of North America , translated as "the land where plums are in abundance" ) is a 151 km long tributary of the Hudson River .

The river is the outflow of man-made Lake Mohawk in Sparta, New Jersey . It flows from there mainly to the northeast and unites at Rosendale with the Rondout Creek , with which it flows into the Hudson River at Kingston . The annual average discharge rate is 39 m³ / s.

The river has two special features: On the one hand, it strives north, although it lies between the two south-flowing rivers Hudson and Delaware Rivers . On the other hand, it loses its name to the much smaller Rondout Creek for the last 12 kilometers of the river up to the Hudson. This is due to the damming of the Wallkill River to the Sturgeon Pool reservoir , which occurs immediately before the confluence with Rondout Creek.

course

The wide river valley lies between the main ridge of the Appalachian Mountains and the New York-New Jersey Highlands. On its course, the river drains most of Sussex County and then flows through the Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge on the state border between New Jersey and New York. Most of the river's course in New Jersey is canoeing .

In Warwick's Black Dirt Region , the river is heavily regulated and water is drawn off for irrigation. Before this area was drained, it was known as the "Drowned Lands". The river reaches Wallkill in the north of Orange County and regains its former size there. It passes Orange County Airport in the Village of Montgomery and flows through Walden , where dams were built in the past to generate hydropower for local industries . The largest of these dams in Walden is still used today by the "New York State Electric and Gas".

For a short stretch, the river forms the border between Orange Counties and Ulster Counties and flows past Wallkill, the second settlement that derives its name from the river name. Against the backdrop of Shawangunk Ridge , the river meanders past the Ulster County Fairgrounds and New Paltz, towards its confluence with Rondout Creek.

Rather unusual for the state of New York is that the river often cuts political borders instead of forming them. Aside from the Orange County's border with Ulster Counties, the river separates the towns of Minisink , Wawayanda and Wallkill on the west bank of Warwick and Goshen to the east in the south of Orange Counties .

history

At least three Indian rock dwellings were found in archaeological excavations in the region. For the indigenous people, the region was important not only in agricultural terms, but also because of its geological resources. The river and its banks were rich in flint and chert , which they needed to make spears and arrowheads .

The area by the river was settled by Dutch settlers from the Hudson Valley in the 17th century . They first gave the river the name Palse - derived from the name of the city that is now called New Paltz. When it later turned out that the river extended well beyond the space of the New Paltz patent, they changed the name of the river after the Waal in their homeland. After the colony became British property, they were followed by British settlers.

The settlers recognized the agricultural usability of the Drowned Lands early on. Efforts to regulate the river go back to 1760. In 1826 a canal was built that drained the land so that profitable cultivation became possible.

At that time, the emerging industry began to tame the river. Jacob Walden built a watermill in the settlement on the lower reaches of the river, which later got his name. For decades, millers and farmers in the Black Dirt Region clashed violently. These clashes are known as the Muskrat and Beaver Wars. The mill operators were dependent on the unimpeded flow of water, while agriculture had to regulate the water. The farmers finally prevailed in 1871, also because the construction of the railroad concentrated industry in Montgomery and Walden, where the railroad passed.

Residents on the river experienced the worst flood in known history in 1955 after two hurricanes, Connie and Diane , hit the northeastern United States after a dry summer . More recently, in April 2007, a Nor'easter forced roads to be closed and homes evacuated in Orange County's floodplain as heavy rainfall caused flooding on the river and its tributaries.

Tributaries

The Wallkill has 69 tributaries in New York, 30 of which have names.

The main tributaries of the Wallkill River are in the direction of flow

from the right:

from the left:

Hydropower plants

At Walden, Consolidated Hydro New York operates a run-of-river power plant ( ⊙ ) with 3 turbines and a total output of 2.4 MW on the Wallkill River .

Web links

Commons : Wallkill River  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lake Mohawk in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey
  2. ^ Wallkill River in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey
  3. ↑ a b c Draft Wallkill Watershed Conservation and Management Plan. (PDF) Ulster County Soil and Water Conservation District, 2005, archived from the original on July 15, 2007 ; accessed on February 25, 2009 .
  4. ^ Wallkill River at Gardiner, NY; average annual discharge table ( English ) United States Geological Survey . 2005. Retrieved February 25, 2009.
  5. ↑ a b c d History ( English ) United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Retrieved February 25, 2009.
  6. ^ The floods of hurricane Connie and Diane ( English ) National Weather Service Northeast River Forecast Center. Retrieved February 27, 2009.
  7. ↑ energyjustice.net