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Connecticut River

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The Connecticut River is the largest river in New England, flowing south from the Connecticut Lakes in northern New Hampshire, along the border between New Hampshire and Vermont, through Western Massachusetts and central Connecticut into Long Island Sound at Fenwick, Connecticut. It has a total length of 405 miles (640 km), and a drainage basin extending over 11,250 mi² (29,138 km²). The mean freshwater discharge into Long Island Sound is 19,600 cubic feet (588 m³) per second. The river is tidal up to Windsor Locks, approximately 100 river km (60 miles) from the mouth. The source of the Connecticut River is the Fourth Connecticut Lake in New Hampshire. Some tributaries include the Miller's, Mill, Deerfield, White, and Chicopee rivers. (The Swift River, a tributary of the Chicopee, has been largely replaced by the Quabbin Reservoir which provides water to Boston.)

The river carries a heavy amount of silt, especially during the spring snow melt, from as far north as Quebec. The heavy silt concentration of the river forms a large sandbar near its mouth on Long Island Sound and has historically provided a formidable obstacle to navigation. The difficulty of navigation on the river is the primary reason that it is one of the few large rivers in the region without a major city near its mouth.

Contents

History

The river's name is the French corruption of the Algonquian word "quinetucket" and means long tidal river. The first European to see the river was the Dutch explorer Adriaen Block in 1614. As a result of this exploration, the Dutch named the Connecticut River the Fresh River, and it was the northeastern limits of the New netherlands colony, and the original border between New Netherlands and New England. The first English colonist to record his visit was Edward Winslow from the Plymouth Colony in 1632. In 1633 the English built a trading post on the site of Windsor, Connecticut, and the Dutch built one with a fort at the site of Hartford, Connecticut. The first true English settlement was at Wethersfield. As the number of English colonists increased, the Dutch abandoned their enterprise in 1654. The Fort at Number 4, now Charlestown, New Hampshire, was the northernmost English settlement on the river until the end of the French and Indian War in 1763. In the Treaty of Paris (1783), ending the American Revolutionary War, the new border between New Hampshire and what was to become the Province of Canada was defined to include the "northwesternmost headwaters of the Connecticut" . Because there are several streams that could fit that description, a boundary dispute led to the short-lived Indian Stream Republic, which existed from 1832 to 1835.

At first the broad, fertile valley attracted agricultural colonies, but the volume and fall of the river contributed to the rise of manufacturing in the valley. The greatest single drop of 58 feet (17.67 meters) is at Holyoke, Massachusetts. Other important centers include Windsor and Hartford in Connecticut, Springfield, Massachusetts, the largest city on the river, Lebanon, New Hampshire, and Brattleboro, Vermont.

The Connecticut River as seen near its mouth.
Enlarge
The Connecticut River as seen near its mouth.

In 1829 the Enfield Falls Canal was opened to circumvent shallows on the Connecticut River. The locks built for this canal gave their name to the town of Windsor Locks, Connecticut.[#endnote_name01]

The Connecticut River Flood Control Compact was established in 1953 in response to severe flooding. The Clean Water Act in 1965 has also had a major impact on the Connecticut River and its tributaries. It was designated as one of the American Heritage Rivers in 1997.

Fish

The Connecticut River is a habitat to several species of anadromous fish, including the Atlantic Salmon, American shad, American eel and the Sea lamprey. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is undertaking an effort to repopulate the river with another species of migratory fish, the Atlantic salmon. For more than 200 years, Atlantic salmon have been extinct from the river due to damming. Several fish ladders and fish elevators have been built to allow fish to resume their natural migration upriver each spring.

Tributaries

Connecticut River map, with major tributaries and selected dams.
Enlarge
Connecticut River map, with major tributaries and selected dams.

Listed from south to north by location of mouth:

Crossings

List of river crossings from south to north:

Connecticut

Massachusetts

Vermont -- New Hampshire

See also

References

External links

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

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