Musconetcong River - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Musconetcong River is a 45.7 miles (73.5 km) tributary

Tributary

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...

of the Delaware River

Delaware River

The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...

in northwestern New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It flows through the rural mountainous country of northwestern New Jersey. Part of it is a National Wild and Scenic River.

It rises out of Lake Hopatcong

Lake Hopatcong

Lake Hopatcong is the largest freshwater body in the state of New Jersey, USA, approximately 4 square miles in area. The lake is located in the mountains of northern New Jersey, north of Netcong and along the border between Sussex and Morris counties.The lake is within the borders of four...

, on the border between Sussex

Sussex County, New Jersey

The County of Sussex is the northernmost county in the State of New Jersey. It is part of the New York City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 Federal decennial census, 149,265 persons resided in Sussex County...

and Morris

Morris County, New Jersey

Morris County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey, about west of New York City. According to the United States 2010 Census, the population was 492,276. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Morristown....

counties. It flows through Lake Musconetcong

Lake Musconetcong

Lake Musconetcong is located on the border of Morris County and Sussex County, New Jersey, and is part of Hopatcong State Park, which is administered by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. The Musconetcong River flows through the lake....

, then flows southwest, past Stephensburg and New Hampton, passing south of Washington

Washington, New Jersey

Washington is a borough in Warren County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the borough population was 6,461. The borough is located in the eastern most region of the Lehigh Valley....

then along the southeastern side of the Pohatcong Mountain

Pohatcong Mountain

Pohatcong Mountain is a ridge, approximately 6 mi long, in the Appalachian Mountains of northwestern New Jersey in the United States. It extends from west Phillipsburg northeast approximately to Allamuchy Township, NJ. The ridge continues on north past Washington as Upper Pohatcong Mountain....

ridge. It joins the Delaware across from Riegelsville

Riegelsville, Pennsylvania

Riegelsville is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 868 at the 2010 census.-History:Benjamin Riegel founded Riegelsville. The original, and now historic, that he built in 1838 still stands. This historic stone inn has offered food and lodging to Bucks County...

, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, approximately 10 mi (16 km) south of Phillipsburg

Phillipsburg, New Jersey

Phillipsburg, known locally as P'burg, is a town in Warren County, New Jersey, in the United States. As of 2010 United States Census, the town's population was 14,950....

.

The river does not flow through any large population center and has been the site of relatively little industrial development throughout its history. In the 18th century, the surrounding hills were largely deforested

Deforestation

Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a nonforest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use....

as a source of charcoal

Charcoal

Charcoal is the dark grey residue consisting of carbon, and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen...

for the iron

Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

industry in the surrounding region. The local industry declined by the middle of the 19th century after the building of the former Morris Canal

Morris Canal

The Morris Canal was an anthracite-carrying canal that incorporated a series of water-driven inclined planes in its course across northern New Jersey in the United States. It was in use for about a century — from the late 1820s to the 1920s....

, the course of which ran along the upper river, to bring coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

from Pennsylvania to northern New Jersey. After the demise of the canal from the introduction of railroads

Rail transport

Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...

in the late 19th century, the dam pools along the river that supplied the canal became the site of a popular summer cottage industry. Silt

Silt

Silt is granular material of a size somewhere between sand and clay whose mineral origin is quartz and feldspar. Silt may occur as a soil or as suspended sediment in a surface water body...

ed remnants of the pools, as well as the remnants of the canal itself, can still be seen along the river.

Human habitation in the Musconetcong Valley can be traced back approximately 12,000 years to the end of the last ice age

Ice age

An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...

. The Plenge Site along the lower river in Warren County

Warren County, New Jersey

Warren County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 108,692. Its county seat is Belvidere...

was the first of only two major Paleo-Indian

Paleo Indians

Paleo-Indians or Paleoamericans is a classification term given to the first peoples who entered, and subsequently inhabited, the American continent during the final glacial episodes of the late Pleistocene period...

archaeological

Archaeology

Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...

site excavations in New Jersey, and is considered one of the most significant in the northeastern United States.

Record flows of the river were recorded in 2011 as result of Hurricane Irene

Hurricane Irene (2011)

Hurricane Irene was a large and powerful Atlantic hurricane that left extensive flood and wind damage along its path through the Caribbean, the United States East Coast and as far north as Atlantic Canada in 2011...

External links

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