Chapter IV: ――rivers (2)

The _Hudson_, or the _North River_, is formed by the confluence of the _Hudson proper_ and the _Mohawk_, which unite below Waterford, ten miles above Albany. The Hudson takes its rise in the forty-fourth degree of north latitude, from the foot of the mountains which separate the waters of the St. Lawrence from those of Lake Champlain, and the Mohawk in the table-land surrounding Oneida lake. The Mohawk river rises to the north-east of Oneida lake, about eight miles from Sable Water, a stream of Lake Ontario. It runs first twenty miles south to Rome; then south-east one hundred and thirty-four miles; and, after receiving many tributary streams in its course, falls into the Hudson by three mouths. It is a large stream of water; and is now navigable for boats from Schenectady to Rome, one hundred and four miles distant. From Albany to Schenectady is a portage of sixteen miles, on account of the falls and rapids, which render the river unnavigable. These falls and rapids, denominated the _Cohoes_, are three miles from the junction of the Mohawk with the Hudson. The river is one thousand feet wide at these falls; the rock over which the stream descends is forty feet perpendicular height; and the whole height of the cataract, including the descent above, is seventy feet. Properly speaking, the North river is no other than a narrow gulf of the sea, entering inland at New York, and penetrating across the double chain of the Alleghany Mountains, as far as the confluence of the above mentioned streams, one hundred and seventy miles from the sea. This is what distinguishes the Hudson from all other rivers in the United States. In no other does the tide ascend beyond the first range; but in the North river, it crosses the first chain at West Point, sixty miles north of New York; and the second at Catskill, after having burst the beds of granite which opposed its passage, and cut them into a thousand different shapes. Hence the deep valley of the Hudson has derived a most singular and magnificent aspect; the western bank being, in some places, five hundred feet of perpendicular height above the level of the river.[12]

Along the shore of the Hudson, a mural precipice extends twenty miles. It commences at Weehawken, four miles north of the city of Jersey, gradually rising towards the north, and mostly occupied by forests. It is known by the name of the Palisadoes.

Illustration: Palisadoe Rocks.

_Raritan River_, in the northern part of New Jersey, is formed by two branches which unite about twenty miles above New Brunswick. It becomes navigable two miles above that city, at a place called Brunswick Landing. Flowing by New Brunswick, and gradually becoming broader and deeper, it passes Amboy and then widens into Raritan bay, which is immediately connected with the ocean. It is navigable for sloops of eighty tons as far as New Brunswick, seventeen miles.

The _Delaware_ issues by two streams, called the _Coquago_ and the _Rappadon_, the union of which, forty miles in a direct line from their sources, form the Delaware, from the Katskill Mountains, in the county of Delaware, state of New York. Running first south, it next turns to the south-east, forming, for the space of sixty miles, the boundary between Pennsylvania and New York; and thence, forms again the line of separation between the former state and that of New Jersey, for upwards of one hundred miles more to Trenton, where there are falls, but of no great height. Thence, with increased breadth, it pursues a course of thirty-six miles farther, to Philadelphia, where it is a mile broad. Thence it proceeds to Newcastle, forty miles below Philadelphia, where it is two miles broad. Thence it spreads out into a spacious bay, and falls into the Atlantic seventy miles below Newcastle, by an outlet of twenty-five miles. The whole course of the river, from the Atlantic to its source, is three hundred and fifty miles; and two hundred and eighty from the head of Delaware bay, including the windings. Its two chief tributary streams are the _Lehigh_ and _Schuylkill_. The navigation betwixt the Delaware and Chesapeak is now improved by means of a canal.

The River _Susquehannah_, of all those of the eastern states, most resembles the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence, on account of its numerous and distant branches. The north-east branch, which is the remotest source, is formed by the junction of two small streams that issue from the lakes of Camadebago, Ustavantho, and Otsego, in the state of New York. It runs south and south-west in such a winding course, (receiving in its progress the _Unadilla_ and _Chenango_ rivers from the north,) that it crosses the boundary line between New York and Pennsylvania no less than three times. It forms a junction with the _Tioga_, in forty-one degrees and fifty-seven minutes north latitude; and thence pursues a south-east course of seventy miles to Wyoming; whence, making a sudden bend at a right angle, it runs a south-west course of eighty miles, and unites with the west branch at Northumberland. The river, now increased to the breadth of half a mile, flows south through the mountains, a course of forty miles, to its junction with the _Juniata_, when, turning to the east for ten miles, it emerges from the mountains above Harrisburg, and after a south-east course of eighty miles, falls into Chesapeak bay. The western branch of the Susquehannah is formed by many streams, beyond the Alleghany Mountains; and its most southern source is within a very few miles of the _Conemaugh_, or _Kiskeminitas_, which falls into the Alleghany a little above Pittsburg. After running a very winding course of two hundred miles, principally among the mountains, it joins with the east branch at Northumberland. The _Juniata_ rises in the Alleghany Mountains, and, pursuing an eastern and very serpentine and mountainous course, falls into the Susquehannah, after running two hundred miles. The whole course of the Susquehannah, from Chesapeak bay to the head of the north-east branch, is four hundred and fifty miles; and, including all its branches, it waters a tract of forty thousand square miles. Where it falls into the sea it is fully a mile broad; at Harrisburg it is nearly of the same breadth, and from three to five feet deep. There are seven falls in this river, which, with the numerous islands and rocks, render it navigable only for a few miles by large vessels.

The _River Potomac_ rises on the north-west side of the Alleghany Mountains, and after running a north-east course of sixty miles to Cumberland, is joined eighteen miles below, by a branch coming from the south-west. Thence fifty-four miles farther, it receives the waters of _Licking Creek_, and passes the north mountain into a fine limestone valley, which it waters in a very winding course of forty-five miles in a south-east direction. Here it receives a considerable number of tributary streams, particularly the _Conecocheague_ at Williamsport, and the _Shenandoah_ at the extremity of the valley, and just above the Blue Ridge, through which the combined stream has effected a singularly magnificent passage. About thirty miles farther, it descends one hundred and forty feet in the course of eight or ten miles, to the level of tide-water, which it meets at Georgetown. It is here a quarter of a mile wide; but expands to a mile opposite Washington, and enters the Chesapeak bay by a passage seven and a half miles broad. This is one of the most important of the Atlantic rivers. It is navigable for vessels of any burden to Alexandria, one hundred miles distant; and from thence, for ships of considerable burden, to Georgetown. A lock navigation has been constructed round the first falls, of which there are four in the whole. The largest of these falls is at Matilda, six miles above Georgetown, where the stream, nine hundred feet broad, after flowing through a valley skirted with hills wild as those of the Rhone in Vivari, (says Volney,) falls at once, like the Niagara, from the height of seventy-seven feet, into a deep chasm of solid micaceous granite. From this it escapes, several miles farther down, by a widening of the valley in the lower country. The whole course of the Potomac is three hundred and forty miles.

Illustration: Passage of the Potomac through the Blue Ridge.

_York River_ is formed by the junction of the _Mattapony_ and _Pamunky_. Beyond the junction, the Mattapony is navigable for seventy miles; and thirty miles higher up is its source in the Blue Mountains. The Pamunky is formed by the junction of the _North_ and _South Anna_ rivers, which rise in the north-west about fifty miles distant. The mouth of this river is three miles wide; and at high tide there is four fathoms water, twenty-five miles above Yorktown, where it is a mile and a half wide in the wet season, but has a channel of only seventy-five fathoms in the dry season.

_James’ River_ is one of the most important rivers in the state of Virginia. It rises in the Alleghany Mountains, near two hundred miles to the west of Richmond; and, after widening and contracting alternately in a very winding course, it enters Chesapeak bay fifteen miles west of Cape Henry; its whole length being three hundred miles. Its principal tributary streams are the Rivanna, the Appomatox, the Chickahomany, the Nansemond, and the Elizabeth, on which last is situated the town of Norfolk. This river, anciently called the _Powhatan_, affords harbor for vessels of any burden, in Hampton Road, seventy miles below Richmond. Vessels of two hundred and fifty tons may go up to Warwick; and those of one hundred and fifty to within a mile of Richmond.

The _Roanoake_ is formed by the junction of the _Dan_ and _Staunton_. It runs one hundred and twenty-five miles south-east till it enters Albemarle sound. Its whole course is two hundred miles. It is navigable by sloops sixty miles; the low lands on the banks are subjected to annual inundations.

_Cape Fear River_ is the largest in North Carolina. It rises one hundred miles above Fayetteville; and thence running two hundred miles eastward, falls into the Atlantic ocean at Cape Fear, where it is three miles wide, and eighteen feet deep at high tide. It is navigable by vessels drawing ten feet water, up to Wilmington, a little below the confluence of its two principal streams.

The _Great Pedee_ rises in the Blue Mountains, on the borders of North Carolina and Virginia, where it has the name of _Yadkin_ river. Its whole course is upwards of three hundred miles, half of which is in North Carolina. It is navigable by ships to Georgetown; and for smaller vessels, one hundred miles higher up.

The _Santee_ is the largest river in the state of South Carolina, and is formed by the junction of the _Congaree_ and _Wateree_ rivers. The whole course of the Santee, including that of the Catawbaw or Wateree, is three hundred and fifty miles. It is navigable up to the point of junction by ships of burden.

The _Savannah River_ which forms the boundary between South Carolina and Georgia, is a bold and deep stream, and is formed by the junction of the _Keowee_ and _Tugeloo_, two small streams issuing from the Blue Ridge, two hundred and fifty miles from the sea. It runs in a straight south-east course all the way to its mouth, seventeen miles below Savannah. It is navigable for ships of any burden to within three miles of Savannah; for vessels of two hundred and fifty tons to Savannah; and for boats of one hundred feet keel, to Augusta, above which the rapids commence; after passing them, the river can be navigated in small boats, eighty miles higher, to the junction of the tributary rivers.

III. RIVERS OF THE PACIFIC AND THE GREAT LAKES.

The waters that rise on the western declivities of the Rocky Mountains flow into the Columbia, the Multnomah and the Lake Bueneventura. _Columbia_ or _Oregon_ river rises within a mile of the head-waters of the Missouri. It collects its tribute for a wide extent along the western dividing ridges of the mountains, and on emerging from them becomes at once a broad and deep stream. After receiving Clark’s and Lewis’ rivers, each a large stream, from the east, it widens to nine hundred and sixty yards, and forms a great southern bend through the second chain of mountains. One hundred and thirty-six miles below, are the great falls, where the river descends in one rapid, fifty-seven feet. Below these falls, it winds first to the north-west and then to the south-west, and passes through the third chain of mountains, where it is again compressed to the width of one hundred and fifty yards. Below this rapid, at one hundred and eighty miles from the sea, it meets the tide, beyond which it has a broad estuary to the sea. Sixty miles below the rapids, _Multnomah_, a very large and unexplored tributary, falls in from the north-east. The mouth of the river is in latitude forty-six degrees and twenty-four minutes, and the tide there rises eight feet and a half. The Columbia and its tributaries abound in the finest salmon, which is said to form the principal food of the savages west of the Rocky Mountains. Seals and other aquatic animals are taken in this river in great numbers, and the skins shipped to China constitute the chief article of trade from this great river. A number of the head streams of the Missouri interlock with the waters of the Columbia. The whole course of the river is about one thousand five hundred miles. As this river waters an immense territory which has recently become a subject of great interest, we have subjoined, in a note, a partial account of its navigation, from the interesting work of Mr. Ross Cox.[13]

The rivers which flow into the great lakes are, for the most part, small and unimportant. A permanent communication between their waters and those of the Mississippi might be formed by means of a short canal from the Fox or Chicago rivers, both of which empty into Lake Michigan. The _Fox_ river rises near the _Ouisconsin_ branch of the Mississippi, and afterwards flows within one and a half miles of its channel, separated from it only by a short portage over a prairie. During the season of high water, the intervening ground is overflowed, so that loaded boats may pass over it.

_Saganaw River_ is a large and deep stream, with bold shores, and numerous tributaries, which water a large extent of very delightful and fertile country. The banks of this stream are inhabited by detached bands of Chippeway and Ottaway Indians, who have long derived an easy subsistence from the abundance of game and fish to be found in their neighborhood. The Saganaw empties into a fine bay of the same name, which is by far the largest of the numerous inlets which indent the very irregular shores of Lake Huron.

The _Gennessee_ rises in Pennsylvania, and runs north across the west part of New York into Lake Ontario. Five miles from its mouth, at Rochester, are falls of ninety-six and seventy-five feet in descent; above these falls the stream is navigable for boats nearly seventy miles, where two other falls occur, of sixty and ninety feet, one of which is formed by the slope of land which extends from Lewiston on Niagara river. _Black River_ receives its name from the color of its water. It rises in the highlands, north of the Mohawk, and its branches interlock with those of the Hudson; it pursues a northerly course of one hundred and twenty miles, and falls into Lake Ontario, near its outlet. It is a deep but sluggish stream, and the navigation is interrupted by falls; a series of which, called the _Long Falls_, extend fourteen miles. The land upon this stream is generally a rich, dark colored mould. The _Oswegatchie_ consists of two branches, which unite four miles above their entrance into the St. Lawrence. The east branch is about one hundred and twenty miles long, and the west nearly one hundred; they are very crooked streams. The _Oswego_ issues from Oneida Lake, and runs north-westerly into Lake Ontario; it is about forty miles long and is a rapid stream; its navigation is assisted by locks and canals. The _Maumee_ rises in the north-eastern part of Indiana, and flows through the north-western part of Ohio into Lake Erie; it is broad and deep, but has an obstruction from shoals and rapids thirty-three miles above its mouth. The _Sandusky_ rises in the northern part of Ohio, and flows northerly into Lake Erie; it is one hundred miles in length, and is navigable.

GENERAL REMARKS ON RIVERS.

The beds of rivers are the lowest parts of great chasms, formed
by the same revolutions which produced the mountains. Running
waters unceasingly wear away their beds and banks in places
where their declivity is very rapid; they hollow out and deepen
their channels in mountains composed of rocks of moderate
hardness; they draw along stones, and form accumulations of
them in the lower part of their course; and thus their beds are
often gradually elevated in the plains, while they are deepened
and depressed in the mountains. But these changes, though
continually going on for thousands of years, could only give
form to the banks of rivers; they in no wise created the banks
themselves. Many great rivers flow with an almost imperceptible
declivity. The river of the Amazons has only ten feet and a
half declivity upon two hundred leagues of its course, making
one twenty-seventh of an inch for every thousand feet. When a
river is obstructed in its course by a bank of solid rocks, and
finds beneath them a stratum of softer materials, its waters
wear away the softer substance, and thus open for themselves a
subterraneous passage, more or less long. Such are the causes
which have formed the magnificent Rock Bridge in Virginia, an
astonishing vault uniting two mountains, separated by a ravine
two hundred and seventy feet in depth, in which the _Cedar
Creek_ flows. In Louisiana, trees, or rather whole forests,
have been observed to fall on a river, covering it nearly with
vegetable earth; and thus giving rise to a natural bridge which
for leagues has hid the course of the river.

Rivers in running into the sea present a great variety of
interesting phenomena; many form _sand-banks_, as the Senegal
and the Nile; others, like the Danube, run with such force into
the sea, that one can for a certain space distinguish the waters
of the river from those of the sea. The waters of the little
river Syre in Norway are discernable for a considerable distance
in the sea. It is only by a very large mouth, like that of
the Loire, the Elbe, or the Plata, that a river can peacefully
mingle with the sea. Rivers even of this nature, however,
sometimes experience the superior influence of the sea, which
repels the waters into their bed. Thus the Seine forms at its
mouth a _bar_ of considerable extent; and the Garonne, unable
to discharge with sufficient rapidity the waters which it
accumulates in a kind of gulf between Bordeaux and its mouth,
exhibits this aquatic mountain, stopped by the flow of the tide
rolling backwards, inundating the banks, and stopping vessels
in their progress both up and down. This phenomenon, termed the
_Mascaret_, is only the collision of two bodies of water moving
in opposite directions. The most sublime phenomenon of this kind
which presents itself is that of the giant of rivers Orellana,
called the river of the Amazons. Twice a day it pours out its
imprisoned waves into the bosom of the ocean. A liquid mountain
is thus raised to the height of one hundred and eighty feet;
it frequently meets the flowing tide of the sea, and the shock
of these two bodies of water is so dreadful that it makes all
the neighboring islands tremble; the fishermen and navigators
fly from it in the utmost terror. The next day, or the second
day after every new or full moon, the time when the tides are
highest, the river also seems to redouble its power and energy;
its waters and those of the ocean rush against each other like
the onset of two armies. The banks are inundated with their
foaming waves; the rocks drawn along like light vessels, dash
against each other, almost upon the surface of the water which
bears them on. Loud roarings echo from island to island. It has
been said that the Genius of the River and the God of the Ocean
contended in battle for the empire of the waves. The Indians
call this phenomenon _Pororoca_.

COMPARATIVE VIEW OF THE RIVERS OF THE WORLD.

NORTH AMERICA.

_Names._ _Length._
Missouri 4,400
Mississippi 3,000
Arkansas 2,100
St. Lawrence 2,000
Mackenzie 2,000
Del Norte 2,000
Nelson 1,500
Columbia 1,500
Red River 1,500
Platte 1,500
Ohio 1,350
Kansas 1,200
White River 1,200
Tennessee 1,100
Alabama 650
Savannah 600
Potomac 550
Connecticut 410
Hudson 324
Delaware 300

SOUTH AMERICA.

Maranon 4,500
La Plata 3,000
Madeira 2,500
Orinoco 1,800
Tocantins 1,800
Ucayale 1,600
St. Francisco 1,500
Paraguay 1,400
Xingu 1,400
Topajos 1,300

EUROPE.

Volga 2,040
Danube 1,710
Don 1,050
Dnieper 1,080
Kemi 780
Rhine 670
Elbe 570
Loire 540
Vistula 500
Dniester 480
Tagus 580
Dwina 480

AFRICA.

Nile 2,687
Senegal 950
Orange 900
Gambia 700

ASIA.

Yangtse Kian 3,300
Lena 2,470
Amour 2,360
Obi 2,260
Yenisei 2,150
Ganges 2,040
Burrampooter 2,040
Irrawaddy 2,040
Cambodia 2,000
Euphrates 1,820
Hoang Ho 2,900
Meinam 1,600