Hudson River
The Hudson River is a 315-mile (507 km) river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York, United States. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York at Henderson Lake in the town of Newcomb, and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between New York City and Jersey City, eventually draining into the Atlantic Ocean at Upper New York Bay. The river serves as a physical boundary between the states of New Jersey and New York at its southern end. Farther north, it marks local boundaries between several New York counties. The lower half of the river is a tidal estuary, deeper than the body of water into which it flows, occupying the Hudson Fjord, an inlet that formed during the most recent period of North American glaciation, estimated at 26,000 to 13,300 years ago. Even as far north as the city of Troy, the flow of the river changes direction with the tides.
This article is about the river in New York and New Jersey. For other uses, see Hudson River (disambiguation).
The Hudson River runs through the Munsee, Lenape, Mohican, Mohawk, and Haudenosaunee homelands. Prior to European exploration, the river was known as the Mahicannittuk by the Mohicans, Ka'nón:no by the Mohawks, and Muhheakantuck by the Lenape. The river was subsequently named after Henry Hudson, an Englishman sailing for the Dutch East India Company who explored it in 1609, and after whom Hudson Bay in Canada is also named. It had previously been observed by Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano sailing for King Francis I of France in 1524, as he became the first European known to have entered the Upper New York Bay, but he considered the river to be an estuary. The Dutch called the river the North River, and they called the present-day Delaware River the South River, which formed the spine of the Dutch colony of New Netherland. Settlements of the colony clustered around the Hudson, and its strategic importance as the gateway to the American interior led to years of competition between the English and the Dutch over control of the river and colony.
During the 18th century, the river valley and its inhabitants were the subject and inspiration of Washington Irving, the first internationally acclaimed American author. In the nineteenth century, the area inspired the Hudson River School of landscape painting, an American pastoral style, as well as the concepts of environmentalism and wilderness. The Hudson River was also the eastern outlet for the Erie Canal, which, when completed in 1825, became an important transportation artery for the early 19th century United States.
Pollution in the Hudson River increased in the 20th century, more acutely by mid-century, particularly with industrial contamination from polychlorinated biphenyls, also known by their acronym PCBs. Pollution control regulations, enforcement actions and restoration projects initiated in the latter 20th century have begun to improve water quality, and restoration work has continued in the 21st century.[5][6]
Course[edit]
Sources[edit]
The source of the Hudson River is Henderson Lake (New York) in the Adirondack Park at an elevation of 4,322 feet (1,317 m).[26][27] Popular culture and convention, however, more often cite the photogenic Lake Tear of the Clouds as the source.[28] Originating from this lake, the river is named Feldspar Brook until its confluence with the Opalescent River, and then is named the Opalescent River until the river reaches Calamity Brook, flowing south into the eastern outlet of Henderson Lake. From that point on, the stream is cartographically known as the Hudson River.[29][30][31] The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) uses this cartographical definition.[7]
Activities[edit]
Parkland surrounds much of the Hudson River; prominent parks include Battery Park and Liberty State Park at the river's mouth,[139] Riverside Park in Manhattan,[140] Croton Point Park,[141] Bear Mountain State Park,[142] Storm King State Park and the Hudson Highlands,[143] Moreau Lake State Park,[144] and its source in the High Peaks Wilderness Area.[145]
The New Tappan Zee Bridge between Westchester and Rockland counties has a pedestrian and bicycling path covering a distance of about 3.6 miles. Another pedestrian and bike path exists further north, between Dutchess and Ulster Counties: Walkway Over the Hudson, which has a one-way length of 1.2 miles.
Fishing is allowed in the river, although the state Department of Health recommends eating no fish caught from the South Glens Falls Dam to the Federal Dam at Troy. Women under 50 and children under 15 are not advised to eat any fish caught south of the Palmer Falls Dam in Corinth, while others are advised to eat anywhere from one to four meals per month of Hudson River fish, depending on species and location caught. The Department of Health cites mercury, PCBs, dioxin, and cadmium as the chemicals impacting fish in these areas.[146][147]
Common native species recreationally fished include striped bass (formerly a major commercial species, now only legally taken by anglers), channel catfish, white catfish, brown bullhead, yellow perch, and white perch. The nonnative largemouth and smallmouth bass are also popular, and serve as the focus of catch-and-release fishing tournaments.[39]