The Winooski River (formerly the Onion River) is a tributary of
Lake Champlain
, native_name_lang =
, image = Champlainmap.svg
, caption = Lake Champlain-River Richelieu watershed
, image_bathymetry =
, caption_bathymetry =
, location = New York/ Vermont in the United States; and Quebec in Canada
, coords =
, type ...
, approximately long, in the northern half of
Vermont
Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provin ...
. Although not Vermont's longest river, it is one of the state's most significant, forming a major valley way from Lake Champlain through the
Green Mountains
The Green Mountains are a mountain range in the U.S. state of Vermont. The range runs primarily south to north and extends approximately from the border with Massachusetts to the border with Quebec, Canada. The part of the same range that is i ...
towards (although not connecting in drainage to) the
Connecticut River valley.
The river drains an area of the northern Green Mountains between Vermont's capital of
Montpelier and its
largest city
The United Nations uses three definitions for what constitutes a city, as not all cities in all jurisdictions are classified using the same criteria. Cities may be defined as the cities proper, the extent of their urban area, or their metropo ...
,
Burlington. It rises in the town of
Cabot in
Washington County, and then flows southwest to Montpelier, passing through the city along the south side of downtown and the
Vermont State House. From Montpelier it flows northwest into
Chittenden County through
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, Californi ...
, passing north of the city of Burlington. It enters the eastern side of Lake Champlain approximately northwest of downtown Burlington. The city of
Winooski sits along the river approximately upstream from its mouth, on the northeastern edge of Burlington. The river was historically used for the transportation of timber in the
logging heyday of Vermont during the 19th century. The valley of the river downstream from Montpelier is where both
U.S. Highway 2
U.S. Route 2 or U.S. Highway 2 (US 2) is an east–west U.S. Highway spanning across the northern continental United States. US 2 consists of two segments connected by various roadways in southern Canada. Unlike some routes, wh ...
and
Interstate 89 run between Montpelier and Burlington.
The river is one of several
antecedent rivers in Vermont which predate the rise of the ancient Green Mountains, and have cut through these mountains as they rose and eroded.
Tributaries
The Winooski is fed by several
tributary
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...
rivers: the Little River, the North Branch and the Kingsbury Branch are right-bank tributaries, entering from the north, while the Huntington River,
Mad River, Dog River and Stevens Branch are left-bank tributaries which enter from the south. The Lower Tributaries, smaller tributary streams nearer the mouth of the Winooski, include Allen Brook, Alder Brook, Gleason Brook, Mill Brook, and Muddy Brook.
History
The name "Winooski" comes from the
Abenaki
The Abenaki ( Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was pre ...
word ''winoskik'' meaning "at wild onion land", a reference to the
leeks or
wild onions that were once common along the river banks. The
byname "Onion River" came into general usage in the late 18th and early 19th century, after
Ira and
Ethan Allen established the Onion River Land Company.
In the late winter of 1992, ice blockage in the Winooski caused a major flood in Montpelier, causing extensive damage to much of the downtown, the worst flood in Montpelier's history since the larger
Great Flood of 1927.
Uses
The river is used for a variety of purposes. It is popular for recreational uses such as
canoeing,
kayaking,
fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from fish stocking, stocked bodies of water such as fish pond, ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. ...
and
swimming. In addition to providing habitats for the native
brook trout, the Winooski and its tributaries also support
naturalized populations of wild
rainbow trout and
brown trout.
Smallmouth bass and
walleye are found in the lower reaches of the river, and
migratory populations of
largemouth bass
The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, ...
and
northern pike
The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus ''Esox'' (the pikes). They are typical of brackish water, brackish and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). They are kno ...
often enter the Winooski from Lake Champlain in the spring.
Additionally, a number of
hydroelectric dams are used for generating electricity. The Winooski One Dam, located on the river in the city of Winooski, was the first high-performance civil structure in the world imbedded with
fiber optic sensors when it was built in 1992.
For this reason, the dam was listed in the
Guinness Book of World Records as the "world's most intelligent dam".
See also
*
List of rivers of Vermont
This is a list of rivers in the U.S. state of Vermont, sorted by drainage basin, and ordered from lower to higher, with the towns at their mouths:
Connecticut River
The Connecticut River flows south towards Long Island Sound in Connecticut. ...
References
External links
Local River Protection Group, Friends of the Winooski RiverHydrologic data on Vermont rivers from the National Weather Service, including the Winooski River
{{Coord, 44, 31, 49, N, 73, 16, 28, W, type:river, display=title
Rivers of Vermont
Bodies of water of Washington County, Vermont
Bodies of water of Chittenden County, Vermont
Tributaries of Lake Champlain
Vermont placenames of Native American origin