The Jona is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the ...

in the

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internati ...

cantons of

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich () i ...

and

St. Gallen , neighboring_municipalities = Eggersriet, Gaiserwald, Gossau, Herisau (AR), Mörschwil, Speicher (AR), Stein (AR), Teufen (AR), Untereggen, Wittenbach , twintowns = Liberec (Czech Republic) , website ...

Geography

Murerplan - Oberes Zürichseegebiet IMG 2383

The Jona rises on the eastern slope of Bachtel hill near

Gibswil Fischenthal is a village and a municipality in the district of Hinwil in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. Besides the village of Fischenthal, it includes the villages of Gibswil and Steg, as well as nearly 100 smaller settlements. History ...

and Fischenthal in the

Zürcher Oberland The Zürcher Oberland ("Zurich highlands") in Switzerland, is the hilly south-eastern part of the canton of Zurich, bordering on the Toggenburg, including the districts of Uster, Hinwil, Pfäffikon as well as the Töss Valley as far as the di ...

. Passing an impressive waterfall, the river flows near the municipality of Wald through a little valley eastward and changes its direction to the south by a ravine, which a viaduct of the '' Tösstalbahn'' ( S26) is crossing. The Jona turns to the west, dividing the municipalities

Dürnten Dürnten is a municipality in the district of Hinwil in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. History Dürnten is first mentioned between 743 and 747 as ''Tunriude''. Geography Dürnten has an area of . Of this area, 60.4% is used for agricu ...

and Rüti, passing the village of Tann and Rüti in the so-called ''Tannertobel''. Once again, it changes its direction, flowing to the south (and slightly

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex ban ...

ing) through Rüti and the so-called ''Joner Wald'' (forest of

Rapperswil-Jona Rapperswil-Jona is a municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of See-Gaster in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Besides Rapperswil and Jona, which were separate municipalities until 2006, the municipality includes Bollingen, ...

), followed by the S-Bahn Zürich lines S5 and S15. The river underneaths here ''Oberland Autobahn'' ( A53 highway), now reaching the canton of St. Gallen and

, flowing nearly in straight direction through the village of Jona (SG). Finally, it forms a small

river delta A river delta is a landform shaped like a triangle, created by deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, or (more ra ...

near Busskirch and flows at ''Stampf'' lido in the ''Obersee'', the upper section of the

Zürichsee __NOTOC__ Lake Zurich (Swiss German/ Alemannic: ''Zürisee''; German: ''Zürichsee''; rm, Lai da Turitg) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zürich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or ''Zürichsee'' can be used t ...

History and some facts

The river's name was first mentioned in 834 AD, the former municipality '' Jona'' was named much later. It is assumed that the name originates as either Celtic ''Jauna'' (the cold one) – the Jona is still largely determined by forest area – or, as

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, ...

''yamam'', meaning '' stream''. Latest interpretations say that the Indo-European word ''jeu'' roughly means ''to move'', followed by the

Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...

name ''Jouna ''.Website detten.ch Its

hydropower Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kinetic energy of ...

was used for a larger number of medieval

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the productio ...

s along the small river. As a renewable source, in the 19th century, the river was important for

industrialization Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econ ...

of the textile industry of the communities of Wald, Rüti, and Rapperswil-Jona. The Jona measures in all, rising at (m.ü.M, i.e. above sea level) and flowing in ''Obersee'' at asl. The river belongs to the

Limmat The Limmat is a river in Switzerland. The river commences at the outfall of Lake Zurich, in the southern part of the city of Zurich. From Zurich it flows in a northwesterly direction, after 35 km reaching the river Aare. The conflu ...

→ Aar→

Rhine The Rhine ; french: Rhin ; nl, Rijn ; wa, Rén ; li, Rien; rm, label=Sursilvan, Rein, rm, label=Sutsilvan and Surmiran, Ragn, rm, label=Rumantsch Grischun, Vallader and Puter, Rain; it, Reno ; gsw, Rhi(n), including in Alsatian dialect, Al ...

system. Its

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

measures

Gallery

Jona - Tannertobel IMG 2016.JPG, ''Tannertobel'' between Tann and Rüti Tann - Rüti Joweid IMG 2032 ShiftN.jpg, ''Joweid'' (= Jona river meadow) in Rüti (ZH),

Bachtel Bachtel is a mountain of the Zurich Oberland, located between Hinwil and Wald in the canton of Zurich. It lies approximately halfway between the Schnebelhorn (the highest point of the canton) and Lake Zurich. On the summit is the Bachtel Tow ...

mountain in the background Jona - Holzwies IMG 2396.JPG, The Jona at ''Holzwies'' in Jona (SG) Jona (SG) - Jona IMG 1803.JPG, The river within the village of Jona Jona - Jona (SG) Stampf IMG 1886.JPG,

River delta A river delta is a landform shaped like a triangle, created by deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, or (more ra ...

called ''Stampf'', ''Obersee'' in the background

References

External links

Dorfverein Wagen
{{Lake Zurich Rivers of the canton of St. Gallen Rapperswil-Jona Rivers of the canton of Zürich Tributaries of Lake Zurich Rüti, Zürich Rivers of Switzerland