The Musconetcong River is a

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''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 into which they ...

of the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and is the longest free-flowing (undammed) river in the Eastern United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for a ...

in northwestern

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed April 1, 2011 It flows through the rural mountainous country of northwestern New Jersey. The name derives from the

Lenape The Lenape (, , ; ), also called the Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. The Lenape's historica ...

words ''moschakgeu'' meaning "clear" and ''hannek'' meaning "stream". Part of it is a National Wild and Scenic River. It rises out of Lake Hopatcong, on the border between the borough of Hopatcong in Sussex County and the township of Roxbury in Morris County. It flows through Lake Musconetcong, then flows southwest, through Hackettstown, past Stephensburg and New Hampton, passing south of Washington then along the southeastern side of the Pohatcong Mountain ridge. It joins the Delaware at Riegelsville, approximately 10 mi (16 km) south of Phillipsburg. 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 or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

as a source of

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ca ...

for the

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

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

Morris Canal The Morris Canal (1829–1924) was a toll road, common carrier Anthracite, anthracite coal canal across North Jersey, northern New Jersey that connected the two industrial canals in Easton, Pennsylvania across the Delaware River from its weste ...

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

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

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

railroads Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road ...

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 is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension (chemistry), suspension with water. Silt usually ...

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 An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

. The Plenge Site along the lower river in Warren County was the first of only two major Paleo-Indian

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

site excavations in New Jersey, and is considered one of the most significant in the northeastern United States. The USGS stream flow gauge at Bloomsbury has the river's flows recorded from as far back as 1904. The average flow over the time recorded for the gauge at Bloomsbury is approximately 244 cfs. Record flows of the river were recorded in 2011 as result of

Hurricane Irene Hurricane Irene was a large and destructive tropical cyclone which affected much of the Caribbean and East Coast of the United States during late August 2011. The ninth tropical cyclone naming, named storm, first hurricane, and first major ...

. According to an

urban legend Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not. These legends can be e ...

, the river is also home to a creature known as the Musconetcong River Mantis Man, a somewhat humanoid, somewhat insect-like creature.Urban legend: Have you seen the Musconetcong Mantis Man?
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References

External links

Musconetcong Watershed AssociationNew Jersey Skylands: Musconetcong RiverU.S. Geological Survey: NJ stream gaging stationsMusconetcong River Watershed -- photographs & discussion group on flickr
{{authority control Archaeological sites in New Jersey Tributaries of the Delaware River Rivers of Hunterdon County, New Jersey Rivers of Morris County, New Jersey Rivers of New Jersey Rivers of Sussex County, New Jersey Rivers of Warren County, New Jersey Wild and Scenic Rivers of the United States

See also

References

External links