Mohawk River
Cohoes Falls, near the eastern end of the Mohawk River in Cohoes, New York
Name origin: Named for Mohawk Nation
Country	United States
State	New York
Cities	Schenectady, Utica
Source
- elevation	920 ft (280 m) [1]
- coordinates	43°22′15″N 75°28′6″W / 43.37083°N 75.46833°W / 43.37083; -75.46833 [2]
Mouth	Hudson River
- elevation	10 ft (3 m) [3]
- coordinates	42°45′39″N 73°41′13″W / 42.76083°N 73.68694°W / 42.76083; -73.68694 [2]
Length	149 mi (240 km) [4]
Basin	3,412 sq mi (8,837 km2) [5]
Hudson River watershed map showing the Mohawk River

The Mohawk River is a 149-mile-long (240 km)^[4] river in the U.S. state of New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson River. The Mohawk flows into the Hudson in the Capital District, a few miles north of the city of Albany.^[5] The river is named for the Mohawk Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy. It is a major waterway in north-central New York.

Course[link]

From its source in Lewis County the Mohawk River flows generally east through the Mohawk Valley, passing by the cities of Rome, Utica, Little Falls, Canajoharie, Amsterdam, and Schenectady before entering the Hudson River at Cohoes, just north of Albany.

River modifications[link]

The river and its supporting canal, the Erie Canal (a part of the New York State Canal System, called the New York State Barge Canal for much of the 20th century), connect the Hudson River and port of New York with the Great Lakes at Buffalo, New York.^[6] The lower part of the Mohawk River has five permanent dams, nine movable dams (seasonal), and five active hydropower plants.^[7]

Schoharie Creek and West Canada Creek are the principal tributaries of the Mohawk River. Both of these tributaries have several significant dams including the Hinckley Dam on the West Canada and the Gilboa Dam on the upper reaches of Schoharie Creek. The Gilboa Dam, which was completed in 1926 as part of the New York City water supply system, is the subject of an active and aggressive rehabilitation project.^[8]

History[link]

The river has long been important to transportation and migration to the west as a passage through the Appalachian Mountains, between the Catskill Mountains and Allegheny Plateau to the south and the Adirondack Mountains to the north. The Mohawk Valley allowed easier passage than going over the mountains to the north or south of the valley. As a result, it was strategically important during the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War, and a number of important battles were fought here. The fertile Mohawk Valley also attracted early settlers.

In the early nineteenth century water transport was a vital means of transporting both people and goods. A corporation was formed to build the Erie Canal off the Mohawk River to Lake Erie. The canal cut shipping costs to Lake Erie by 95%.^{[citation needed]} It also simplified and reduced the difficulties of westward settler migration.

The Mohawk Valley still plays an important role in transportation. Railroads followed the Water Level Route, as did major east-west roads such as Route 5 and Interstate 90.

The Mohawk River Heritage Corridor Commission was created to preserve and promote the natural and historic assets of the Mohawk River. This commission was created by the NY State Legislature in 1997 to improve historic preservation along the river.^[9]

Watershed management[link]

Historically, the Mohawk watershed has lacked a watershed management plan typical in many adjacent basins. In 2010, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation released the Mohawk River Basin Action Agenda, which is the first framework for a watershed management plan in this basin.^[10] This plan identifies five priority goals for the Mohawk River Basin that are designed to enhance ecosystem health and the vitality of the region. The Action Agenda advocates an ecosystem-based approach to watershed management and it was developed by the NY DEC in collaboration with a number of stakeholders in the basin with public input.^[11]

Flooding and discharge[link]

The Mohawk River has a relatively long record of flooding that has been documented back to settlement in the 17th century.^[12] The average volume of water that flows through the Mohawk is about 183,000,000,000 cubic feet (5.2 km³) every year.^[12] Much of the water flows through the watershed in the spring as snow melts rapidly and enters the tributaries and the main trunk of the river. The maximum average daily flow on the river occurs between late March and early April. For the period between 1917 to 2000, the highest mean daily flow is c. 18,000 cu ft (510 m³) as measured at Cohoes, near the confluence with the Hudson. The lowest mean daily flow of 1,400 cu ft (40 m³) occurs in late August. There is a long record of significant and damaging floods along the entire length of the river.^[12]

Because the river and its tributaries typically freeze in the winter, the spring melt is commonly accompanied by ice floes that get stuck and jammed along the main trunk of the river. This annual spring breakup typically occurs in the last few weeks of March, although there are plenty of floods that have occurred before or after this time. These ice jams can cause considerable damage to structures along the riverbanks and on the floodplain. The most severe flood of record on the main trunk of the Mohawk River was the spring breakup flood that occurred from 27–28 March 1914. This flood caused a tremendous amount of damage to the infrastructure because it was a spring breakup flood with enormous amounts of ice. Ice jams of some significance occur about every other year.^[13][14]

The last major flood on the Mohawk was on 26–29 June 2006, during the Mid-Atlantic United States flood of 2006. Flooding was caused by a stalled frontal system that resulted in 50 to 330 millimeters (2.0 to 13 in) of rain across central New York and widespread flooding occurred in the Mohawk, Delaware, and Susquehanna watersheds. Across the state, this event caused over US$227m in damage and resulted in the loss of four lives. This flooding was acute in the upper parts of the Mohawk watershed.^[15]

Geologic history[link]

As the Laurentian Glacier retreated, it blocked the outflow of Glacial Lake Iroquois. Instead of flowing down the St Lawrence Valley it flowed down the Mohawk River.

The Mohawk watershed drains a large section of the Catskill Mountains, the Mohawk Valley proper, and a section of the southern Adirondack Mountains. All three regions have distinct bedrock geology, and the underlying rocks get progressively younger to the south.^[16] Overall, this part of New York is represented by lower Paleozoic sedimentary rocks that unconformably overlie the Grenville-aged (Proterozoic, here about 1.1 billion years old) metamorphic rocks of the Adirondacks.^[17] In the watershed, these rocks are only significant in the headwaters of the West Canada Creek. Much of the main trunk of the Mohawk River sits in Cambro-Ordovician carbonates (limestone) and Middle Ordovician sandstones and shales.^[18] The southern tributaries (Catskill Mountains) are underlain by a thin sequence of Devonian limestones that are overlain by a thick sequence of sandstones and shale of the Catskill Delta, which is also Devonian in age.^[19] During the Pleistocene (c. 1.8 to 0.01 mya), the watershed was extensively modified by continental glaciation. As a result of glacial scour and deposition, the surficial deposits in much of the watershed are poorly sorted boulder- and clay-rich glacial till. During deglaciation, there were several glacial lakes that left varved clay deposits. Finally, in the final stages of deglaciation at approx. 13,350 years ago,^[20] the catastrophic draining of Glacial Lake Iroquois, a pro-glacial lake, was through what would become the modern Mohawk Valley.^[21] In this final phase of the geologic story, an enormous discharge of water caused local deep scour features (e.g. the Potholes at Little Falls), and extensive sand and gravel deposition, which is one of the key sources of municipal groundwater including the Scotia Delta, which is also known as the Great Flats Aquifer.^[22]

See also[link]

• List of rivers of New York
• Oneida Carry
• Great Flats Nature Trail

References[link]

External links[link]

• Union College edu: MOHAWK RIVER - Flooding and Watershed Analysis by J.I. Garver
• NY State Department of Environmental Conservation - Mohawk River Basin Program Action Agenda (PDF, 928 Kb)

v t e Capital District of New York Central communities Albany (History City Hall Coat of Arms) Schenectady (City Hall) Troy (History) List of all incorporated places Largest communities (over 20,000 in 2000) Bethlehem Clifton Park Town of Colonie Glenville Guilderland Niskayuna Queensbury Rotterdam Saratoga Springs Medium-sized communities (10,000 to 20,000 in 2000) City of Amsterdam Brunswick Cohoes East Greenbush Glens Falls Gloversville Halfmoon Malta North Greenbush Schodack Watervliet Wilton Small communities (5,000 to 10,000 in 2000) Town of Amsterdam Ballston Spa Cobleskill Village of Colonie Duanesburg City of Johnstown Town of Johnstown Kinderhook Mechanicville New Scotland Rensselaer Sand Lake Scotia Town of Stillwater Waterford Counties Albany Columbia Fulton Greene Montgomery Rensselaer Saratoga Schenectady Schoharie Warren Washington History Mohawks Mahicans Fort Orange Rensselaerswyck Beverwyck Albany Plan of Union Timeline of town creation Toponymies of places Tech Valley Geography Hudson River (Valley) Mohawk River Erie Canal Lake Albany Lake George Albany Pine Bush (Rensselaer Lake Woodlawn Preserve) Adirondack Mountains Catskill Mountains Rensselaer Plateau Religion and culture Culture in New York's Capital District Sports in New York's Capital District Episcopal Diocese of Albany Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany Education List of school districts List of colleges and universities Newspapers Albany Times-Union Metroland Glens Falls Post-Star The Saratogian Schenectady Gazette Troy Record Television v t e Broadcast television in the Capital District Reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television Local stations WRGB (6.1 CBS, 6.2 This TV) WTEN (10.1 ABC, 10.2 Weather, 10.3 RTV) WNYT (13.1 NBC, 13.2 Me-TV, 13.3 Weather Radar) WMHT (17.1 PBS, 17.2 ThinkBright, 17.3 HD) WXXA (23.1 Fox, 23.2 The Cool TV) WNGN-LP 35 / WNGX-LP 42 Analog (FN) WCWN (45.1 The CW) WNYA / WNYA-CD (51.1 MNTV, 51.2 Antenna TV) Outlying area stations WVBK-CA 2 Analog (Outside; Manchester, VT) W04AJ 4 (PBS; Glens Falls) W04BD 4 (PBS; Schoharie) WNCE-CA 8 Analog (A1; Glens Falls) WYBN-CA 14 Analog (RSN; Cobleskill) WCDC (19.1 ABC; Adams, MA) WVBG-LP 25 Analog (RSN; Greenwich) W36AX 36 (PBS / VPT; Manchester, VT) W47CM 47 Analog (silent; Glens Falls) WYPX (55.1 Ion, 55.2 qubo, 55.3 Life; Amsterdam) W53AS 53 (PBS / VPT; Bennington, VT) Adjacent locals WKTV (2.1 NBC, 2.2 The CW; Utica) WVER (28.1 HD, 28.2 PBS / VPT, 28.3 Create, 28.4 World; Rutland, VT) WRNN (48.1 Ind / AMGTV / JTV / News, 48.2 Al Jazeera English, 48.3 Arirang TV; Kingston) Cable-only stations YNN Capital Region TW3 YES SNY MSG Network Defunct stations WEDG-TV (UPN, cable-only) W52DF 52 (TBN) Radio v t e Radio stations in the Albany / Schenectady / Troy market by FM frequency 88.3 89.1² 89.7 89.9 90.3² 90.7 90.7 90.7 90.9 91.1 91.5 92.3 92.9 93.1 93.5 93.7 94.5 94.7 94.9 95.5 95.9 96.3 96.7 97.3 97.5 97.7 97.9 98.3² 98.5 98.5 99.1 99.5² 100.3 100.9 101.3 101.7 101.9 102.3² 102.7 103.1² 103.5 103.9 104.5 104.9 105.7² 106.1 106.5² 107.1 107.7² by AM frequency 560 590 810¹² 900 930 980² 1160 1190 1230 1240 1300 1330 1340 1400 1440 1460² 1490 1540 1570 NOAA Weather Radio frequency 162.550 by callsign W226AC W235AY W256BU W291BY WABY WAJZ WAMC WAMC-FM² WBAR-FM WBPM WCDB WCKL WCKM-FM WCQL WCSS WCTW WDCD WDCD-FM WDDY² WENT WEQX WEXT WFFG-FM WFLY WFNY WGDJ WGNA-FM² WGXC WGY¹² WGY-FM² WHAZ WHAZ-FM WHUC WHVP WIZR WJIV WKBE WKKF² WKLI-FM WLJH WMHT-FM² WMYY WNYQ WOFX² WOPG WPGL WPYX² WQAR WQBJ WQBK-FM WQSH² WRIP WROW WRPI WRUC WRVE² WSDE WTMM-FM WTRY-FM² WUAM WVCR-FM WVKZ WVTL WXL34 WYAI WYJB WYKV WZCR WZMR Defunct stations WGFM WHRL WRSA WROW-FM WTRI WXKW ¹ = Clear-channel stations with extended nighttime coverage.; ² = Broadcasts in HD Radio Capital District Portal

Pete Barber is a professional racing driver, copeting in the European Drift Championship and JDM Allstars series in his Mazda RX7

Pete had his first successful season in 2009, achieving his first win at Knockhill^[1] and several podiums later on in the year.

For 2010 Pete will be doing a full reshell of his car, putting all of the major components into a shell in better condition.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Pete Barber

This biographical article related to English motor racing is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e