The Delaware
rises
in two branches and flows 419 miles – 674 Km – into Delaware Bay. Its watershed
drains an area of 14,119 square miles - 36,570 km2 - in the five
Atlantic Coast States of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and
Maryland.
Tributaries and Creeks
there
are 216 tributaries and 14,057 miles of streams and creeks in a watershed that
is home to 4 million people and drinking water to 17 million. The Delaware
River basin sustains fishing, transportation, power, cooling, recreation, and
other industrial and residential purposes. With no dams or impediments on the
river's main stem, the Delaware is one of the few remaining large free-flowing
rivers in the United States.
The Hudson and the Delaware were
originally called the North and South Rivers
History the river
was first visited in 1609 by Henry Hudson and the Dutch East India Company
resulting in Dutch and Swedish settlements along the lower section of river. The
River was renamed Delaware in 1664, after Baron De La Warr, an English nobleman
and the Virginia colony's first royal governor. With the removal of the Lenape
Indians, the name has been spread to municipalities and counties in the
American Midwest and Canada were the tribes resettled.
Development the
Delaware River played a key factor in the economic and social development of
the Mid-Atlantic region. In the 17th century it provided the conduit
for colonial Dutch and Swedish settlement followed by the Quakers in
Philadelphia and the Lehigh Valley.
Canals Philadelphia’s importance as a
commercial center led to improvements on the upper river; the Pennsylvania
Canal running from Easton to Bristol, opened in 1830; the Delaware &
Raritan Canal ran on the New Jersey side of the river while the Morris and the
Delaware & Hudson Canals provided connections to the Hudson River. The
Chesapeake & Delaware Canal linked the Delaware with Chesapeake Bay.
Recreation the
Delaware Gap National Recreation Area resulted
from
the failure of a controversial plan to build a dam to control water levels for
flood control and hydroelectric power generation. In 1978, environmental
opposition led to a takeover by the National Park Service; surrounding
communities developed recreational facilities and worked to preserve the
remaining historical structures.
The Lehigh and Delaware River Valley are ideal
anchor locations to visit New York City, the Hudson Valley, Philadelphia and South Central Pennsylvania.