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Raritan River

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The Raritan River is a major river of central New Jersey in the United States. Its watershed drains much of the mountainous area of the central part of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay on the Atlantic Ocean.

South Branch of Raritan River, Clinton, NJ

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[edit] Description

The river forms at the confluence of the North and South Branches just west of Somerville. It flows for approximately 16 mi (25.7 km) before slowing in tidewater at New Brunswick, and its estuary extends 14 mi (22.5 km) more entering the western end of Raritan Bay at South Amboy.

The river has served an important water transportation route since the days of the Lenape Native Americans. The name itself comes from an Algonquian word meaning "stream overflows." The name is also applied to the Raritan people, an Algonquian tribe that inhabited Staten Island, near the river's mouth. In colonial days, the river allowed the development of early industry around New Brunswick, as well as the transportation of agricultural materials from central New Jersey. During the American Revolutionary War, the river provided a means for troop conveyance. The construction of the Delaware and Raritan Canal provided a critical link between New York City and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the Delaware River.

The river is also used for recreational boating, including use by the rowing team of Rutgers University in New Brunswick. The river is mentioned in the song On the Banks of the Old Raritan of Rutgers. The musical 1776 mentions troops bathing in the Raritan River.

Geologists believe that approximately 6,000 years ago the lower Raritan provided the course of the mouth of the Hudson River. Following the end of the last ice age, the Narrows had not yet been formed and the Hudson flowed along the Watchung Mountains to present-day Bound Brook, then followed the course of the Raritan eastward into Lower New York Bay.

Near its mouth, the river is spanned by the Victory Bridge which carries Route 35 (connecting Perth Amboy and Sayreville), the Driscoll Bridge, which carries the Garden State Parkway (connecting Woodbridge Township and Sayreville), the Edison Bridge, which carries U.S. Route 9 (Connecting Woodbridge Township and Sayreville) and a New Jersey Transit railroad bridge.

[edit] Water Supply

The Raritan River is an important source of drinking water for the central portion of New Jersey. Two water purification plants, operated by New Jersey American Water, are located where the Raritan River and its largest tributary (the Millstone River) meet just east of Manville, New Jersey.

[edit] Flooding

The Raritan River has persistent flooding problems when excessive rain from storms affects the river basin. The flooding problems mainly affect the town of Bound Brook, which is partially built on a natural flood plain at the junction of several tributaries, and Manville, which has a large neighborhood known as Lost Valley that lies on the flood plain between the Raritan River and its largest tributary river, which is known as the Millstone River. Other towns in the Raritan River basin also experience flooding to a lesser degree.

Record flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Floyd in September 1999 (43 ft (13.1 m) flood crest, 15 ft (4.6 m) above flood stage) caused renewed interest in a flood control project called the Green Brook Flood Control Project, which will essentially protect Bound Brook from a 150 year flood. Two levees have been built on the perimeter of Bound Brook, but the main levee necessary to keep the Raritan River from flooding the town has not been built as of early 2006 and is not scheduled to be completed for at least another five years.

[edit] Communities on the Raritan

(In alphabetical order)

[edit] Tributaries

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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