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The Connecticut River is a river in the New England area of the United States of America. It is 407 miles long with a basin of 11,250 miles. It runs through the states of New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut. Parts of the river serve as a border between New Hampshire and Vermont. It begins at the Fourth Connecticut Lake in the State of New Hampshire. This river is difficult to navigate because of its mass amount of silt coming from as far north as the province of Quebec in the country of Canada. A massive sandbar has formed at the entrance to the river on the Long Island Sound and ships and boats can not pass here. No key city has ever been populated at this site because of this problem.
The Algonquian Indians called the river “quinetucket” which means long tidal river, but the Dutch named it “Fresh River”. The Dutch were the first to explore the Connecticut River in 1614 followed by English explorer Edward Winslow in 1632. A trading post was built on the river in 1633 at Windsor, Connecticut by the English. Not to be outdone, the Dutch built a trading post at a site in Hartford, Connecticut, but left in 1654. Charlestown, New Hampshire was once known as Fort at Number 4 and was the futherest north any settlement by the English was built. The Connecticut River also served as the defining line between New Hampshire and Canada at one time. Logging drives occurred in the 1800s in Vermont, but complaints from boat owners that the drives were hazardous to their navigation stopped the activity.
In 1953 the Connecticut River Flood Control Compact was created to help alleviate the flooding that was occurring on the river and in 1965 the Clean Water Act was established. This Act was key in changes being made to the way water was processed before it was diverted to city water plants. As a result the river was honored as one of the American Heritage Rivers in 1997.
The Connecticut River is home to many types of andromodous (fish that migrate up rivers to breed) fish mainly the American shad, American eel, Striped Bass and the Sea lamprey. Because of favorable conditions in the river the United States Fish and Wildlife Service is trying to introduce the Atlantic salmon to the waters. The Atlantic salmon is facing extinction and it is their hope that the Connecticut River will be a new home for them. |
