River rising in the Adirondack Mts, New York State, USA; flows 560 km/350 mi S past New York City to the Atlantic Ocean; navigable for large craft as far as Albany; tidal for 240 km/150 mi; explored in 1609 by Henry Hudson.
| Hudson River | |
|---|---|
| View of the middle Hudson River | |
| Origin | Lake Tear of the Clouds |
| Mouth | Lower New York Bay |
| Basin countries | USA |
| Length | 315 miles (506 km) |
| Source elevation | 4,293 feet (1,309 m) |
| Avg. 21,400 cubic feet/s (606 m³/s) (Lower New York Bay) | |
| Basin area | 14,000 square miles (35,000 km²) |
The Hudson River, called Muh-he-kun-ne-tuk in Mahican, is a river running mainly through New York State but partly forming the boundary between the states of New York and New Jersey. The Hudson is joined at Troy (north of Albany) by the Mohawk River, its major tributary, just south of which the Federal Dam separates the Upper Hudson River Valley from the Lower Hudson River Valley or simply the Hudson River Valley. South of Troy, the Hudson widens and flows south into the Atlantic Ocean between Manhattan Island and New Jersey, forming New York Harbor, at New York Bay, an arm of the Ocean. It was the English who originated the Hudson name, even though Hudson had found the river while exploring for the Dutch.
Notable landmarks on the Hudson include West Point, the Culinary Institute of America, Marist College, Bard College, the Thayer Hotel at West Point, Bannerman's Castle, Metro-North Railroad's Hudson Line (formerly part of the New York Central Railroad system), The Tappan Zee, the New Jersey Palisades, Hudson River Islands State Park, Hudson Highlands State Park, New York Military Academy, Fort Tryon Park with The Cloisters, Liberty State Park, and Stevens Institute of Technology.
The natural beauty of the Hudson Valley earned the Hudson River the nickname "America's Rhine", being compared to that of the famous 40 mile (65 km) stretch of Germany's Rhine River valley between the cities of Bingen and Koblenz. At that time, the Hudson River emptied into the Atlantic Ocean through the present course of the lower Raritan River, by taking a more westerly course through parts of present day northern New Jersey, along the eastern side of the Watchung Mountains to Bound Brook, New Jersey and then on into the Atlantic Ocean via Raritan Bay. This allowed the Hudson River to find a shorter route to the Atlantic Ocean via its present course between New Jersey and New York City (Waldman, 2000). The original Erie Canal, opened in 1825 to connect the Hudson with Lake Erie, emptied into the Hudson just south of the Federal Dam in Troy (at mile 134). The New York State Canal System, the successor to the Erie Canal, runs into the Hudson River north of Troy and uses natural waterways whenever possible. The first railroad in New York, the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, opened in 1831 between Albany and Schenectady on the Mohawk River, enabling passengers to bypass the slowest part of the Erie Canal.
The Delaware and Hudson Canal ended at the Hudson at Kingston, running southwest to the coal fields of northeastern Pennsylvania. A barge canal now splits from the Hudson at that point, taking roughly the same route (also parallel to the Delaware and Hudson Railway's Saratoga and Whitehall Railroad) to Lake Champlain at Whitehall. The Hudson River Railroad was chartered the next year as a continuation of the Troy and Greenbush south to New York City, and was completed in 1851. In 1866 the Hudson River Bridge opened over the river between Greenbush and Albany, enabling through traffic between the Hudson River Railroad and the New York Central Railroad west to Buffalo.
The New York, West Shore and Buffalo Railway ran up the west shore of the Hudson as a competitor to the merged New York Central and Hudson River Railroad. The Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad was chartered in 1832 and opened in 1835, including the Green Island Bridge, the first bridge over the Hudson south of the Federal Dam. The extension continued along the Hudson River into Hamilton County, and then continued north where the Hudson makes a turn to the west, crossing the Hudson and running along the west shore of the Boreas River.
Political boundaries
The Hudson River serves as a political boundary between the states of New Jersey and New York, and further north between New York counties.
| Hamilton | Essex | |
| Warren |
river runs along municipal boundaries |
|
| Saratoga | Warren | |
| Saratoga | Washington | |
| Saratoga | Rensselaer | |
| Albany | Rensselaer | |
| Greene | Columbia | |
| Ulster | Columbia | |
| Ulster | Dutchess | |
| Orange | Dutchess | |
| Orange | Putnam | |
| Rockland | Westchester | |
| Bergen (NJ) | Westchester | |
| Bergen (NJ) | Bronx | |
| Bergen (NJ) | New York | |
| Hudson (NJ) | New York |
Tributaries
From north to south, moving downriver
Opalescent Brook Mill Creek Battenkill Creek Mohawk River Catskill Creek Esopus Creek Rondout Creek Roeliff-Jansen Kill Crum Elbow Creek Wappingers Creek Fishkill Creek Moodna Creek Croton River Pocantico River Sparkill Creek Wicker's Creek Saw Mill RiverCrossings
From south to north:
New Jersey-New York
Downtown Hudson Tubes PATH (c. 1908) Lincoln Tunnel (1937) George Washington Bridge carrying I-95 (1931)New York
Tappan Zee Bridge carrying the Thruway, Interstate 87, and Interstate 287 (1952) Bear Mountain Bridge carrying US 6 US 202 (1924) (originally planned as the Hudson Highland Suspension Bridge for a railroad) Newburgh-Beacon Bridge carrying I-84 from Newburgh to Beacon (1963) Mid-Hudson Bridge near Poughkeepsie (1930) Poughkeepsie Bridge (railroad) near Poughkeepsie (1888; Smith Memorial Bridge (railroad) in Castleton-on-Hudson (1924) Castleton Bridge on the Berkshire Thruway in Castleton-on-Hudson Former Albany and Greenbush Bridge between Albany and Rensselaer Dunn Memorial Bridge between Albany and Rensselaer (1969) Former Hudson River Bridge (railroad) between Albany and Rensselaer (1866) Livingston Avenue Bridge (railroad) between Albany and Rensselaer Patroon Island Bridge on Interstate 90 between Albany and Rensselaer (1968) Menands Bridge in Troy (1959) Congress Street Bridge in Troy (formerly the Troy and West Troy Bridge), carrying New York State Route 2, connecting Watervliet and Troy Green Island Bridge in Troy, replaced a collapsed railroad bridge (1982) Collar City Bridge in Troy carrying New York State Route 7 112th Street Bridge in Troy Troy-Waterford Bridge connecting northern Troy to Waterford Former Albany Northern Railroad bridge north of Waterford Mechanicville Bridge in Mechanicville carrying New York State Route 67 Railroad bridge in Mechanicville Stillwater Bridge in Stillwater Schuylerville Bridge in Schuylerville carrying New York State Route 29 Dix Bridge in Schuylerville Former Greenwich and Johnsonville Railway bridge in Schuylerville Northumberland Bridge in Thomson carrying U.S. Route 4, formerly the Fort Miller Bridge carrying the Champlain Canal towpath Railroad bridge in Fort Edward New York State Route 197 bridge in Fort Edward Bridge in Hudson Falls Glens Falls-Queensbury Viaduct in Glens Falls carrying U.S. Highway 9 and New York State Route 32 Interstate 87 bridge near West Glens Falls Bridge in Corinth New York State Route 9N bridge near Lake Luzerne Hadley Bridge in Hadley and Lake Luzerne Former railroad bridge in Warrensburg and Thurman Thurman Station Bridge in Warrensburg and Thurman The Glen Bridge at The Glen Riparius Bridge at Riparius North Creek Bridge at North Creek Former bridge at North River Adirondack Railway bridge Footbridge south of Newcomb Newcomb Bridge at Newcomb Bridge at Newcomb Bridge at Tahawus Bridge north of Tahawus Bridge north of TahawusTheodore Roosevelt's famous trip to the headwaters
On September 14, 1901, then-Vice President Theodore Roosevelt was at Lake Tear of the Clouds after returning from a hike to the Mount Marcy summit when he received a message informing him that President William McKinley who had been shot two weeks earlier but expected to survive had taken a turn for the worse.
In 1983, the EPA declared a 200 mile (322 km) stretch of the river, from Hudson Falls to New York City, to be a Superfund site.
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